A Long Overview of John Calvin's
Institutes of the Christian Religion
A longer overview of John Calvin's
theology taken from the Institutes of the Christian . This is a summary
form, by Dr. C. Matthew McMahon.
Analysis
of Calvin's Prefatory Address to Francis I
Book
1
Chapter
1: The Knowledge of God and That of Ourselves Are
Connected
Chapter
2: What It Is to Know God
Chapter
3: Knowledge of God Has Been Naturally Implanted
in the Minds of Men
Chapter
4: This Is Either Smothered or Corrupted, Partly by
Ignorance and Malice
Chapter
5: The Knowledge of God Shines Forth in the Fashioning of
the Universe
Chapter
6: Scripture Is Needed as Guide and Teacher
Chapter
7: Scripture Must Be Confirmed by the Witness of the
Spirit
Chapter
8: The Credibility of Scripture
Chapter
9: Fanatics, Abandoning Scripture Cast Down Principles of
Godliness
Chapter
10: Scripture Sets the True God Alone over Against All
Other Gods
Chapter
11: It Is Unlawful to Attribute a Visible Form to God
Chapter
12: God Is Distinguished from Idols, so That He Alone
May Be Worshiped
Chapter
13: God is One Essence, Which Contains Within Itself
Three Persons
Chapter
14: Scripture Marks Distinguishes the True God from
False Gods
Chapter
15: Discussion of Human Nature as Created
Chapter
16: God Nourishes and Maintains the World by His
Providence
Chapter
17: How We May Apply the Doctrine of Providence to Our
Greatest Benefit
Chapter
18: God Uses the Works of the Ungodly, and He Remains
Pure
Book
2
Chapter
1: Human Race Delivered to the Curse
Chapter
2: Man Has Now Been Deprived of Freedom of Choice
Chapter
4: How God Works in Men's Hearts
Chapter
5: The Knowledge of God Shines Forth in the Fashioning of
the Universe
Chapter
6: Fallen Man Ought to Seek Redemption in Christ
Chapter
7: The Law was Given to Foster Hope of Salvation in
Christ
Chapter
8: Explanation of the Moral law (The Ten Commandments)
Chapter
9: Christ Was at Length Clearly Revealed Only in the
Gospel
Chapter
10: The Similarity of the Old and New Testaments
Chapter
11: The Difference between the Two Testaments
Chapter
12: Christ Had to Become Man in Order to Fulfill the
Office of Mediator
Chapter
13: Christ Assumed the True Substance of Human Flesh
Chapter
14: How the Two Natures of the Mediator Make One Person
Chapter
16: How Christ Has Fulfilled the Function of Redeemer
Chapter
17: Christ Has Merited God's Grace and Salvation for Us
Book
3
Chapter
1: Christ Profits us by the working of the Holy Spirit.
Chapter
2: Faith: Its definition and properties explained
Chapter
3: Our Regeneration by Faith: Repentance
Chapter
4: Discussion of Confession and Satisfaction
Chapter
5: The Supplements they Add to Satisfaction –
Indulgences and Purgatory
Chapter
6: The Life of the Christian Man
Chapter
7: The Sum of the Christian Life – The Denial of
Ourselves
Chapter
8: Bearing the Cross – Part of Self denial
Chapter
9: Meditation on the Future Life
Chapter
10: How we must use the Present Life and its Helps
Chapter
11: Justification by Faith: First the Definition of the
Word and the Matter
Chapter
12: Lift our minds to God’s Judgment Seat to
Understand Justification
Chapter
13: Two Things to Be Notes in Free Justification
Chapter
14: The Beginning of Justification and its Continual
Progress
Chapter
15: What Boasting About Good Works Does to Us
Chapter
16: Refutation of the False Accusations by the Papists
Chapter
17: The Agreement of the Promises of the Law and of the
Gospel
Chapter
18: Works-Righteousness Is Wrongly Inferred from Reward
Chapter
19: Christian Freedom
Chapter
20: Prayer
Chapter
21: Eternal Election
Chapter
22: Confirmation of this Doctrine from Scriptural
Testimonies
Chapter
23: Refutation of the False Accusations Against
Predestination
Chapter
25: The Final Resurrection
Book
4
Chapter
1: The True Church
Chapter
2: A Comparison of the False and True Church
Chapter
3: The Doctors and Ministers of the Church
Chapter
4: The Condition of the Ancient Church in Government
Chapter
5: The Ancient Form of Government Overthrown by
the Papacy
Chapter
6: The Primacy of the Roman See
Chapter
7:The Origin and Growth of the roman Papacy
Chapter
8: The Power of the church with respect to the Articles
of Faith
Chapter
9: Councils and Their Authority
Chapter
10: The power of Making Laws
Chapter
11:The Jurisdiction of the Church and its Abuse
Chapter
12: The Discipline of the Church
Chapter
13: Vows
Chapter
14: The Sacraments
Chapter
15: Baptism
Chapter
16: Infant Baptism
Chapter
17: The Sacred Supper of Christ
Chapter
18: The Papal Mass a Sacrilege to the Lord’s Supper
Chapter
19: The
Five Other Cer
emonies.
