Having Become With Us The Son of Man

Having become with us the Son of Man, he has made us with himself sons of God.
By his own descent to the earth he has prepared our ascent to heaven.
Having received our mortality, he has bestowed on us his immortality.
Having undertaken our weakness, he has made us strong in his strength.
Having submitted to our poverty, he has transferred to us his riches.
Having taken upon himself the burden of unrighteousness with which we were oppressed, he has clothed us with his righteousness.

- John Calvin

(HT:  DashHouse)

A Kind Of Kingdom In His Breast

In light of this post from yesterday, I thought this word from Calvin was quite appropriate. Seems like our sin issues didn't just come around in the last few years, eh?

The poor man yields to the rich, the plebeian to the noble, the servant to the master, the unlearned to the learned, and yet every one inwardly cherishes some idea of his own superiority. Thus each flattering himself, sets up a kind of kingdom in his breast; the arrogant, to satisfy themselves, pass censure on the minds and manners of other men, and when contention arises, the full venom is displayed.

- John Calvin, The Institutes

(HT: DashHouse)

The Heart of Sanctification

“For, until men feel that they owe everything to God, that they are cherished by his paternal care, and that he is the author of all their blessings, so that naught is to be looked for away from him, they will never submit to him in voluntary obedience; no, unless they place their entire happiness in him, they will never yield up their whole selves to him in truth and sincerity.”

- John Calvin, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, Bk I, Ch. 2

(HT: OFI)

Happy People Sing

"We have already seen that in 1537 one of the four foundations for the reform of the Church was congregational singing. . . . We have seen in effect that Calvin placed singing at the heart of his theology of the Church. The reason is not far to seek. To put it with the utmost simplicity: The Church is the place where the Gospel is preached; Gospel is good news; good news makes people happy; happy people sing. But then, too, unhappy people may sing to cheer themselves up."

T. H. L. Parker, John Calvin, page 87.

(HT: Ray Ortlund)

It Was His Task...

"For the same reason it was also imperative that he who was to become our Redeemer be true God and true man. It was his task to swallow up death. Who but the Life could do this? It was his task to conquer sin. Who but very Righteousness could do this? It was his task to rout the powers of world and air. Who but a power higher than world and air could do this? Now where does life or righteousness, or lordship and authority of heaven lie but with God alone? Therefore our most merciful God, when he willed that we be redeemed, made himself our Redeemer in the person of his only begotten Son."

- John Calvin, Institutes of The Christian Religion, p. 466, vol. 1

John Calvin The Comedian

Well, he isn't exactly Chris Rock, but I found this statement a bit funny for the normally staid Calvin. In his section where is discussing the faith and trials of the patriarchs, he comments on a particular trials that Noah had to endure:

Besides the fact that the arc was a sort of grave for him for ten months, there can be nothing more unpleasant than to be confined so long - almost immersed in the dung of animals! (p. 436, 437 in McNeill)

Good point! I never thought of Noah's trial in those fecal terms. Just struck me as kind of funny and uncharacteristic in light of the previous 400 pages.

On Reading Calvin This Year

I have been trying to keep up with the reading of Calvin's Institutes in 2009. It has been going well and I am on pace. Though it can be tough reading as times, I have been feeling an overall sense of fruitfulness from it.

Ray Ortlund reflects on his experience and I would say Amen to his reflections:

A number of us are reading through John Calvin's Institutes this year, the 500th anniversary of his birth. Yesterday morning I finished. But I did get a head start. In 1981. So it's about time.

Calvin can be tiresome when he goes off like this: "This is what, indeed, certain fanatics who delight in unbridled license shout and boast . . .," referring apparently to Anabaptist conviction (4.20.2). Smackdowns do not edify.

But there is so much about Calvin's thinking I receive and love. I found myself agreeing with almost every conviction he proposed. Not everything. But disagreement was rare. I have been instructed and enriched by this study. My Bible is now marked in many passages with a marginal note: "See Calv, Inst, x.x.x."

Why does John Calvin still matter today? Above all else, Calvin understands what it means to take into account, first and foremost, in all things, God: "The Christian must surely be so disposed and minded that he feels within himself it is with God he has to deal throughout his life" (3.7.2). Every moment of every day is a God-moment.

For us, that way of thinking is an adjustment. An adjustment big enough to be called repentance. We think piecemeal. We compartmentalize. We diminish the reach of God's grace into the moment-by-moment of our lives. But like a prophet of old, Calvin calls us back to God.

I thank the Lord for this fallible but precious gift, my brother, John Calvin.

All You Theology Nerds Will LOVE This

My friend Bryan just had a birthday. For this special occasion his wife had a cake made for him that is rather unique. Taste and see that Calvin is good? If you are a staunch Arminian would you refrain from eating? I bet you would.

Calvin's Institutes in 2009

So I am jumping on the "read Calvin's Institutes in 2009" bandwagon. Here is the reading plan that I am following.

This quote from today's reading stood out to me as significant:

Besides, this mind (the Christian mind) restrains itself from sinning, not out of dread of punishment alone; but, because it loves and reveres God as Father, it worships and adores him as Lord. Even if there were no hell, it would still shudder at offending him alone.

Here indeed is a pure and real religion: 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. And we ought to note this fact even more diligently: all men have a vague general veneration for God, but very few really reverence him; and wherever there is great ostentation in ceremonies, sincerity of heart is rare indeed.

- John Calvin, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, 1.2.2 (p. 45 in McNeil)