Why did the Reformation of 500 years ago occur? What factors produced that tectonic shift in world and church history? Ultimately, it was nothing other than the hand of God Himself. The Reformation’s spiritual light broke forth out of over-clouding darkness because God willed it to happen. Such is the essence of John Calvin’s understanding of the biblical doctrine of providence, or the doctrine which holds that God controls all things. In Calvin’s opinion, this doctrine of providence is of central importance in the Christian faith. In fact, Calvin held that if we do not recognize God’s providential control of all things, we do not truly recognize Him as Creator.¹As we celebrate the Reformation this year, we would do well to remember this crucial doctrine of providence.

Calvin’s doctrine of providence rests upon three central pillars — the meticulous detail of God’s control, the limitation of man’s knowledge, and the authority of Scripture.

God’s Meticulous Control⤒🔗

Calvin was adamant that God, in His providence, controlled all of the minute actions and details of life. God had not simply set general laws and processes into motion; rather, moment by moment, He controlled every detail in all of creation (John 5:17; Acts 17:28; Heb. 1:3).²As Calvin put it, God’s providence was “lodged in the act.³He did not sit back and watch His decrees inexorably take effect; He personally and intimately brought all things to pass.

Central to Calvin’s belief in this meticulous divine control was his understanding of Matthew 10:29-31. There, Jesus declares that even the falling of an insignificant sparrow to the ground is under the detailed control of God (v. 29). If God is that involved with and concerned for a sparrow, how much more is He concerned for and involved with the details of the lives of His people (v. 31)?⁴Indeed, while God controls and wills all that occurs in creation, His care extends most particularly and most paternally to the church, the Body of Christ for whom He is turning all things for good (Eph. 4:20-23).⁵Of course, men are quite different from sparrows. Men have their own wills. But even those wills, Calvin insisted, were in the hand of God and under His complete control (Jer. 10:23; Prov. 16:9, 20:24, 21:1).[1] ⁶As Calvin argued, “the will not less than the external works are governed by the determination of God.”⁷

This complete divine control of all things raises several important issues. First, is there any room in God’s creation for the “contingency of second causes”? In other words, if God’s will determines everything that happens, do the actions that men take have any significance or even any point? If God has willed to provide food for my family, is there any point in my laboring to provide that food for them, or will the food simply appear miraculously because God has willed that it be so? Does God use means that we can understand (“second causes”) to bring about His will? Here, Calvin has a nuanced answer. God does not need second causes, but He uses them. Calvin points to the sun as an example.⁸God created light on the first day of creation (Gen. 1:3), but He did not create the sun until the fourth day (Gen. 1:14-18). In this ordering, God showed that He does not need the sun to scatter light on His creation; it is but an instrument of what He could do by other means if He so willed. Yet God decreed on the fourth day that He thenceforth would use the sun to bring light on the earth. God does not need second causes; His will can be done without them. But God ordinarily uses second causes, bringing His will to pass through His control of them. Given this way that God works, the actions and decisions of men and women have significance; not because they are independent of God’s providence, but because God uses them to effect His perfect will. God gives each man and woman the dignity of being an “instrument of divine providence”!⁹

The second issue raised by Calvin’s assertion of complete divine control is God’s relationship with evil. Does God control even the evil wills of evil men? Calvin’s answer, in accord with Scripture, was “yes.” Just as God controlled the rebellion of Pharaoh (Ex. 9:12), the cursing of Shimei (2 Sam. 16:10), and the rage of the Jerusalem crowds (Acts 2:23), so He controls even the will of all wicked men. ¹⁰

This does not, however, implicate God in sin. While a wicked man might undertake an action out of rebellious intentions, God was making the wicked man’s will desire that action in order to pursue His perfect will, quite often using the evil in question as a means of disciplining other rebellions (1 Kings 11:14, 23).¹¹The man’s wicked heart and intentions thus make his action wicked, while God’s perfect righteousness makes His use of that man’s action righteous (Gen. 50:20).¹²As Calvin said, “in the same act as man’s evil deed shows itself, so God’s justice shines forth.”¹³God’s righteous control of wickedness extends even to Satan himself, for God uses Satan’s persecutions of Christians for the sanctification of His people (2 Cor. 12:7).¹⁴

Even the lashes of Satan accomplish God’s will.