Chapter
20: Civil Government
An
Overview of Calvin’s “Institutes of the Christian Religion”
By
C. Matthew McMahon
Analysis
of Calvin's Prefatory Address to Francis I
The
circumstances in which the book was first written rest on the original
intention to set forth, especially for French countrymen, certain
basics of religion for those zealous to keep the faith. However, there
was a shift in the purpose of work due to the persecution of and false
rumors about the Evangelicals, and thus there is a request for a fair
inquiry by a truly Christian king to overthrow the persecution and
restore the true faith.
There
are a number or reasons why the King should come to the aid of the
righteous and why those who would oppose the Reformation and the Institutes
should heed Christian doctrine: 1) there are misleading claims that the
church fathers opposed the Reformation teaching (Romans rites are of no
consequence against the Word of God); 2) These antagonists have an
appeal that custom is against truth, and most custom is the result of
the private vices of the majority which become public error and wrongly
take on the force of law; 3) they have many errors about the nature of
the church (the true church eternal, wherein all believing folk worship
and adore one God and Christ the Lord, is always observable, and
contains the pure preaching of God's Word and the lawful administration
of the sacraments); 3) that there are alleged tumults that have resulted
from the Reformation preaching a. shifting of Satan's strategy; 4) that
the king should beware of acting on false charges, for the innocent
await divine vindication. Whatever
the king does in these respects, the righteous will trust in the King of
Kings to ultimately vindicate them.
Institutes
of the Christian Religion,
Book 1
Chapter
1: The Knowledge of God and That of Ourselves Are Connected
Without
knowledge of “self” there is no knowledge of God, for our real
wisdom is confined almost entirely to how these relate to one another.
We must have a solid knowledge of God and a right knowledge of
ourselves. Everything we
do, and all providences around us (all our rich blessings) are
acknowledged as from God, reveal our poverty and ruin that “in turn
compel us to look Godward.” There we seek what we lack and we learn humility.
We cannot seriously contemplate the knowledge of God before we
begin to become displeased with ourselves, for without knowledge of God
there is no knowledge of self. If
we “hypocritically confine our contemplation to ourselves” and do
not go beyond to contemplate God, we complacently praise our own
virtues. The moment our
thoughts rise to God and His excellences, we see our “virtues” as
wicked, foolish, and weak.
What
is man before God's majesty? Man
is in a painful and lowly state, and must be made aware of such things. Such an estate is clearly seen when God demonstrates His
presence to men. Such is
the case of the Old Testament patriarchs when confronted by God's
majesty: Job, Abraham, Elijah.
The
proposed order of teaching, then, is to first begin with the knowledge
of God, and then move onto the knowledge of ourselves.
This is the acceptable and right manner for the Christian to come
to understand God’s revelation of Himself.
The
knowledge of God is, in practice, reverence to the majesty of his
person. There are two
aspects of the knowledge of God in this way: 1) to feel that God our
creator sustains and blesses us (the present topic that he is covering),
and 2) to embrace the reconciliation offered us in Christ (which Calvin
will deal with later).
Where
does piety come from? God
does not only, by His power, create and sustain the world, but is also
the source and cause of all that is good and right.
Thus, the awareness of God's excellences teaches us piety, the
source of religion. Piety
is the reverence of God joined with love of God which the knowledge of
His benefits induces.
The
purpose of the knowledge of God is to teach us fear and reverence, and
to guide us to seek every good from Him and give Him credit when
received. Those who hold a
pious mind toward God are utterly dependent upon Him for all things.
Their minds are consumed by Him and Him alone.
As Calvin says, “Even if there were no hell, it [the pious
mind] would still shudder at offending Him”
Piety
drives us to consider a formal definition of our attitude towards God in
terms of our religion. The
definition of pure and real religion is “faith so joined with an
earnest fear of God that this fear also embraces willing reverence, and
carries with it such legitimate worship as is prescribed in the law.”
Chapter
3: Knowledge of God Has
Been Naturally Implanted in the Minds of Men
The
knowledge of God is a natural “endowment” that should be considered
universal to all men. It is
in all men by natural instinct. It
makes the failure to worship God rightly inexcusable to them and their
sin. It is found even among
the most barbarous peoples of the world.
It is found throughout all times and places.
Proof s of this emerge form the blatant universal idolatry as
proof, for no man willingly humbles himself to something outside,
himself. The very fact that
people worship wood and stone evidence the “intense and ineradicable
impression of the divine” on their minds.
