Calvin on Loving Your Neighbor

I've been studying Christ's exchange with the lawyer who tempts him by asking him about the greatest commandment. This exchange is documented in Matthew 22:34-40, Mark 12:28ff, and (arguably) Luke 10:22ff. In reading various commentaries, I haven't come upon any new insights, but Calvin's take on 'love of neighbor' is interesting, particularly, in the way he parses love of self and love of neighbor. This dichotomy has always interested me. If possible, I'll post more on this, but for now, here is what Calvin has to say (from his Commentary) on Matthew 22:39:

And the second is like it. He assigns the second place to mutual kindness among men, for the worship of God is first in order. The commandment to love our neighbors, he tells us, is like the first, because it depends upon it. For, since every man is devoted to himself, there will never be true charity towards neighbors, unless where the love of God reigns; for it is a mercenary love which the children of the world entertain for each other, because every one of them has regard to his own advantage. On the other hand, it is impossible for the love of God to reign without producing brotherly kindness among men.

Again, when Moses commanded us to love our neighbors as ourselves, he did not intend to put the love of ourselves in the first place, so that a man may first love himself and then love his neighbors; as the sophists of the Sorbonne are wont to cavil, that a rule must always go before what it regulates. But as we are too much devoted to ourselves, Moses, in correcting this fault, places our neighbors in an equal rank with us; thus forbidding every man to pay so much attention to himself as to disregard others, because kindness unites all in one body. And by correcting the self-love (philautian) which separates some persons from others, he brings each of them into a common union, and--as it were--into a mutual embrace. Hence we conclude, that charity is justly pronounced by Paul to be

"the bond of perfection," (Colossians 3:14,)

and, in another passage, the

"fulfilling of the law," (Romans 13:10;)

for all the commandments of the second table must be referred to it.

Take Up Your Cross and Follow Me - Part V

In this final post on suffering, John Calvin exhorts us to choose how we will respond to the suffering in our lives. Will we move towards God or away?

In the midst of the bitterness of tribulations, we should recognize the kindness and mercy of our Father toward us. For even in such tribulations, He doesn't cease to promote our salvation. Indeed, He afflicts us not to ruin or destroy us, but instead to deliver us from the condemnation of the world. This awareness leads us to what Scripture teaches in another place: "My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights" (Prov. 3:11-12). When we discern our Father's rod of discipline in our lives, shouldn't we present ourselves to Him as obedient and teachable sons rather than as obstinate and hopeless men who've become hardened in wrong doing?

If God didn't call us back to Himself by means of correction when we fell from Him, He would destroy us. Thus, it's rightly said in Scripture that we are illegitimate children, not sons, if we are without discipline.

If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. - Hebrews 12:8

Therefore, we are indeed wicked if we shun Him while He manifests to us His kindness and His care for our salvation. Scripture teaches that there's a difference between believers and unbelievers. Unbelievers become worse and more obstinate in consequences of the lashes they receive....Believers repent just like individuals gifted with the status of sonship. Choose, then, which of these you will be.

Take Up Your Cross and Follow Me - Part IV

Calvin continues with his exhortation on suffering by referencing the Apostle Paul from Romans 5:3-4 (I'm starting in verse 1):

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

We see now how many related benefits are born from the cross. The cross destroys the false notion of our own strength that we've dared to entertain, and it destroys that hypocrisy in which we have taken refuge and pleasure. It strips us of carnal self-confidence, and thus humbling us, instructs us to cast ourselves on God alone so that we won't be crushed or defeated. Such victory is followed by hope, since the Lord - by providing what He has promised - established His truthfulness for what lies ahead. Even for these reasons alone, it's clear how vital the discipline of the cross is for us. It's no little thing to be stripped of our blind self-love and thus to be made aware of our own weakness. Moreover, having been impressed with our own weakness, we learn to despair of ourselves. Then, having despaired or ourselves, we transfer our trust to God. Next, we rest in our trust in God, and we rely on His help and persevere unconquered to the end. Then standing on His grace, we see that He is true to His promises. Finally, being confident in the certainty of His promises, our hope is strengthened.

Take Up Your Cross and Follow Me - Part III

We continue to turn to John Calvin to teach us the ways that the Lord uses suffering to grow us in faith.

There are many reasons why we ourselves must spend our lives subject to a constant cross....there's the fact that unless our own weaknesses are regularly displayed to us, we easily overestimate our own virtue, being by nature inclined to attribute all good things to our own doing....Thus, we're drawn into a foolish and inflated view of our[selves]. And then, trusting in our own [selves], we brazenly exalt ourselves before God Himself, acting as if our own abilities are sufficient without His grace. There's no better method for God to curb such arrogance than by demonstrating to us through experience our weakness and frailty. He afflicts us with disgrace, poverty, childlessness, illness, and other troubles. And we, for our part, quickly crumble before such blows, being far from able to withstand them. Thus humbled, we learn to call on His strength, which alone can make us stand under the weight of such affliction. Indeed, the holiest among us know they stand by God's grace and not by their own virtues. Yet they would nevertheless become too confident in their own courage and constancy if they weren't led to a more intimate knowledge of themselves by the testing of the cross....When they have so cast themselves on the grace of God, they experience the presence of divine power in which there is sufficient and abundant help.

