Tag Archives: Institutes of the Christian Religion

John Calvin – The Watchful Eye of God

6 Mar

The elect are gathered into Christ’s flock by a call not immediately at birth, and not all at the same time, but according as it pleases God to dispense his grace to them. But before they are gathered unto that supreme Shepherd, they wander scattered in the wilderness common to all; and they do not differ at all from others except that they are protected by God’s especial mercy from rushing headlong into the final ruin of death. If you look upon them, you will see Adam’s offspring, who savor of the common corruption of the mass. The fact that they are not carried to utter and even desperate impiety is not due to any innate goodness of theirs but because the eye of God watches over their safety and his hand is outstretched to them!

~John Calvin~



The Institutes of the Christian Religion Vol. 2 (Louisville, Kentucky; Westminster John Knox Press; 1974) p. 976.

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John Calvin – Christ’s Sacrifice as Substitution

13 Dec

What, I ask you, would Christ have bestowed upon us if the penalty for our sins were still required? For when we say that he bore all our sins in his body upon the tree [1 Peter 2:24], we mean only that he bore the punishment and vengeance due for our sins. Isaiah has stated this more meaningfully when he says: “The chastisement (or correction) of our peace was upon him” [Isa. 53:5]. What is this “correction of our peace” but the penalty due sins that we would have had to pay before we could become reconciled to God–if he had not taken our place? Lo, you see plainly that Christ bore the penalty of sins to deliver his own people from them… This is why Paul writes that Christ gave himself as a ransom for us [1 Tim. 2:6]. “What is propitiation before the Lord,” asks Augustine, “but sacrifice? What is the sacrifice, but what has been offered for us in the death of Christ?”

~John Calvin~



The Institutes of the Christian Religion (Louisville, Kentucky; Westminster John Knox Press; 1974) p. 657.

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John Calvin – Let Us Drink Our Fill From This Fountain

25 Nov

If we seek salvation, we are taught by the very name of Jesus that it is “of him” [1 Cor. 1:30]. If we seek any other gifts of the Spirit, they will be found in his anointing. If we seek strength, it lies in his dominion; if purity, in his conception; if gentleness, it appears in his birth. For by his birth he was made like us in all respects [Heb. 2:17] that he might learn to feel our pain [cf. Heb. 5:2]. If we seek redemption, it lies in his passion; if acquittal, in his condemnation; if remission of the curse, in his cross [Gal. 3:13]; if satisfaction, in his sacrifice; if purification, in his blood, if reconciliation, in his descent into hell; if mortification of the flesh, in his tomb; if newness of life, in his resurrection; if immortality, in the same; if inheritance of the Heavenly Kingdom, in his entrance into heaven; if protection, if security, if abundant supply of all blessings, in his Kingdom; if untroubled expectation of judgment, in the power given him to judge. In short, since rich store of every kind of goods abounds in him, let us drink our fill from this fountain, and from no other.

~John Calvin~



The Institutes of the Christian Religion Vol. 1 (Louisville, Kentucky; Westminster John Knox Press; 1974) p. 527-528.

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John Calvin – You Before You Were Called

17 Nov

10. The elect before their call. There is no “seed of election”
The elect are gathered into Christ’s flock by a call not immediately at birth, and not all at the same time, but according as it pleases God to dispense his grace to them. But before they are gathered unto that supreme Shepherd, they wander scattered in the wilderness common to all; and they do not differ at all from others except that they are protected by God’s especial mercy from rushing headlong into the final ruin of death. If you look upon them, you will see Adam’s offspring, who savor of the common corruption of the mass. The fact that they are not carried to utter and even desperate impiety is not due to any innate goodness of theirs but because the eye of God watches over their safety and his hand is outstretched to them!

~John Calvin~



The Institutes of the Christian Religion Vol. 2 (Louisville, Kentucky; Westminster John Knox Press; 1974) p. 976.

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Book of the Week

11 Oct


John Calvin’s: Institutes of the Christian Religion


Claimed by many to be the best translation available of one of the best works of theology ever written outside of Scripture.

Here is a brief review of the book by WTSBooks:

Calvin wrote this as an aid to studying the Bible. Written in four books (actually, it comes in several formats), Calvin discusses the knowledge of God as Creator and Redeemer that men possess and he follows that with a treatment of the work of redemption achieved by Jesus Christ and then he discusses how the Holy Spirit applies redemption to the elect through the work of the Holy Spirit in faith-wrought union between the believer and Christ and finally he discusses the church and the role it plays in God’s plan of redemption and the life of the believer. A must read.