Religion
is not an arbitrary invention as some charge that it was invented by
subtle unbelieving men to enslave the simple.
However, this would not have been possible if there were no
natural awareness of deity in simple men's minds.
The very fact that men worship something demonstrates the reality
that God exists, for they would worship nothing if it were not implanted
in their nature and God did not exist.
Men
themselves had no inkling of religion though proofs of religion exist in
even the most ungodly. For
men often turn to religion when under stress or great fear (e.g., Gaius,
Caligula). Like “drunken
or frenzied persons” they are fitful in their slumber.
For while their awareness of God varies in power, it is never
totally absent.
Actual
godliness is impossible by men. This
demonstrates the ineffaceable sense of divinity as engraved upon men's
minds, for even the perversity of the impious demonstrates this.
The awareness of God is our endowment from birth, not a doctrine
to be learned at school, for the worship of God alone distinguishes man
from animals.
Chapter
4: This Is Either Smothered or Corrupted, Partly by Ignorance and
Malice
Superstition
is the real piety and true knowledge of God as absent in the world.
It is a warping of this true knowledge into a twisted untruth.
Some men intentionally revolt from God.
Others become lost in superstition
Superstition
involves pride and obstinacy, and measuring God by one's own “stupid
measure”, and wildly speculating about His nature and about how He
should be worshiped. It is
an invention of men taken from the truth.
Superstition is the result of vain curiosity, an inordinate
desire for too much knowledge and false confidence.
It is therefore, inexcusable in terms of defiling true religion.
Men
consciously turn away from God as Psalm 14:1 states, “Fools feel in
their hearts that there is no God.”
Here the hardened sinner repels all remembrance of God and some
flatly deny God's existence, not in the sense of depriving Him of His
being, but in denying His providence and government of the world.
We
cannot conceive of God according to our own whim which become vague and
erroneous opinions of the divine God.
We cannot fabricate our own religion, for only true religion is
right before God. Thus, if
you forsake God, you have left only an accursed idol and hence, no
religion is genuine unless it is joined with truth.
Hypocrisy
is the result of all those that trample true religion for it emerges
from a forced fear of their own devising of God’s nature.
Such irreligious men desire to overthrow God and His judgment.
They are rebels at heart, and pretend obedience to God in their
sacrifices and observances, but their lives are marked by sheer
immorality.
Chapter
5: The Knowledge of God Shines Forth in the Fashioning of the
Universe
The
clarity of God's self-disclosure strips us of every excuse like the
divinely implanted awareness of deity, the daily disclosure of God in
the workmanship of the universe is intended to provide us with the
knowledge of God; this is the ultimate goal of the blessed life.
God's
wisdom remains secret to no one for we see it through the human arts and
sciences, through close observation of nature, and it affords men a
deeper insight into the mysteries of the divine wisdom, but even for the
uneducated, there is more than enough in the natural world to reveal to
them the divine wisdom; the structure of the human body will do this.
What we see is that man is the loftiest proof of divine wisdom.
But
man turns ungratefully against God despite the divine source of these
endowments, and takes credit for himself and self-love suppress the
impulse to praise God. Instead they confuse the creature with the Creator.
The
creator reveals His lordship over the creation, but men despise it.
God has government and judgment over all things, and is sovereign
over the life of men. Men
though rebel against such sovereignty and think they can escape the
dominion of God by reprobate thoughts.
The
purpose of the knowledge of God is twofold: 1) to arouse us to worship
God and 2) to encourage us to hope for eternal life.
However, such knowledge in natural revelation is not enough.
All the evidences of God in nature speak to us in vain because
our powerlessness is guilt, and our fallen constitution before God.
Chapter
6: Scripture Is Needed as Guide and Teacher
God
bestows the actual knowledge of Himself upon us only in the Scriptures,
not through natural revelation. Despite
the universal disclosure of God in natural revelation, we require
another and better help to direct us to its Creator. This
help we have in God's Word which first kept the Jews from “sinking
into oblivion,” and now keeps Christians in the pure knowledge of
Himself.
The
Scripture gives us two stages in the knowledge of God as Creator: 1) not
only that we should worship some God, but 2) that He is the God whom we
should worship. We should
not then misunderstand we need to know God as Redeemer (which will be
dealt with in Book 2).
The
Word of God is God’s revelation of Himself to us and is His Holy
Scripture. It is the
unbroken transmission of truth throughout all ages.
God spoke to the patriarchs through oracles and visions or by the
works and ministry of men what they should hand down to posterity, and
these oracles were subsequently recorded when the law was published.
Later on the prophets were added as interpreters of the law.
Here, then, true religion (faith and right knowledge) has its
origin in heavenly doctrine, which we can know only through the reverent
study of Scripture and obedient acceptance of what God has there been
pleased to witness of Himself.
