Calvin's Institutes 4.14.21. to 4.14.26.

INSTITUTES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION
By
John Calvin

BOOK FOURTH.
OF THE HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH

CHAPTER 14.
OF THE SACRAMENTS.

4.14.21. - 4.14.22.

To explain the "sacraments" in the Old economy, Calvin starts with circumcision.  What was circumcision?  It was "a sign by which the Jews were reminded that whatever comes of the seed of man-in other words, the whole nature of man-is corrupt, and requires to be cut off."   It was also a reminder of the promise made to Abraham of a seed in which all families of the earth will be blessed.  This, of course, is Christ (Gal 5:16).  So circumcision, like repentance, carried a two-fold nuonce.  It was both a recognition of sin and the hope of salvation.  What of the washings and the Old Testament laver?  "This laver was Christ, washed by whose blood we bring his purity into the sight of God, that he may cover all our defilements." The sacrifice that accompanied the washing ensured that they knew that Christ's redemption came with a price.  Our present day sacraments are clearer, that is, baptism and the Lord's Supper.  Calvin notes, "For Baptism testifies that we are washed and purified; the Supper of the Eucharist that we are redeemed. Ablution is figured by water, satisfaction by blood. Both are found in Christ, who, as John says, "came by water and blood;" that is, to purify and redeem." 

4.14.23.

The Old Testament sacraments were not without meaning as Calvin explains.  "The fathers ate of the same spiritual food, and explains that that food was Christ (1 Cor. 10:3), who will presume to regard as an empty sign that which gave a manifestation to the Jews of true communion with Christ . . . Nor can we justly attribute more to our baptism than he elsewhere attributes to circumcision, when he terms it a seal of the righteousness of faith (Rom. 4:11)."

4.14.24.

Some read the New Testament and think that it reflects great contempt for these outward signs.  But they misunderstand the apostles.   Where Paul may minimize the sacrament he is particularly "disputing against those who insisted upon it as necessary, after it had been abrogated. He therefore admonishes believers to lay aside ancient shadows, and cleave to truth."  But in doing so Paul does not dismiss the sacrament.  It is as if he said, "You have, therefore, a manifestation of the reality, and this is far better than the shadow. Still any one might have answered, that the figure was not to be despised because they had the reality . . .."

4.14.25. - 4.14.26.

In regard to these Old Covenant ceremonies "Paul does not represent the ceremonies as shadowy because they had nothing solid in them, but because their completion was in a manner suspended until the manifestation of Christ." This helps explain difficult texts like Hebrews 10:1.  Augustine, to whom Calvin often pleads, sums it up this way: "The sacraments of the Mosaic law foretold Christ, ours announce him."