Blogging The Institutes

One suspects that Calvin's candor in his treatment of baptism makes us uneasy. Today, we fear the connection between the "sign" and the "thing signified" that we tend to be more cautious than the Reformers (or Paul!) in asserting synecdochal inferences. Calvin on the other hand, whilst clear that...

The corruption of monasticism in Calvin's day is evidenced by the boastful promise of perfection, and of a superior spirituality. When men boast that they are in a state in which they aspire to perfection more than others, and people admire monasticism as if it represented a life as pure as the...

Calvin's third principle for biblical vows is the mind in which such vows are undertaken. God looks on the heart. Calvin sees only four ends to which vows may legitimately be taken: to give thanks for God's goodness, to make amends for our own past sins, to cut off inducements to sin in the future...

In this section of the Institutes, Calvin addresses too issues that demonstrate the prevalence of corruption in the church. First is the issue of clerical celibacy. The insistence that priests remain unmarried has, says Calvin, 'no only deprived the church of fit and honest pastors, but has...

Calvin is here dealing with the subject of church power and discipline, and resumes his consideration of the subject of fasting. He has a marvellous three-point directive to ensure that fasting does not degenerate into religious superstition. First, we must remember the directive of Joel, who...

In these paragraphs, Calvin emphasizes the uniqueness and the centrality of Christ's mediation for his intercession, underscoring the fact that it is only through his work, from the very beginning of time, that any believer has ever had access to the Father. Nevertheless, since Christ has risen and...

These entries, covering 3.19.13 - 3.20.17 will be made avaiable in the future (d.v.).

The remaining petitions deal with all that pertains to our spiritual life, and Calvin sees a correlation between them and the nature of the new covenant. The promise of God in the covenant to forgive the sins of his people (Jeremiah 31:34) Calvin sees as related to the petition 'forgive us our...

The third petition of the Lord's Prayer, 'thy will be done on earth', is a necessary corollary of the first two. If God is truly our Father, and if our desire is truly for the expansion of his kingdom, we will wish ourselves and others to be subject to God's will revealed in Scripture. The essence...