Without
Scripture we fall into error and our sinfulness makes the written proof
of heavenly doctrine very necessary.
In this Word is described God to us from His works.
This Scripture can communicate to us what revelation in works
cannot.
Chapter
7: Scripture Must Be Confirmed by the Witness of the Spirit
Scripture
has its authority from God, not from the church.
Scripture has full authority only where men consider it as God's
living words coming out of heaven.
It is a horrible error that the authority of Scripture rests upon
the determination of the church, which is Rome’s position.
This is based upon the absurd notion that the promises of eternal
life given in Scripture consist in and solely depend upon human
judgment, which, rather, they depend upon the Scriptures.
The
church is itself grounded upon Scripture, not Scripture upon the church
(Ephesians 2:20). The Roman
Catholics claim that the prophetic and apostolic writings remain in
doubt until the church decides upon their authenticity is refuted by
the fact that the acceptance of Scripture had to precede the founding
of the church. Rather,
Scripture exhibits clear evidence of its own truth and needs no external
witness.
The
witness of the Holy Spirit is stronger than all “proof” when we are
convinced that God in person speaks in Scripture, we have the highest
proof of the credibility of sacred doctrine.
This conviction comes to us not from mere human reason or
judgments, or conjectures, but from the secret testimony of the Spirit.
It does not come from rational proofs, but the majesty of God
shining forth from Scripture. It
is of heavenly origin.
Scripture
bears its own authentication. Our
conviction is that in Scripture the unassailable truth rests upon the
testimony of the Spirit in our hearts.
He must witness to us. This
self-attestation the faithful experience within themselves, for only the
elect of God experience this singular privilege of the Spirit’s
testimony bearing witness.
Chapter
8: The Credibility of Scripture
Scripture
is superior to all human wisdom.
That which draws us to the Scripture is the grandeur of subject
rather than grace of language. God
wisely expressed great themes in lowly language to remind us that the
power of Scripture rests not human eloquence but in its divine source.
It is not the style but the content of Scripture that is
decisive.
The
truthfulness of Scripture is shown by many examples: Moses' miracles
demonstrate that he was God's prophet.
Prophecies [by Moses] were fulfilled contrary to all human
expectations. God has
confirmed the prophet's words as with Isaiah foretelling the fall of
Jerusalem to the Chaldeans. Daniel
prophesied as if he were writing the history.
Here we see also that the transmission of the law is to be
trusted, for the hand of the divine providence, seen in the preservation
of the law and its rediscovery by King Josiah after the priest’s
negligence, is incontestable. God
has marvelously preserved the law and the prophets for God chose the
Jews, Christ's most violent enemies, to preserve for us the doctrine of
salvation until it might be made manifest in Him.
Even in the New Testament the heavenly mysteries were transmitted
by unlearned men. The first
three Evangelists, criticized for their lowly style, are discoursing on
heavenly mysteries above human capacity, as of John's Gospel.
These “rude and uneducated men” began to speak of heavenly
mysteries—proof positive of their instruction by the Spirit.
Even the blood of martyrs is grounds for assurance for theirs is
not the faith of fanatic excess, but of firm and constant truth, and
sober, zeal toward God.
Chapter
9: Fanatics, Abandoning Scripture Cast Down Principles of Godliness
The
fanatics wrongly appeal to the Holy Spirit (such as the Anabaptists).
The Libertines forsake Scripture in favor of the inspiration for
they believe that by the Spirit, they have freed themselves from “the
letter that kills” wrongly interpreting the Scripture.
The
Apostles in the primitive church, illumined by Christ’s Spirit, did
not on that account treat God's Word with contempt, and acted quite
differently in accord with the Scriptures.
Their reverent attitude is foretold by Isa. 59:21, and was
witnessed by Paul, who despite his ecstatic experience (1 Cor. 12:2)
insists upon knowing the law and prophets. Thus, the task of the Spirit is not to dream up a new kind of
doctrine that leads away from the gospel, rather it should substantiate
what has already been said.
The
Holy Spirit is recognized on this point by His agreement with Scripture.
In order to stay in tune with the Spirit in the same manner, we
must apply ourselves to reading and hearing Scripture.
Any spirit that presses another doctrine upon us than that of
God's Word is vain and lying. The Libertines contend that it is not worthy for the Spirit
(to whom all things should be subject) to be subject to Scripture.
However, this is to judge the Spirit by standards inferior to His
own when He is to be compared solely with Himself.
The Spirit is the author of Scripture and on Scripture His image
is stamped.
The
Word and Spirit belong inseparably together for there the Holy Spirit so
attaches to His truth, that only when its proper reverence and dignity
are given to the Word does He show forth His power.
