John Calvin on Authority of Scripture
Scripture alone is the final, only infallible authority
Nothing therefore can be more absurd than the fiction, that the power of judging Scripture is in the Church, and that on her nod its certainty depends. When the Church receives it, and gives it the stamp of her authority, she does not make that authentic which was otherwise doubtful or controverted but, acknowledging it as the truth of God, she... shows her reverence by an unhesitating assent.
THE POSITION
Scripture is the final norm, and its authority is not conferred by the church. Calvin calls the contrary claim — that Scripture matters only so far as the church concedes it — "a most pernicious error" (Institutes I.vii.1), and answers it from Ephesians 2:20: the foundation must precede the building, so the apostolic doctrine "was certainly ascertained and sanctioned antecedently to the Church, since, but for this, the Church herself never could have existed" (I.vii.2). What actually persuades a reader is the internal testimony of the Holy Spirit, which he says is superior to reason, so that Scripture "deigns not to submit to proofs and arguments" (I.vii.5).
20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone.
18 OTHERS HOLD THIS
ABOUT THIS FIGURE
Reformer of Geneva and the most systematic of the first-generation Reformers. This entry rests on the 1559 Institutes of the Christian Religion in Henry Beveridge's translation, checked section by section, with Calvin's own commentaries on 1 John, John, the Harmony of the Evangelists, the Psalms and the Harmony of the Law used where the Institutes are thin.
Cite this page
"John Calvin on Authority of Scripture", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/calvin/scripture-authority (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/calvin/scripture-authority).