Jeff,

Classical mysticism that is prevelant in history like you will find in
Madame Guyon, is not what Calvin supported or advanced and I seem to
believe that Calvin would call some of the classical mysticists heretics.

Having said that, you are delving into a spiritual realm of Baptism and
the Lord's Supper.  Unfortunately, Baptists have done something to these
ordinances that I believe to be disheartening... they only believe the two
are "symbolic".  Yet, I do believe they are much more than that or else,
why would such warnings and punishments be given by God and warnings to a
church if the ordinances are merely symbolic in nature.  Thus,
historically, many theologians have struggled with exactly the spiritual
nature that is present in the ordinances.  Calvin, does believe they are
totally spiritual in nature but would reject consubstantiation and
transsubstantion.  Yet, He does believe the ordinances are spiritual as
well as symbolic.

Does that make him mystic?  I do not see the common threads of mysticism
in this argument nor the practice of mysticism in his argument in the
Institutes.

Derick

> Greetings, not wanting to debate Calvinism.
>
> Would like a clear understanding on Calvin's "mystical union"
>
> Two things  1) Was Calvin involved with 'mysticism'?    What is meant by
> "classical mysticism"?
>
> 2) The "sacrament of baptism", coming out of RCC is this baptismal
> regeneration? was this baptism sprinkling?
>
> jeff
>
> The following quotation comes from Keith A. Mathison's book 'Given for
> You:
> Reclaiming Calvin's Doctrine of the Lord's Supper'.  As Christians, we
> have
> the unbelievable and wonderful privilege of being united to the Living
> Christ!  Calvin explains how our union with Christ and the Lord's Supper
> help us to understand this union by Christ's Spirit, but also how that
> union
> can grow and be strengthened.
>
>
>
> "Calvin understood that Christ is the Christian's source of life and
> nourishment and that for this reason believers must be united to him.  The
> Father has life in himself and has granted the Son to have life in himself
> (John 5:26).  Jesus has come to give eternal life to the world (John 6:33;
> cf. 1 John 5:11).  That Christ is the believer's source of life is vividly
> illustrated in the Bread of Life discourse (John 6).  Christ is the living
> bread, and those who partake of this bread will live forever (6:51)...
>
>
>
> ...The bond of our union with Christ, as Calvin explains, is the Holy
> Spirit: 'The bond of this connection is therefore the Spirit of Christ,
> with
> whom we are joined in unity, and is like a channel through which all that
> Christ himself is and has is conveyed to us.'...The Holy Spirit bridges
> the
> gap between individual Christians and Christ by uniting then with him.  By
> virtue of this mystical union with Christ, divine life (eternal life) is
> communicated to believers.  Christ is the true Vine.  We are the branches
> who abide in the true Vine.  The divine life of the true Vine is only able
> to pass to the branches because the Holy Spirit grafts those branches into
> the Vine.
>
>
>
> Calvin explains that each of the two sacraments [baptism and the Lord's
> Supper] is related to the believer's mystical union with Christ.  The
> sacrament of baptism is connected with the believer's initial union with
> Christ.  *The sacrament of the Lord's Supper is connected with the
> believer's ongoing union with Christ.  In the Lord's Supper, the believer
> is
> nourished and sustained, and his communion and union with Christ is
> strengthened and increased*.  The Lord's Supper is intimately tied to the
> believer's ongoing sanctification and growth in grace.  Those who do
> not *regularly
> partake of the Lord's Supper* separate themselves from their source of
> nourishment and life." -Keith A. Mathison, 'Given for You', pages 275-76.
>
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> "In essential things, unity; in non-essential things, liberty; and in all
> things, charity."
>