Calvin 365: (14) Exposing a fictitious righteousness

Calvin describes the effects of being confronted by the moral law:

So long as he is permitted to stand upon his own judgment, he passes off hypocrisy as righteousness; pleased with this, he is aroused against God's grace by I know not what counterfeit acts of righteousness.

But after he is compelled to weigh his life in the scales of the law, laying aside all that presumption of fictitious righteousness, he discovers that he is a long way from holiness, and is in fact teeming with a multitude of vices, with which he previously thought himself undefiled.

So deep and tortuous are the recesses in which the evils of covetousness lurk that they easily deceive man's sight. The apostle has good reason to say: "I should not have known covetousness, if the law had not said, 'You shall not covet'" [Rom. 7:7].

For if by the law covetousness is not dragged from its lair, it destroys wretched man so secretly that he does not even feel its fatal stab.

Institutes, 2. 7. 7.

Calvin 365: (13) The first use of the law

Let us survey briefly the function and use of what is called the "moral law." Now, as far as I understand it, it consists of three parts.

The first part us this: while it shows God's righteousness, that is, the righteousness alone acceptable to God, it warns, informs, convicts, and lastly condemns, every man of his own unrighteousness.

Institutes, 2. 7. 6.

Calvin 365: (12) The righteousness of the law

Having been sick and bad of late (long "a" in "bad," and "bad" is Wenglish for unwell) I have fallen behind with the daily quote from Calvin:

If it is true that in the law we are taught the perfection of righteousness, this also follows: the complete observance of the law is perfect righteousness before God. By it man would evidently be deemed and reckoned righteous before the heavenly judgment seat...We cannot gainsay that the reward of eternal salvation awaits complete obedience to the law, as the Lord has promised.

Because observance of the law is found in none of us, we are excluded from the promises of life, and fall back into the mere curse.

Institutes, 2. 7. 3

Calvin 365: (11) Our God will help us

If you are not confident that God really is sovereign over all things then you will place your trust in something else appart from him in times of need. Psalm 115: tells us that "Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases." On the basis the Psalmist exhorts us to trust in the Lord and to find him to be our help and shield.

Preaching on Psalm 115 for the weekly day of prayer on November 4th, 1545, Calvin said:

After the prayer, let us remember how this thought is given to us, that "our God in in heaven" (Psalm 115:3), in order that it may be for us a shield to withstand every evil thought-thoughts such as wondering whether our God can aid us.

This must be imprinted in our memory: our God will aid us.

The reason: nothing can prevent Him.

And He has declared to us that it is His God pleasure never to fail us at need...And if God does not help us at first, let us wait on Him; we will not be disappointed.

Our God will come, and when?

He knows when it will be time.

Quoted in David B. Calhoun, Prayer: "The Chief Exercise of Faith" in David W. Hall & Peter A. Lillback [eds] A Theological Guide to Calvin's Institutes: Essays and Analysis, p. 366-7

Calvin 365: (10) Romans is the key to the whole Bible

If we understand this Epistle , we have a passage opened to us to the understanding of the whole of Scripture.

Dedication to Simon Grynaeus, p. 2

If we gained a true understanding of this Epistle, we have an open door to all the most profound treasures of Scripture.

The Theme to the Epistle of Paul to the Romans, p. 5

Calvin 365: (9) Sound advice to preachers and commentators

Since it is almost his only task to unfold the mind of the writer whom he has undertaken to expound, he misses the mark, or at least strays outside his limits, by the extent to which he leads his readers away from the meaning of his author.

Commentary on Romans, Dedication to Simon Grynaeus, p. 1

Calvin 365: (8) I want a real Calvinist!

What effects upon the soul are the result of the Spirit wrought application of the sovereignty of God (in creation, providence and redemption) as declared in his Word?

Do these truths make men and women narrow and bigoted, proud, arrogant, unloving, harsh, and cold? Do they make them humble, considerate, kind, loving, and motivated in their love to others?

I realise that not all accusations that Calvinists are arrogant, cold and harsh are misplaced. At times we are inconsistent with what we believe to be true, and fall short of being truly shaped by the truth. One of my favourite blog posts deals with this issue, you may like to read it (Why [some] Reformed people are such jerks)

But, to borrow some words, with a little adaptation, from ER: I want a real Calvinist, who believes in a really gracious salvation! Here is Warfield's assessment that Calvin was in fact that kind of Calvinist:

It was that we might know ourselves to be wholly in the hands of this God of perfect righteousness and goodness--not in those of men, whether ourselves or some other men--that he was earnest for the doctrine of predestination: which is nothing more than the declaration of the supreme dominion of God.