Man’s Limited Knowledge←⤒🔗

While Calvin detailed the comprehensive reach of God’s authority, he recognized that many of these things are beyond man’s ability to understand. However, Calvin argued that this neither invalidated the doctrine nor paralyzed us who are unable to grasp all that God is doing. Certainly, there are parts of God’s will that are a “deep abyss” (Ps. 36:6) beyond our comprehension (Rom. 11:33-34). However, God also reveals clearly His will in His Word (Deut. 30:11-14; 2 Tim. 3:16-17). Rather than speculating about what God’s hidden will might be or languishing under their uncertainty about that will, we are called to seek after obedience to the will that God has revealed (Deut. 29:29).¹⁵In fact, Calvin even advised that we are to live as if nothing had been decreed at all, shaping our lives by obedience to God’s commands and by faith in His promise that that obedience will bring His blessing.¹⁶By living in the light of what we do know rather than in the darkness of what we do not know, the Christian life is given vibrancy and dynamism.

This limitation of man’s knowledge is critical to Calvin’s doctrine of providence. That doctrine is not intended to lead men into speculation or passivity; rather, it is intended to assert that, outside of man’s finite comprehension, there is a perfect divine purpose coming to fruition through his labors.

Scripture’s Authority←⤒🔗

Clearly, the Scriptures are central to how man’s limited knowl­edge interacts with God’s comprehensive control. In Scripture, God has revealed His will clearly and accurately. Therefore, while man might not know all of what God is doing, he can know the Scriptures and let them guide him obediently toward a certain future that he cannot yet know or see.¹⁷

Summary←⤒🔗

In his doctrine of providence, John Calvin articulated rich biblical truth. God’s will controls everything, from the movement of history to the specific desires and actions of His creatures. Yet since men and women cannot grasp all that God is doing, we are called to live in obedience to the clear revelation of His will that God has given in His Word.

Implications←⤒🔗

Ever the pastor, Calvin frequently points to ways in which the doctrine of providence applies to the lives of God’s people.

First, it helps us to see God at work in all things. In the events of life, we are led to worship God for His goodness and to repent under His chastening.¹⁸Rather than imagining that we live at the whim of uncontrollable events, Christians are enabled to see that God is working in all things to refine His people and reveal His glory.

Second, this brings particular comfort as God’s people suffer. Even in the malice of Christ’s enemies, God is at work. Therefore, rather than despairing under affliction or fearing that Satan will overcome us, we are able to know that God is in absolute control; even our trials are for our edification and His glory. Indeed, such an awareness even can keep Christians from resenting their enemies, for Christians are enabled to see through their enemies’ blows to the glorious purpose of God behind them.¹⁹

Third, all of this compels God’s people to pray to Him, the One who holds all things — even the will of men — in the deep of His hand. We realize that, ultimately, we do not depend on anything in this world, but only on the God who controls this world and we therefore run the more readily to Him in prayer.

In addition to these applications that Calvin frequently made, there are two additional things we would do well to consider. First, in his doctrine of providence, Calvin gives us a model of biblical confidence. Calvin knew he could not explain everything about God’s will. He was raising questions that he knew he could not answer. But he was doing nothing other than teaching what the Bible teaches, and he was confident to stand on that foundation rather than on his own understanding.²⁰Are we similarly confident? Are we bold to proclaim and to believe what the Bible teaches even when those truths exceed our understanding? Fundamentally, are we confident in what we believe because we understand it fully or because God has said it?

Second, Calvin’s presentation of the biblical doctrine of providence ought to challenge and encourage us today. Many things may seem uncertain and grim in the church and in the surrounding culture. But our God controls everything. Nothing occurs except by His will. Not even the madness of tyrants comes except by His will.²¹So we need not fear and we need not worry. Even the actions and wills of our enemies are in His hand, and they do only the wilf the Father who loves us — the One who brought reformation 500 years ago and who can bring it again as His people live in obedience to His Word.