Chapter
10: Scripture Sets the True God Alone over Against All Other Gods
The
Scriptural doctrine of God the Creator is the knowledge of God set forth
in the created universe that is also expressed in the Word.
The covenant with Israel eventuating in the coming of the
Redeemer is not at presently considered, rather, those Scriptural
passages which describe how God, the Maker of heaven and earth, governs
the world—His goodness, His righteous vengeance, and His
forbearance—are expressed.
The
attributes of God according to Scripture agree with those known in His
creatures, and Scripture shows us not as He is in Himself, but as He is
toward us: in kindness, goodness, mercy, justice, judgment, and truth
(Exodus 34:6-7; Psalm 145; Jeremiah 9:24 and 1 Corinthians 1:31 serve as
good examples). The purpose
of this knowledge of God is fear leading to trust, leading to true
worship, leading to full dependence upon Him.
Scripture
rejects all gods of the heathen as idols mute and dumb. Polytheists never completely lost the awareness that there
was really only one God, rather they distorted the creature to become
God. Their persistence in
polytheism is evidence of their own vanity and of Satan's deceptions,
and is inexcusable since they exchange the truth of God for a lie and
worship the creature rather than the Creator.
Everyone, from the rude multitude to the sophisticated
philosophers, have corrupted the truth of God.
Chapter
11: It Is Unlawful to Attribute a Visible Form to God
We
are forbidden to create any pictorial representation of God in any way.
This is the sum of the Ten Commandments that prohibit idol making
and directly follows upon the insistence of one God.
Every figurative representation of God contradicts His being and
Moses, Isaiah, and Paul speak out against visible images of God as
dishonorable to His majesty. Even
enlightened pagans like Seneca condemn this.
The
direct signs of the divine presence (theophanies) give no
justification for images. Such
direct manifestations of the divine presence as appear in Scripture are
intended to restrain men's curiosity, to teach God's invisibility, or to
prelude God's future revelation in Christ b. the Cherubim of the mercy
seat belonged to the pedagogy of
the
old Covenant and have no place in our spiritually more mature age.
Some
believe that pictures are “books to the uneducated.”
However, Scripture rejects images even in this way.
The prophets of God taught that anything of God learned from
images is futile and false, because the two are unalterably opposed.
The
doctors of the church also partly reject them, and this due to the
flagrant violation of images used by the papists which are entirely
inappropriate. They desire
to make images based on man's desire for a tangible deity, but this is
and leads to idolatry and image worship in the church.
However,
art should not be despised so long as it is used lawfully.
Paintings and sculpture are gifts of God to depict things which
the eyes are capable of seeing, not God who is invisible and who has
forbidden any pictorial representation of Himself.
Chapter
12: God Is Distinguished from Idols, so That He Alone May Be
Worshiped
True
religion binds us to God as the one and only God.
The definition of “religion” Scriptural insistence upon one
God also implies that nothing of His divinity is to be transferred to
another. Thus, both religio
and eusebia suggest ordered worship, and the avoidance of
confusion in this matter. The
Scriptures also demonstrate that God combats the universal perversion of
religion among men showing Himself as a jealous God.
Thus, God desires a true religion made up of His law and right
worship combined to conform man to His will.
Men are restrained in this way from entering into rites with
“lesser deities” under the pretence of worshipping the supreme God.
The
“worship” and “veneration” of idols are the same thing a. the
distinction between latria and dulia was invented to allow
the transference of divine honors to angels and the dead.
In Greek dulia means service, and latria means
worship. Since service is higher than worship, the Papists are
actually giving more honor to the saints than to God.
Idol
worship is an attempt to rob God of His being and to appropriate it to
the creature. Scriptural
usage shows the invalidity of the Romanists' false distinction between dulia
and latria, and denies to men and angels the right to receive the
highest worship. This is
where saint worship originates and the transference of observances of
piety to another other than God take place.
In this way the divine honors the sun, stars, idols and vain men
steal what is due God. They
offer sacrifices indiscriminately to lesser deities, lesser gods, or
dead heroes.
The
orthodox position on the Trinity is bound up in the transcendence,
unity, and spirituality of God, though limited by theological terms.
There are three “persons” in the Godhead which distinguish
God more precisely from idols. There is one essence or ousia in God, but three
persons, hypostases, substances, or better, subsistences, each
distinct from the other. Various heretics such as Arius, Sabellius,
Servetus and others have corrupted this doctrine surrounding the Christ
and a twisting of his divinity into something other.
The
deity of the “Word”, or the Son, is mentioned in the Old Testament
as well as the New Testament and is not a mere utterance but rather the
everlasting wisdom, residing with God, and the source of all prophecies. The unchangeable, the Word, abides everlastingly one and the
same with God, and is God Himself,. This witness is both attested by the
Old and New Testament, even demonstrated by the miracles of Christ as He
lived on earth..
