Unmistakable Marks of Glory

Calvin:

The final goal of the blessed life, moreover, rests in the knowledge of God. Lest anyone, then, be excluded from access to happiness, he not only sowed in men's minds that seed of religion of which we have spoken but revealed himself and daily discloses himself in the whole workmanship of the universe. As a consequence, men cannot open their eyes without being compelled to see him. Indeed, his essence is incomprehensible; hence, his divineness far escapes all human perception. But upon his individual works he has engraved unmistakable marks of his glory, so clear and so prominent that even unlettered and stupid folk cannot plead the excuse of ignorance.

—John Calvin, The Institutes of the Christian Religion 1.5.1

Seeing Second Timothy as Written in Paul's Lifeblood

Calvin:

The chief purpose of this letter is to confirm Timothy both in the faith of the Gospel and in his pure and constant preaching of it. But the circumstances of the time add especial weight to these exhortations. Paul had before his eyes the death he was ready to suffer as a testimony to the Gospel. Thus all that we read here about the kingdom of Christ, the hope of life eternal, the Christian warfare, confidence in confessing Christ, and the certainty of doctrine should be seen as written not merely in ink but in Paul's lifeblood; for he asserts nothing for which he is not ready to offer the pledge of his death.

—John Calvin, The Second Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians and the Epistles to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon (eds., Torrance, David W., and Torrance, Thomas F; trans. Smail, T. A.; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996), 287.

Calvin's Faith Facing Death

From Calvin's will, made on his deathbead:

I give thanks to God who had mercy on me. . . . He delivered me out of the deep darkness of idolatry in which I was plunged, that he might bring me into the light of the gospel. . . . I have no other defense or refuge for salvation than his free adoption, on which alone my salvation depends. With all my soul I embrace the mercy that he has exercised towards me through Jesus Christ, atoning for my sins with the merits of his death and passion, that in this way he might satisfy for all my offences and faults and blot them out form his remembrance. I testify also and declare that I earnestly beg him to be pleased so to wash and purify me in the blood that my Sovereign Redeemer has shed for the sins of mankind, that under his shadow I may be able to stand at the judgment-seat. . . . 

I also testify and declare that in all the battles and disputations in which I have been engaged with the enemies of the gospel, I have used no falsehood, no wicked and sophistical devices, but have acted straightforwardly and sincerely in defending the truth.  

Yet, alas, my ardour and zeal (if indeed worthy of the name) have been so slack and languid that I confess I have failed countless times to execute my office properly, and had not he, of his boundless goodness, assisted me . . . those mental powers that the Lord gave me would at his judgment-seat prove me more and more guilty of sin and sloth. 

For these reasons I testify and declare that I trust to no other security for my salvation than this alone, that as God is the Father of mercy, so he will show himself such a Father to me, who acknowledge myself to be a miserable sinner.

—J. I. Packer, Honoring the People of God: Collected Shorter Writings on Christian Leaders and Theologians (Vancoover: Regent College Publishing, 1999), 16.

The Crux of the Psalms

Dane Ortlund cites Calvin concerning the chief concern of the Psalms, namely, the cross. A choice quotation. Check it out.

An Incomparable Treasure

Calvin tells us what he perceives to be the core of Colossians: "The principal object at which [Paul] aims to teach is that all things are in Christ, and that he alone ought to be sufficient and more than sufficient for the Colossians." I find this to be on the face of the instruction in Colossians, and pure and wholesome doctrine.

Then Calvin reasons why we should esteem this epistle as an "incomparable treasure":

All parts of our salvation are placed in Christ alone, that they [the Colossians] may not seek anything elsewhere; and he reminds them that it was in Christ that they had obtained all their blessings, in order that they might the more carefully make it their aim to retain him to the end. And, truly, even this one article is of itself perfectly sufficient to make us reckon this epistle, short as it is, an incomparable treasure; for what is greater in the whole of heavenly doctrine than to have Christ drawn to the life, that we may perceive his power, his office, and all the fruits that come to us from him?[1]

Let us then, with that great man of the Reformation, reckon this Pauline epistle according to its true worth as we perceive the wealth of Christ. I wouldn't trade it for all the estates and assets of both Bill Gates and Warren Buffett combined. Would you? More strongly, I wouldn't trade it for 10,000 worlds!

---

[1] John Calvin, The Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians (eds., Torrance, David W., and Torrance, Thomas F; trans. Parker, T. H. L.; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996), 298.

