Circumstances and Commentary about John Calvin and Frequent Communion
“The cause for conflict that eventually led to Calvin's expulsion from Geneva lay in the Lord's Supper. Calvin wanted it to be celebrated on a weekly basis. As the sign and seal of the Word, it was only to be expected that the Word would be followed by the sacrament. This had been a tradition established for centuries, so why should it be changed? The city council, however, considered this too radical a departure from what Bern and Zurich were accustomed to. They also thought it a little too ‘Romish,’ and feared the people might get the same impression. Calvin cleverly suggested instead that the Lord's Supper be celebrated once every four weeks, rotating among the four churches in Geneva. The council saw right through this proposal, however, and the syndics and councilors of Geneva decided that four celebrations per year would suffice. The millions of Reformed believers throughout the world who continue to uphold this practice are thus out of line with Calvin and are actually defending the position of the much less Reformed politicians of sixteenth-century Geneva.”
Herman J. Selderhuis (John Calvin: A Pilgrim's Life, 2009, 79-80)
HT: PCA Pastor, Jon Payne
G. Mark Sumpter
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