Luther and Calvin

For Zwingli, Luther's position threatened the central Christian affirmation that salvation is to be sought in Christ alone, sola fide, not in anything on this earth. For Luther, Zwingli's rejection of Christ's personal presence in the Eucharist ruled out the only hope for salvation. Recognizing the "poison" of Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt, Luther perceived in Zwingli's spiritualism a rejection of the divinely ordained connection between the outer Word and the sacraments as vehicles of inner grace. We expect to (and do) find a similar inter-connectedness in Calvin. Because the grace of salvation and the grace of the sacraments are the same grace, one anticipates the mutually interpretive language of union with Christ that pervades Calvin's exposition of the sacraments. A sacrament is, says Calvin, using traditional language, a visible or outward attestation of divine benevolence. It is a visible instrument, a sign which figures spiritual grace and seals the promises of God to us.

 

Mark Garcia, Life in Christ: Union with Christ and Twofold Grace in Calvin's Theology (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2008), 150