A Sinner Pressed and Perplexed with a Sense of Guilt for Sin

What does the doctrine of justification primarily or fundamentally address? This question is important. If we answer that it addresses first and foremost the horizontal question of human relationships, the doctrine derails, the gospel aborts. But if we answer that it first and foremost addresses the vertical dimension of our existence, that is, our relationship with a holy and righteous God, the doctrine holds, the center stays. Then, and only then, certain horizontal entailments follow and function as they ought.

In volume 4 of his collected shorter writings, J. I. Packer says this:

The Augsburg Confession of 1531 states: "this whole doctrine [of justification] must be related to the conflict of an alarmed conscience, and without that conflict it cannot be grasped. So persons lacking this experience, and profane men, are bad judges of the matter." Calvin makes the same point in Institutio III.xii, a chapter on the theme that justification must be studied in the solemnising light of God's judgment seat (Honoring the People of God, 223). 

Packer then points out that "John Owen preserves this perspective when at the start of his classic treatise The Doctrine of Justification by Faith (1677) he writes":

The first inquiry . . . is after the proper relief of the conscience of a sinner pressed and perplexed with a sense of the guilt of sin. For justification is the way and means whereby such a person doth obtain acceptance before God, with a right and title unto a heavenly inheritance. And nothing is pleadable in this cause but what a man would speak unto his own conscience in that state, or unto the conscience of another, when he is anxious under that inquiry (The Doctrine of Justification by Faith, 7). 

So if in our formulation of the doctrine of justification we move too quickly to discussions of what justification has to say about man's relationship with fellow man, we step in the wrong direction. And this is what has happened with the so-called New Perspective on Paul (which is now old, by the way), valuable as some of its insights may be. It has a hard time addressing the distressed sinner (for that is not what it's for, they say, lambasting Luther for being so psychologically sensitive); its gospel lacks the potency and effect of the biblical gospel. Without adequately addressing the distressed conscience before a holy and just God, the doctrine falls flat and fails to liberate for love. And I believe it also makes a man-centered age even more man-centered. However, it works the other way too. It's no coincidence, to my mind, that a fundamentally horizontal understanding of justification has arisen in a period of history marked by profound man-centeredness. Sure, Luther had a context. But so do we.

What is Faith?

Calvin answers (Institutes 3.11.7): Faith is "a kind of vessel" with which "we come empty and with the mouth of our soul open to seek Christ's grace. . . ."

Calvin on the Authoritative Prophetic Word

Calvin on the prophets speaks powerfully and stirringly. Here's a comment on Hos. 1:2, where it says, "The beginning of the word of YHWH in Hosea."

God then spoke in Hosea, or by Hosea, for he brought forth nothing from his own brains, but God spoke by him; this is a form of speaking with which we shall often meet. On this, indeed, depends the whole authority of God's servants, that they give not themselves loose reins, but faithfully deliver, as it were, from hand to hand, what the Lord has commanded them, without adding any thing whatever of their own.

So let no man so boldly dare to speak a word in the name of the Lord from his own brains. And may God be pleased to raise up more and more who faithfully propound nothing but the word of the Lord. The Lord has spoken, who can but prophesy?

Riches and Honor were Nothing to Him

From McIntyre's The Hidden Life of Prayer:

"Pius IV, hearing of Calvin's death, exlaimed: 'Ah, the strength of that proud heretic lay in this, that riches and honour were nothing to him'" (106).

A Diabolical Science

Calvin, commenting on Ps. 29, speaks this wisdom:

Philosophers think not that they have reasoned skillfully enough about inferior causes, unless they separate God very far from his works. It is a diabolical science, however, which fixes our contemplations on the works of nature, and turns them away from God.

We could substitute, today, naturalistic scientists (and those who unwaveringly bow before and follow them) in the place of naturalistic philosophers. But the same diabolical science is still practiced and believed, separating God very far from his works. Naturalism and functional deism, as I've noted before, have a stranglehold on our society. Sadly this all too often includes professing Christians who, reading the likes of Ps. 29, should know better. We should be ashamed of how little we acknowledge God's almighty hand in the created order. Those in his temple should be incessantly shouting, "Glory!" (Ps. 29:9). 

O show us your glory, thundering God of glory, O show us your holy majesty and might, that we might give you, YHWH, the glory due your name, and worship you in the splendor of holiness.

A Carnival of Pillage

Hear Wilson and Calvin on the collective wisdom of our government and her citizens.  Click on the title of this post to take you to the link.

"There is no fear of God before their eyes" (Ps. 36:1).

