More from John Calvin from "A Little Book on the Christian Life":
To prompt us toward righteousness more effectively, Scripture tells us that God the Father, who has reconciled us to Himself in His Anointed One, Jesus Christ, has given us in Christ a model to which we should conform our lives. You will not find a better model in the philosophers--in whom many expect to find the only correct and orderly treatment of moral philosophy. They, while doing their best to encourage us to be virtuous, have nothing to say except that we should live "according to nature." Scripture, however, draws its encouragement from the true fountain. It teaches us to contemplate our lives in relation to God, our Author, to whom we are bound. And, having taught us that we have fallen from the true state and condition of our original creation, Scripture adds that Christ, through whom we have been restored to favor with God, is set before us as a model whose form and beauty should be neglected in our own lives. What could be more effective than this? Indeed, what more is needed than this? We have been adopted by the Lord as children with this understanding--that in our lives we should mirror Christ who is the bond of our adoption. And truly, unless we are devoted--even addicted--to righteousness, we will faithlessly abandon our Creator and disown Him as our Savior....
Christ has engrafted us into His body. We, therefore, who are His members must be especially careful not to fling mud or filthiness on the body of Christ (John 15:2-6; 1 Cor. 6:15; Eph. 5:23-33)....
We, therefore, must strive upward--keeping ourselves pure and incorruptible until the Day of the Lord (1 Thess. 5:23). These are the most holy foundations on which to build the Christian life. Nothing like these can be found in the philosophers, who in their commendation of virtue never rise above the dignity that natural man can achieve.
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