The Church Remains God’s
Peter, indeed, expressly gives the churches this title, in order that we may know that whatever men ascribe to themselves is taken away from the Lord, as in many places he calls the Church his peculiar treasure, and the rod of his heritage, when he intends to claim his entire dominion over it; for he never delivers to pastors the government, but only the care, so that his own right remains still complete.
Commentaries on the Catholic Epistles
p. 146
John Calvin. Commentaries on the Catholic Epistles. Translated by John Owen. Edinburgh: The Calvin Translation Society, 1855.