It was that our eternal felicity might hand wholly on God's mighty love--and not on our sinful weakness--that he was so zealous for the doctrine of election: which is nothing more than the ascription of our entire salvation to God.

As he contemplated the majesty of this Sovereign Father of men, his whole being bowed in reverence before him, and his whole heart burned with zeal for his glory.

As he remembered that this great God has become in his own Son the Redeemer of sinners, he passionately gave himself to the proclamation of the glory of his grace.

B. B. Warfield, "John Calvin: The Man And His Work" in The Works of Benjamin B. Warfield Volume V: Calvin and Calvinism, p. 23

Calvin 365: (7) The wonderful plan of justification

Who can adequately calculate the loss when the truth set out in the following words is obscured and lost? Who can rightly estimate the weight of judgment involved in the deliberate rejection of this truth?

How great presumption is it to condemn the supreme Judge when he freely absolves, so that this answer may not have full force: "I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy"?

And yet Moses' intercession, which God restrains in these words, was not to the effect that he should spare no one but that he should wipe away the charge against them even though they were guilty, and absolve them all equally.

And on this account, indeed, we say that those who were lost have their sins buried and are justified before God because, as he hates sin, he can love only those whom he has justified.

This is a wonderful plan of justification that, covered by the righteousness of Christ, they should tremble at the judgment they deserve, and that while they rightly condemn themselves, they should be accounted righteous outside themselves.

Institutes, 3.11.11

Calvin 365: (6) The free offer of the Gospel

As a teenager I spent some summers involved in outreach at the seaside (n.b. British summers are a washout and British beaches something of a health hazard at the best of times).

We would teach children a chorus that said "Jesus-said-that-who-so-ever-will-may-come!" to which a few of us added in a late night discussion, and "Calvin-said-that-who-so-ever-won't."

At that stage I had not read a single word that Calvin had written, but that didn't stop me from having a grotesquely misshapen view of the man and his theology. It was a few years later, when reading through Ephesians 2:1-10, that my misinterpretation of Calvinism was exposed, and my inadequate grasp of the grace of God in the gospel was laid aside. I then saw, for the first time, that the Triune God saves, he really does do the work of saving, and that the offer of the gospel to all is made effective to those who are called. I saw that I was dead, but God made me alive with Christ even when I was dead in sin.

That is why today I am both a Calvinist, for want of a better phrase (I believe that the sovereign God graciously saves undeserving sinners) and an evangelist who is free to tell all people everywhere to repent and believe.

And Calvin, as the following makes clear, really did believe and teach that "who-so-ever-will-may-come":

The Gospel is indeed offered to all for their salvation, but its power is not universally manifest.

The fact that the Gospel is the taste of death to the ungodly arises not so much from from the nature of the Gospel itself, as from their own wickedness. By setting forth one way of salvation, it cuts off confidence in every other way. When men withdraw from this one salvation they find in the Gospel a sure evidence of their own ruin.

When, therefore, the Gospel invites all to partake of salvation without any difference, it is rightly termed the doctrine of salvation. For Christ is there offered, whose proper office is to save that which had been lost, and those who refuse to be saved by Him shall find Him their Judge.

Commentary on Romans, 1:16, p. 27

Calvin 365: (5) Faith is a gift so gratitude is the right response

One of the notes that the apostles keep sounding in their letters is that of thankfulness. It is a mark of the Christian and of the Church to express thankfulness to God for his common blessings and for his special mercies in the gospel.

Where thankfulness is weak, in our souls and churches, a critical spirit, cynicism, pride, and envy are permitted to flourish. How can you respond with jealousy or resentment toward others at the same time as you are bending your knee to thank God for his grace in helping, strengthening, equipping, and blessing others. The two frames of mind cannot co-exist. Which is why we would be much healthier if we spent less time inhabiting our own thoughts, or involving others in our dark broodings, and more time bowed before the Father, the God of all grace.

Calvin gets to the heart of the matter in his comments on Romans 1:

It is worth noting, first of all, that Paul commends their faith in such a way as to imply that it had been received from God. From this we learn that that faith is a gift of God.

If thanksgiving is the acknowledgement of a benefit, whoever thanks God for faith acknowledges that it is His gift. When we find that the apostle always begins his congratulations with thanksgiving, we may know that the lesson we are being given is that all our blessings are the gifts of God.

We should also accustom ourselves to such forms of expression as may ever rouse us more keenly to acknowledge God as the bestower of all God things, and so to stir up others at the same time to a similar attitude.

