Nearly half a century after R. T. Kendall published “Calvin and English Calvinism to 1649,” the debate of “Calvin versus the Calvinists” rages on. Kendall’s was not the first attempt at pointing out supposed discontinuity between Calvin and his successors, of course. . . . Continue reading →
John Calvin
Calvin: The Spirit Feeds The Soul On Christ’s Body
In the Supper of the Lord, the external minister holds forth the external symbols, the bread of the Lord and the wine of the Lord, which are perceived by the organs of our body, consumed and swallowed. The internal minister, the Holy . . . Continue reading →
Calvin: There Are Two Ministers In The Supper
In the Supper of the Lord, the external minister holds forth the external symbols, the bread of the Lord and the wine of the Lord, which are perceived by the organs of our body, consumed and swallowed. The internal minister, the Holy . . . Continue reading →
Calvin: There Are Two Ministers In Baptism
In Baptism, the external minister baptizes with an external element, that is water, which is received bodily. The internal minister, the Holy Spirit, baptizes with the blood of the spotless Lamb, so that he that is baptized is endowed with the whole . . . Continue reading →
Calvin: There Are Two Ministers In Preaching
In the preaching of the Word, the external minister holds forth the vocal word, and it is received by the ears. The internal minister, the Holy Spirit, truly communicates the thing proclaimed through the Word, that is Christ, to the souls of . . . Continue reading →
Calvin: The Communication Of Christ To Believers In Preaching Is A Mystery
We believe this communication [of Christ via Gospel ministry] to be (a) mystical, and incomprehensible to human reason, and (b) spiritual, since it is effected by the Holy Spirit; to whom, since he is the virtue of the living God, proceeding from . . . Continue reading →
Calvin On The Relation Of Preaching And Sacraments To Our Mystical Union With Christ
To effect this union [with Christ], the Holy Spirit uses a double instrument, the preaching of the Word and the administration of the sacraments. When we say that the Holy Spirit uses an external minister as instrument, we mean this: both in . . . Continue reading →
Calvin On The Purpose Of Gospel Preaching
The end of the whole Gospel ministry is that God, the fountain of all felicity, communicate Christ to us who are disunited by sin and hence ruined, that we may from him enjoy eternal life; that in a word all heavenly treasures . . . Continue reading →
To The Evangelical Nicodemites (Part One)
Over the last few years there have been a few laments about “Reformed rocks stars.” Carl Trueman has rightly warned against the cult of personality.1 Now, I would like to turn the tables. If we should be concerned about rock stars and . . . Continue reading →
To The Evangelical Nicodemites (Part Two)
Calvin was well aware of what he was about to ask of the crypto-Calvinists or secret Calvinists. He wrote letters of comfort to some of them as they languished in dark, rat-infested prisons, awaiting a sham trial and a bloody, fiery death. He also understood that what he was saying was controversial. Continue reading →
To The Evangelical Nicodemites (Part Three)
Calvin was well aware of what he was about to ask of the crypto-Calvinists or secret Calvinists. He wrote letters of comfort to some of them as they languished in dark, rat-infested prisons, awaiting a sham trial and a bloody, fiery death. He also understood that what he was saying was controversial. Continue reading →
Calvin On Purity
Ever since God revealed himself Father to us, we must prove our ungratefulness to him if we did not in turn show ourselves his sons. Ever since Christ cleansed us with the washing of his blood, and imparted this cleansing through baptism, . . . Continue reading →
Calvin: Our Union With Christ Is A Source Of Comfort
It avails not, indeed, a little to increase our confidence, that we are united to the Son of God by a bond so close, that we can find in our nature that holiness of which we are in want; for he not . . . Continue reading →
To The Evangelical Nicodemites (Part Four)
The question, for Calvin and for us, is “whether the Christian man, being rightly instructed in the truth of the gospel, offends God or not, by doing as the others do when he is among Papists, by going to Mass and other . . . Continue reading →
Calvin Versus The Baptists
But, to insist still more stoutly upon this point, they add that baptism is a sacrament of repentance and of faith. Accordingly, since neither of these can come about in tender infancy, we must guard against admitting infants into the fellowship of . . . Continue reading →
Calvin: Christ Brings Only To the Father Those Given To Him By The Father
Christ brings none to the Father, but those given him by the Father; and this donation, we know, depends on eternal election; for those whom the Father has destined to life, he delivers to the keeping of his Son, that he may . . . Continue reading →
Calvin Taught Both Remission And Imputation
Therefore, we explain justification simply as the acceptance with which God receives us into his favor as righteous men. And we say that it consists in the remission of sins and the imputation of Christ’s righteousness. John Calvin | Institutes of the . . . Continue reading →
Calvin: Through Faith Two Apparently Inconsistent Things Are Reconciled
Then these two things, though apparently inconsistent, do yet perfectly harmonize when we speak of faith; for the Spirit of God shows to us hidden things, the knowledge of which cannot reach our senses: Promised to us is eternal life, but it . . . Continue reading →
Calvin: Children Are Included In The New Covenant Because It Is Abrahamic
Yet Scripture opens to us a still surer knowledge of the truth. Indeed, it is most evident that the covenant which the Lord once made with Abraham [cf. Gen. 17:14] is no less in force today for Christians than it was of . . . Continue reading →
Calvin: The Abrahamic Covenant And The New Covenant Are Substantially Identical
Both can be explained in one word. The covenant made with all the patriarchs is so much like ours in substance and reality that the two are actually one and the same. Yet they differ in the mode of dispensation. But because . . . Continue reading →