The Institutes of the Christian Religion

Emily and I are wrapping up reading through Calvin's Institutes this year. And how healthy it has been to trek through the thick theology of the great Genevan reformer. The scope and breadth and depth of this work are truly astounding and breathtaking. It was the life's work of rare theological and pastoral genius. I commend it to every Christian. It is not just for pastors and theologians or historians! It is one of the great pieces of Christian literature of all time, graciously bestowed upon the Church for her profit.  It is a shame so few have read it.

So please, for the love of God, the good of his Church, and the sake of your soul—take up and read! Working through thoughtfully and prayerfully such Christian classics would be, so I judge, an important component of the much-needed reformation in the superficial and anemic American church. So love God with your mind and read great books. And Calvin's Institutes is surely tops on the list of great books.

Reason Clothed and in Her Right Mind

In Calvin the Christian we see reason clothed and in her right mind.  Speaking of the mystery of the Sacred Supper, Calvin says, "I rather experience than understand it" (Institutes, 1403).  In context, he means, understand it comprehensively.  But he's not afraid to speak of experiencing something in the Spirit that is real and solid which he does not seek to explain fully with words.

Here's another example of Calvin's reason clothed and in her right mind.  "For as Christ's whole Kingdom is spiritual, whatever he does with his church must not be subjected to the reason of this world" (Institutes, 1404).  Well said.

Oh for the modern Church to be delivered from the insanity of rationalism, to be clothed and recover her right mind!  Lord, save us, from Reason with a big R and from so-called reason that will not sit at the feet of the Lord Jesus with clothes on and a sound mind—subjected to the Word of God and Wisdom incarnate.

One with Christ

Calvin on the Sacred Supper is without doubt in my mind dead on.  His view, amid the muddle, clarifies and illuminates.  It also tends toward nourishment and vivification and communion, which gets at my chief concern with understanding the Table aright. 

I give Calvin's summary from an extended discussion in Book 4 of what Scripture teaches concerning the Supper over against what today is called the "memorial view":  

To summarize:  our souls are fed by the flesh and blood of Christ in the same way that bread and wine keep and sustain physical life.  For the analogy of the sign applies only if our souls find their nourishment in Christ--which cannot happen unless Christ truly grows into one with us, and refreshes us by the eating of his flesh and the drinking of his blood.

Initiation into the the Society of the Church

Here is a definition of baptism that I like a great deal. It seems to me to embrace the biblical data on the matter, and is not truncated as it often is when people speak of baptism today. It is Calvin's definition. And if it seems like I'm slavishly following Calvin of late, please just note that it is his 500th birthday and I simply want to honor his memory. Besides, the Institutes have been my breakfast every morning, alongside my daily reading from Scripture, during this past year because of a reading plan to mark the quincentenary of the reformer's birth.

So, here it is, from Book 4, Ch. 15, Sect. 1: "Baptism is the sign of the initiation by which we are received into the society of the church, in order that, engrafted in Christ, we may be reckoned among God's children."

Just Laugh at His Stupidity

In Calvin's Institutes, Book 4, Ch. 14, Sect. 4, Calvin continues his discussion of sacraments.  In doing so, he speaks of how outward signs that God has ordained render more certain to man the truth of God's promises.  The rainbow, for example, is set forth as one such sign of God's covenant faithfulness to never again destroy the world by flood.  In the course of this discussion, there is this marvelous statement that speaks to the naturalism of our day (and the naturalists who hold to it) just as it spoke to the naturalism of Calvin's own. 

Calvin on rainbows and naturalists:

If any philosopher, to mock the simplicity of our faith, contends that such variety of colors naturally arises from rays reflected upon a cloud opposite, let us admit it, but laugh at his stupidity in failing to recognize God as the lord and governor of nature, who according to his will uses all the elements to serve his glory.

So how ought we to respond to the naturalists of our day who stupidly speak of rainbows oh so scientifically, as though they are disproving the existence and providence of God?

"We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ" (2 Cor. 10:5).

With Calvin in the Theater of God

This past weekend Em and I attended Desiring God's National Conference at the Convention Center in downtown Minneapolis. We had a wonderful time. It was singularly refreshing and renewing. It stoked the furnace of zeal for God's glory in all things. All of the speakers were on their game, if I may put it that way. The messages by Wilson, Storms, and Piper are particularly worthy of a hearing—more than once, each. The panel discussion was, as usual, rather stimulating. I've attended all but one of these national conferences since they started, and this one was, I think, the best. The title above gives the link to the messages.