The
deity of the Spirit is demonstrated in His work; His activity seen in
tending of the chaotic mass [Gen. 1:2] and then in the adorning of the
universe with order and beauty in creation.
The Spirit shared with God the sending of the prophets and is the
cause of essence, life, and growth in created things. He is the author
of regeneration into incorruptible life, by His very own energy, and the
bestower of wisdom and speech, as well as the giver of justification,
power, sanctification, truth, grace, and every good.
Through Him we enter the fellowship of God to enjoy these d.
therefore the Spirit shares in God's power and resides hypo-statically
in God.
In
attempting to distinguish the Father, Son, and Spirit shows our
inadequacy of human comparisons. We
must simply rest on Scripture: Father = beginning of activity; fountain
and wellspring of all things; the Son = wisdom, counsel (plan), and
ordered dispensation of all things and the Holy Spirit = power and
efficacy of that activity which is a distinction of order, not of time.
In each hypostasis the whole nature is to be understood, but to each
belongs His special characteristic.
Chapter
14: Scripture Marks Distinguishes the True God from False Gods
The
work of the six days shows God's goodness toward men a. the six days
make allowance for our brief attention span and bid our reason
contemplate, in obedience of faith and looking to the quiet of the
seventh day, the works of God b. the six days also show us God's
fatherly care in providing for man's every need before man's creation.
In either the created order, or in the invisible realties of the
heavenly hosts, we should give God glory for His works around us.
God
also created actual angels. In
Scripture they are known as messengers: intermediaries whereby God
manifests Himself to men. The
angels are protectors of believers as the Old Testament shows instances
of angels protecting men from harm.
Even in the New Testament Christ was ministered to by angels in
His tribulations, and His coming and resurrection were announced by
them. However, angels must
not divert us from directing our gaze to the Lord alone and are intended
to lead us to God.
As
angelic host help in God’s plan, so demons are in opposition to His
work, though under His control. Scripture warns us against the adversary and equips us for
combat against the adversary. Scriptural
references to devils (in the plural) remind us of the vast host of
enemies against us, that we may not slacken our efforts and the
references to Satan (in the singular) set the kingdom of wickedness
over against the kingdom of righteousness, the church of the saints
over against the faction of the impious.
Yet, the devil stands under God's power and Satan can only act
with God's permission and sufferance.
Man
proceeded spotless from God's hand; therefore he may not push the blame
for his sins on the Creator. He
is the noblest example of God's justice, wisdom, and goodness and such a
knowledge of ourselves is required for us to come to a clear and
complete knowledge of God.
Man
was created in diversity: of body and soul.
The soul is an immortal yet created essence, man's nobler part
(the spirit being a synonym for “soul” except when the two words are
used together). Men were
created in God's image, in a spiritual sense.
God's image is the perfect excellence of human nature which shone
in Adam before the fall, but was subsequently so vitiated and almost
blotted out that nothing remains after the ruin except what is confused,
mutilated, disease-ridden. Therefore in some part it now appears in the
elect, insofar as they have been reborn in the spirit; but it will
attain its full splendor in heaven. This soul is created by God and is not a sort of emanation of
His nature.
The
soul is an incorporeal substance that dwells as the animating principle
in the body. It is a
reasonable soul where the understanding and will are the fundamental
powers distinguishing between objects to be approved or disapproved.
Such a will is the leader and governor of the soul.
It chooses and follows what the understanding pronounces good
and eschews what it disapproves. The
mind was given to man to distinguish good from evil, right from wrong,
what should be followed from what should be avoided.
Creation
and providence inseparably joined for God who once created all things,
and who gives them sufficient energy to carry on by themselves
thereafter is the preserver of all He has created.
This is the doctrine of providence.
God’s Providence includes all things on earth, including human
affairs, for there is no such thing as fortune or chance.
Scriptures tells us that all things happen in accord with God's
will – events, inanimate objects, which do act according to their own
properties and under God's ever-present direction including the sun, in
all its power and glory, is at God's command.
The
nature of providence is not mere foreknowledge but active governance of
events. God not only
watches over but exercises a special care over each of His works. God
actively regulates all individual events, so that nothing takes place by
chance.
God's
providence also directs the individual and especially relates to men.
Even as the universe was established especially for mankind, so
also is this the purpose of His governance of it for no man can act, or
even speak, except as God wills.
God's
providence also regulates natural occurrences such as the wind (no wind
ever arises or increases except by God's express command) or the power
of procreation, or nourishment. For all this God continues the order of nature.
The
true causes of events are hidden to us for the limits of the human mind
see as fortuitous those things which are actually ordered by God's
purpose. In this sense
“fate” and “fortune” are used in Scripture to explain events
seemingly contingent, but known by faith to derive from a secret impulse
of God.
