© koninklijke brill nv, leiden,  | doi:./- Journal of Reformed Theology  () – brill.com/jrt “His Death Manifested Its Power and Efficacy in Us” The Role of Christ’s Resurrection in John Calvin’s Theology Edwin Chr. van Driel Pittsburgh Theological Seminary vandriel@pts.edu Abstract Even while Calvin affirms the reality of the resurrection of the flesh, Christ’s resurrec- tion does only very limited work in Calvin’s theological imagination. It is only revelatory and applicatory of a transformative event that has previously occurred. For Calvin, the full measure of salvation is obtained in Christ’s death, not in his resurrection. Christ’s resurrection makes us aware of this salvific reality and allows us to be drawn into it, but it does not inaugurate a salvific transformation itself. Moreover, while Calvin holds that Christ’s resurrection is a guarantee and model for our resurrection, embodiment plays no role in his eschatological vision. Keywords John Calvin – resurrection – eschatology – embodiment – Christology What kind of work does Christ’s resurrection do in John Calvin’s theology? How does it shape the ways in which Calvin tells the story of God and creation; and, in particular, how does Christ’s resurrection shape Calvin’s eschatological imag- ination? These are the questions of this essay. As far as I am aware, no studies have been devoted to these questions. Maybe this is because Calvin himself pays so scant attention to Christ’s resurrection. 1 Some attention is given to Christ’s resurrection in books devoted to wider christological issues in Calvin; but these studies do not probe in any depth the work of Christ’s resurrection in his larger theological narrative. Cf. E. Emmen, De Christologie van Calvijn (Amsterdam: H.J. Paris, 1935), 105–107; Paul van Buren, Christ in Our Place: The Substitutionary Character of Calvin’s Doctrine of Reconciliation (Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, 1957), 81–89; Stephen Edmondson, Calvin’s Christology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), 133–136.