Here is what the publisher has to say:

“This is the definitive English-language edition of one of the monumental works of the Christian church. Under Dr. McNeill’s personal supervision labored a whole corps of expert Latinists and Calvin scholars. All previous editions—in Latin, French, German, and English—have been collated; references and notes have been verified, corrected, and expanded; and new bibliographies have been added. The translator and his associates have taken great care to preserve the rugged strength and vividness of Calvin’s writing. They have not, however, hesitated to break up overly long sentences to conform to modern English usage or, whenever possible, to render heavy Latinate theological terms in simple language. The result is a translation that achieves a high degree of accuracy and at the same time is eminently readable.”


Get the two volume set at WTSBooks for $49.16 here.


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John Calvin – Love of Neighbor

8 Oct

Here, therefore, let us stand fast: our life shall best conform to God’s will and the prescription of the law when it is in every respect more fruitful for our brethren.

~John Calvin~







The Institutes of the Christian Religion (Louisville, Kentucky; Westminster John Knox Press; 1974) p. 417: [54. Love of neighbor]

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John Calvin – Objections to Predestination & Election

16 Aug

12. Fourth objection: the doctrine of election destroys all zeal for an upright life
To overthrow predestination our opponents also raise the point that, if it stands, all carefulness and zeal for well-doing go to ruin. For who can hear, they say, that either life or death has been appointed for him by God’s eternal and unchangeable decree without thinking immediately that it makes no difference how he conducts himself, since God’s predestination can neither be hindered nor advanced by his effort? Thus all men will throw themselves away, and in a desperate manner rush headlong wherever lust carries them….

But Scripture, while it requires us to consider this great mystery with so much more reverence and piety, both instructs the godly to a far different attitude and effectively refutes the criminal madness of these men. For Scripture does not speak of predestination with intent to rouse us to boldness that we may try with impious rashness to search out God’s unattainable secrets. Rather, its intent is that, humbled and cast down, we may learn to tremble at his judgment and esteem his mercy. It is at this mark that believers aim… Paul teaches that we have been chosen to this end: that we may lead a holy and blameless life [Eph. 1:4]. If election has as its goal holiness of life, it ought rather to arouse and goad us eagerly to set our mind upon it than to serve as a pretext for doing nothing. What a great difference there is between these two things: to cease well-doing because election is sufficient for salvation, and to devote ourselves to the pursuit of good as the appointed goal of election. Away, then, with such sacrileges, for they wickedly invert the whole order of election.

~John Calvin~



The Institutes of the Christian Religion (Louisville, Kentucky; Westminster John Knox Press; 1974) p. 960-961.

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John Calvin – A Definition of Faith

19 Jul

Now we shall possess a right definition of faith if we call it a firm and certain knowledge of God’s benevolence toward us, founded upon the truth of the freely given promise in Christ, both revealed to our minds and sealed upon our hearts through the Holy Spirit.

~John Calvin~



The Institutes of the Christian Religion Vol. 1 (Louisville, Kentucky; Westminster John Knox Press; 1974) p. 551.

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John Calvin – Thinking of Ourselves Rightly

26 May

For, because all of us are inclined by nature to hypocrisy, a kind of empty image of righteousness in place of righteousness itself abundantly satisfies us. And because nothing appears within or around us that has not been contaminated by great immorality, what is a little less vile pleases us as a thing most pure–so long as we confine our minds within the limits of human corruption. Just so, an eye to which nothing is shown but black objects judges something dirty white or even rather darkly mottled to be whiteness itself. Indeed, we can discern still more clearly from the bodily senses how much we are deluded in estimating the powers of the soul. For if in broad daylight we either look down upon the ground or survey whatever meets our view round about, we seem to ourselves endowed with the strongest and keenest sight; yet when we look up to the sun and gaze straight at it, that power of sight which was particularly strong on earth is at once blunted and confused by a great brilliance, and thus we are compelled to admit that our keenness in looking upon things earthly is sheer dullness when it comes to the sun. So it happens in estimating our spiritual goods. As long as we do not look beyond the earth, being quite content with our own righteousness, wisdom, and virtue, we flatter ourselves most sweetly, and fancy ourselves all but demigods. Suppose we but once begin to raise our thoughts to God, and to ponder his nature, and how completely perfect are his righteousness, wisdom, and power–the straightedge to which we must be shaped. Then, what masquerading earlier as righteousness was pleasing in us will soon grow filthy in its consummate wickedness. What wonderfully impressed us under the name of wisdom will stink in its very foolishness. What wore the face of power will prove itself the most miserable weakness. That is, what in us seems perfection itself corresponds ill to the purity of God.

~John Calvin~



The Institutes of the Christian Religion (Louisville, Kentucky; Westminster John Knox Press; 1974) p. 38.

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John Calvin – On Getting a Right View of Ourselves

24 May

…man is never sufficiently touched and affected by the awareness of his lowly state until he has compared himself with God’s majesty.

~John Calvin~




The Institutes of the Christian Religion (Louisville, Kentucky; Westminster John Knox Press; 1974) p. 39.

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