Divine
providence must be considered with regard to the future as well as the
past; sometimes through an intermediary, sometimes without an
intermediary; sometimes contrary to an intermediary.
Through it God reveals His concern for the whole human race, but
especially His vigilance in ruling the church
God's
providence does not excuse us from due prudence for he has set limits to
our life by his eternal decrees, though this does not hinder us from
using the means and remedies He has given us for the preservation of
our life (for even folly and prudence are instruments of his plan).
Nor do the wicked acts of men overthrow providence.
In His Word, God requires of us only what He commands; if we go
against His will, we are obstinate and disobedient; yet He uses even our
evil deeds to achieve His good end.
God's
providence is solace of believers in times of prosperity or poverty.
All things are under God's power; His care is to govern all
creatures for their good and safety. Thus in any condition we ought to have gratitude for
prosperity and patience in adversity with a freedom from worry about the
future. Since we know that
God is watching over us in His providence, this should help us in all
adversities allowing us to raise up our hearts to God, and to receive
patience and peaceful moderation of mind.
Without
the certainty of God's providence life would be unbearable.
Countless misfortunes meet us at every turn.
What a miserable life we would spend if we were tossed and thrown
about by blind fortune! Rather,
the certainty about God's providence puts joyous trust toward God in our
hearts and relieves us of fear and anxiety, and gives us comfort and
assurance. It teaches us
that even the devil and his angels are bound to God's service.
Some
believe that since there are passages which make it seem as though
“God repents” in the Old Testament that God has not determined the
affairs of men by an eternal decree, but decrees at each moment
according as He deems man fair and just.
However, God is not to be charged with repentance or with
ignorance or error or powerlessness.
Scripture speaks of God's “repentance” to make allowance for
our understanding and accommodation.
In the limits and weakness of our minds we cannot understand
God as He truly is, hence He must represent Himself to us not as He is,
but as He seems to us. He
does not really repent, it only seems that way to us.
God
does not simply allow wicked men by “permission” to accomplish His
ends. This is often said to
“preserve” God from the defilement of committing evil.
However, this distinction would suggest that there are areas of
existence over which God has no knowledge or control, or at least
acquiesces in a motion not directed by Himself, which is unscriptural. Rather, all the impious are so under God's power that He
directs their evil intent to whatever end seems good to Him, and uses
their wicked deeds to carry out His judgments—without any defilement
or blame on His part. Such
is the case of Job recognizing that God is the source of his trials, or
the blinding and insanity of Ahab (1 Kings 22:20,22) or the apostles
recognize Pilate and the Jews as merely carrying out what God has
decreed (Acts 4:28; cf. 2:23) or Absalom's incest was God's own work (2
Sam. 16:22) or the Chaldeans' cruelty toward Judah was God's work
according to Jeremiah (Jer. 1:15; 7:14; 50:25).
God's
“rod of His anger,” and like expressions in Scripture attest the
same thing, therefore God does not sit idly in a watchtower awaiting
chance events as if His judgments depended upon human will [which is the
Epicurean view]. But then
we must ask, “How does God's impulse come to pass in men?”
This is notably seen in the “hardening of Pharaoh's heart”.
It would be absurd to say that Pharaoh hardened his own heart,
rather, God's will is the cause. Man
while he is acted upon by God, yet at the same time himself acts.
God's
will is not divided but a complete unity.
It is only our incapacity of understanding that supposes that
there is any contradiction in God's will, any variation in Him, any
change in His plan, or disagreement with Himself.
Even when God uses the deeds of the godless for His purposes, He
does not suffer reproach. This
does not make god the author of wickedness.
God has decreed, thus, they will obey His will.
This is not wrong for God to do, for some men confuse “will”
and “precept”: “while God accomplishes through the wicked what
He has decreed by His secret judgment, they are not excusable, as if
they had obeyed his precept which out of their own lust they
deliberately break.”
Institutes
of the Christian Religion,
Book 2
Chapter
1: Human Race Delivered to the Curse
We
must have a right view of the knowledge of self, for what God gave us at
the creation and still gives us we must exercise, in holiness.
Man, by nature, is inclined to a deluded form of self-admiration.
Our carnal judgment suggests that we can know ourselves very
well, but if the standard of divine judgment is used, man is emptied of
self-confidence, driven to utter dejection and powerlessness.
We should consider the purpose for which we were created and
endowed— meditation upon divine worship and the future life and our
own lack of abilities which leads us into confusion since we are fallen.
Adam's
sin entailed the loss of man's original endowment and ruin of the whole
human race since he was our representative.
Adam was unfaithful and disobeyed occasioned by Satan’s
temptations. Man, then, had a contempt of the truth and an irreverence
toward God's Word. Thus,
unfaithfulness was the root of the fall.
