John Calvin-Life,Legacy and Theology

JOHN CALVIN : LIFE, LEGACY AND THEOLOGY -
PROF. M. M. NINAN
It also established four groups of church officers: pastors and teachers to preach and explain the
Scriptures, elders representing the congregation to administer the church, and deacons to attend to its
charitable responsibilities. In addition it set up a consistory of pastors and elders to make all aspects
of Genevan life conform to God’s law.
It undertook a wide range of disciplinary actions covering everything from the abolition of Roman
Catholic “superstition” to the enforcement of sexual morality, the regulation of taverns, and measures
against dancing, gambling, and swearing. These measures were resented by a significant element of
the population, and the arrival of increasing numbers of French religious refugees in Geneva was a
further cause of native discontent.
These tensions, as well as the persecution of Calvin’s followers in France, help to explain the trial and
burning of Michael Servetus, a Spanish theologian preaching and publishing unorthodox beliefs in
supporting Calvin's proposals for reforms, the council of Geneva passed the Ordonnances
ecclésiastiques (Ecclesiastical Ordinances) on 20 November 1541. The ordinances defined four
orders of ministerial function:
pastors to preach and to administer the sacraments;
doctors to instruct believers in the faith;
elders to provide discipline; and
deacons to care for the poor and needy.
They also called for the creation of the Consistoire (Consistory), an ecclesiastical court composed of
the lay elders and the ministers. The city government retained the power to summon persons before
the court, and the Consistory could judge only ecclesiastical matters having no civil jurisdiction.
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