If it is right to do this in little blessings, how much more ought we to do so in regard to faith, which is neither a commonplace nor an indiscriminate gift of God.

Commentary on Romans, p. 20

Calvin 365: (4) God listens to our prayers and praise with a stethoscope

The great danger in prayer and praise is to be caught up with the form and not the very essence of engaging with God. Here are some helpful words from Calvin to ponder at the beginning of the Lord's Day, and to take with us if we are able to gather together with his people. The closing sentence is worth committing to memory and reflecting on often:

We not only must serve God and call on him with only our mouth and voice, but that it is necessary that our heart be lifted up so that our melody rises above the heavens and comes right before the majesty of God.

Now it it true that to attain this, it is not necessary that the tongue labours too much. For they who have spoken not a word have sometimes really called out to God, and he has heard and answered them...He knows what we need before we ask it of him.

He thus looks into our heart and gives it more attention than he does to the voice of the mouth. For there are many who cry out enough, but it is nothing more than a voice sounding in the air. All this is of no use unless the heart is touched.

For if we desire that God hears us and answers our prayers, it is necessary that the heart speaks and is burning with a strong desire to pray to him and praise him.

"A Fragment from a Sermon of John Calvin" quoted in David B. Calhoun, Prayer: "The Chief Exercise of Faith" in David W. Hall & Peter A. Lillback [eds] A Theological Guide to Calvin's Institutes: Essays and Analysis, p. 354

Calvin 365: (3) The happiness of promoting God's glory

A short, sweet, and Piper-esque third installment (of 365) from Calvin:

There is no truer characteristic of believers than that they should promote the glory of the Lord, with which their whole happiness is connected.

Commentary on Romans, p. 25

Calvin 365: (2) The basis on which we stand before God

From his commentary on Psalm 130:

Whenever God then exhibits the tokens of his wrath, let even the man who seems to others to be the holiest of all his fellows, descend to make this confession, that should God determine to deal with us according to the strict demands of his law, and to summon us before his tribunal, not one of the whole human race would be able to stand...But the Prophet...confesses, after having thoroughly examined himself, that if of the whole human race not even one can escape eternal perdition, this instead of lessening rather increased his obnoxiousness to punishment.

Whoever, as if he had said, shall come into the presence of God, whatever may be his eminence for sanctity, he must succumb and stand confounded, what then will be the case as to me, who am not one of the best?

The right application of this doctrine is, for every man to examine in good earnest his own life by the perfection which is enjoined upon us in the law. In this way he will be forced to confess that all men without exception have deserved everlasting damnation; and each will acknowledge in respect to himself that he is a thousand times undone.

Farther, this passage teaches us that, since no man can stand by his own works, all such as are accounted righteous before God, are righteous in consequence of the pardon and remission of their sins. In no other manner can any man be righteous in the sight of God.

Calvin 365: (1) Be content with what God has revealed

2009 marks the 500th anniversary of the birth of John Calvin. In addition to my normal posts I was also being putting up a daily quotation from Calvin. The first comes from his letter to Laelius Socinus, the uncle of the infamous Fautus Socinus.

The younger Socinus galvanised the disparate anti-trinitarians who had found refuge in Poland. Their resulting theology, as stated in the Racovian Catechism, was the antithesis of confessional Reformed theology and the consensus documents of the early church (the ecumenical creeds). Calvin warned the elder Socinus about his speculations:

Certainly no one can be more averse to paradox than I am, and in subtleties I find no delight at all. Yet nothing shall ever hinder me from openly avowing what I have learned from the Word of God; for nothing but what is useful is taught in the school of this master. It is my only guide, and to acquiesce in its plain doctrines shall be my constant rule of wisdom.

Would that you also, my dear Laelius, would learn to regulate your powers with the same moderation! You have no reason to expect a reply from me so long as you bring forward those monstrous questions. If you are gratified by floating among those airy speculations, permit me, I beseech you, an humble disciple of Christ, to meditate on those things which tend towards the building up of my faith.

...And in truth I am very greatly grieved that the fine talents with which God has endowed you, should be occupied not only with what is vain and fruitless, but that they should also be injured by pernicious figments.

What I warned you of long ago, I must again seriously repeat, that unless you correct in time this itching after investigation, it is to be feared you will bring upon yourself severe suffering.

I should be cruel towards you did I treat with a show of indulgence what I believe to be a very dangerous error. I should prefer, accordingly, offending you a little at present by my severity, rather than allow you to indulge unchecked in the fascinating allurements of curiosity.

Letters of John Calvin, No. 30 (Banner of Truth), p. 128-9.