All men, then are fallen as Ps. 51:5 states.
All men are endowed and imputed with original sin and have all
“died in Adam.” Original
sin is defined as a depravity of nature, which deserves punishment, but
which is not from nature as created.
Its nature “is a hereditary depravity and corruption of our
nature, diffused into all parts of the soul, which first makes us liable
to God's wrath then also brings forth in us “works of the flesh”
thus, we stand justly condemned and convicted before God, even infants,
for all are guilty not of another's fault but of their own in Adam.
Chapter
2: Man Has Now Been Deprived of Freedom of Choice
Men desire to be free, and the freedom of the will is asserted by all
philosophers. They are
mainly concerned with the relation of will to obedience to divine law.
All agree that free will does not suffice to enable man to do
good works, unless he is helped by special grace (received only by the
elect, through regeneration). That
man necessarily, but without compulsion, is a sinner, establishes no
doctrine of free will, for it is wrong to give man's willingness to sin
the inflated label and Augustine rather defines it as liberum
arbitrium. However, it
would be better to abolish the term, and rid the church of this
contention.
Self-knowledge rests on the awareness of our own powerlessness and the
slightest credit given to one's own effort impugns God's honor. Rather,
true humility gives God alone the honor.
This does not mean that the natural gifts of reason and will are
removed but corrupted by sin. If reason were completely removed, man would be indistinguishable
from the beasts. Such is
the reality of the social order as seen in the arts—liberal and
manual, the sciences, and by His general (common) grace for God limits
the corruption of nature by a special grace, and He endows each man
according to his calling. Spiritual discernment, though, is wholly lost
until we are regenerated. This limits our understanding with regard to God's kingdom
and spiritual insight for spiritual insight consists in knowing God’s
fatherly favor on our behalf of our salvation, as well as how to frame
our life according to the rule of His law which men fail at upholding.
The
corruption of man's nature is such as to require a total renewal of his
mind and will. The
blindness of fallen men makes their unrenewed understanding “stupid,
frivolous, insane, and perverse” in thought. (Rom. 3).
God's
grace sometimes restrains where it does not cleanse: the problem of the
unregenerate is that they do not have virtues that cleanse inwardly, but
they do at least inwardly restrain them from sin.
The restraining grace of God is necessary to make human life and
society possible. It is
accomplished by modes: restraint by shame, by fear of the law, and
because honesty is considered profitable in society.
Uprightness
is God's gift; but man's nature remains corrupted, for man sins of
necessity, without compulsion. Man
is powerless to move toward good by himself: Scripture ascribes such
movement entirely to God's grace, for in man's fallen state his will
remains eager to sin. The
conversion of the will is the effect of divine grace inwardly changing
his heart where he is “created anew” because God is the author of
spiritual life from beginning to end.
There
is the erroneous teaching of cooperation where the will, having been
prepared by God's power, then has its own part in the action of being
made new. Rather, God is
the sole source of good to give grace and faith. Not only does this change come from God, but its continuance
also is by Him alone: perseverance is exclusively God's work.
Thus, man’s will is not eliminated, as Augustine says, but
makes it wholly dependent upon grace.
Chapter
4: How God Works in Men's Hearts
Though
men are under Satan's control as the god of this world, Scripture Shows
God making use of man in hardening the heart of the reprobate.
Man stands under the devil's power willingly.
He is held by a yoke of slavery that he cannot escape from and is
in bondage to. But the
question remains, what is the devil's and what is man's part in the
action of sin? And does God have any role in the evil works in part
ascribed to Him by Scripture? There
are Scriptural examples of how God treats the godless: the first way is
to take away something they may need (Job 12:20; 12:24; Isa. 63:17).
The second way is through active hardening, such as with Pharaoh.
As Augustine says, “The fact that men sin is their own doing;
that they by sinning do this or that comes from the power of God, who
divides the darkness as He pleases.”
In this use of the wicked, Satan must also serve God.
God makes these evil instruments, which He holds under His hand
and can turn, wherever He pleases, to serve His justice.
God's
providence, then, overrules men's will in external matters, for numerous
Scriptural examples demonstrate that men's minds were more subject to
the Lord than ruled by themselves (Jacob's blessing on Joseph when he
thought him a heathen Egyptian, Saul impelled to war by the Spirit of
God, Absalom turned from Ahitophel's counsel, Rehoboam persuaded by the
young men's counsel, Rahab's confession that it was God who caused
nations to tremble at Israel's coming, etc.).
In each case God's dominion stands above our freedom.
Chapter
5: The Knowledge of God Shines Forth in the Fashioning of the
Universe
The
clarity of God's self-disclosure strips us of every excuse to reject his
ways. The daily disclosure
of God in the workmanship of the universe is intended to provide us
with the k | 