In our afflictions and struggles, God is working to help us love Him more making those afflictions means to better lives in the Lord.

Take Up Your Cross and Follow Me - Part II

Picking up on the theme of suffering in life, John Calvin writes about how Jesus himself had to suffer.

For those whom the Lord has chosen and condescended to welcome into fellowship with Him should prepare themselves for a life that is hard, laborious, troubled, and full of many and various kinds of evil. For it's the will of their heavenly Father to test them in this way so that He might prove them by trials. Having begun this way with Christ, His only-begotten Son, He continues similarly with all His children.

For although Christ is the Son, beloved before all others - the one in whom the Father's soul delights - we nevertheless see how little ease and comfort Christ experienced (Matt. 3:7; 17:5)....Scripture gives the reason for this: It was necessary that Christ "learned obedience through what he suffered" (Heb. 5:8). Why, then, would we exempt ourselves from the same situation to which Christ our head was subjected - particularly since He was subjected to suffering for our sake to provide for us a pattern of patience in Himself? On this account the Apostle Paul teaches that all God's children are appointed to this end - to be made like Christ:

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers - Rom. 8:29

From this also we receive remarkable consolation, that in the midst of dark and difficult circumstances, which we consider hostile and evil, we share in Christ's suffering.

Take Up Your Cross and Follow Me - Part I

Having finished reading through the Psalms, I'm heading back to John Calvin for some daily insights. Calvin wrote extensively on suffering and why it is such an integral part of human existence. Over the next few posts, I want to explore this notion of suffering through his writings in the Institutes of the Christian Religion. The focus of the posts will be Jesus' words in Matthew 16:24:

Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."

What does this mean to us as believers? More to reflect on in the next post.

Calvin on Self-Denial - Part II

After a brief break, here is more from John Calvin. We left off with Calvin exhorting us to forget ourselves and our own interests:

Rather, we are God's. Therefore, let us live and die to Him. We are God's. Therefore, let His wisdom and His will govern all our actions. We are God's. Therefore, let us - in every way in all our lives - run to Him as our only proper end. How far has he progressed who's been taught that he is not his own - who's taken rule and dominion away from his own reason and entrusted them to God. For the plague of submitting to our own rule leads us straight to ruin, but the surest way to safety is neither to know nor to want anything on our own, but simply to follow the leading of the Lord.

Let then our first step be to abandon ourselves, that we may apply all our strength to obedience to God. When I say "obedience," I don't mean giving lip service to God; but rather, being free from the desire of the flesh, turning our minds over completely to the bidding of the Spirit of God. The philosophers are ignorant of this transformation (which Paul calls the "renewing of the mind") even though it constitutes the very beginning of life (Eph. 4:23). They enthrone man's reason alone as ruler, and they think it alone should be listened to. Indeed, they grant and entrust government of conduct to human reason alone. But Christian philosophy, on the other hand, orders human reason to give place - to submit and yield - the Holy Spirit. For it's not now we who live, but Christ who lives and reigns in us (Gal 2:20).

Calvin on Self-Denial: Part I

John Calvin in his Institutes wrote about the Christian life. From his writings, I will be sharing his thoughts on self-denial. Here is how he introduces the subject:

The law of the Lord is the best and most suitable instruction for the proper ordering of our lives. Nevertheless, it seemed good to our heavenly teacher to conform us by an even more precise rule than what's given in the precepts of the law. This is the sum of that rule: It is the duty of believers to present their bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God. And in this consists genuine worship of Him. From this rule is derived the exhortation that believers not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of their minds, so that by testing they may discern what is the will of God (Romans 12:1-2).

This is a marvelous thing -- we are consecrated and dedicated to God to the end that we might not think, speak, meditate, or act unless it be to His glory. The sacred can't be put to profane use without injustice to God.

If we are no our own but the Lord's, it's clear what errors we must flee, and what we must direct our whole lives toward. We are not our own; therefore, neither our reason nor our will should dominate our plans and actions. We are not our own; therefore, let us not make the gratification of our flesh our end. We are not our own; therefore, as much as possible, let us forget ourselves and our own interests.

Calvin on the Scripture's Call to Christian Living - Final Words

Of course, none of us is capable of running swiftly on the right course while we remain in the earthly confinement of our bodies. Indeed, most of us are so oppressed with weakness that we make little progress - staggering, limping, and crawling on the ground. But let us move forward according to the measure of our resources and pursue the path we have begun to walk. None of us will move forward with so little success that we will not make some daily progress in the way. Therefore, let us keep trying so that we might continually make some gains in the way of the Lord, and neither let us despair over how small our successes are. For however much our successes fall short of our desire, our efforts aren't in vain when we are farther along today than yesterday. So let us fix our eyes on the goal with sincerity and simplicity, aspiring to that end - neither foolishly congratulating ourselves, nor excusing our evil deeds. Let us press on with continual striving toward that goal so that we might surpass ourselves - until we have finally arrived at perfection itself. This, indeed, is what we follow after and pursue all our lives, but we will only possess it when we have escaped the weakness of the flesh and have been received into His perfect fellowship.

Calvin on the Scripture's Call to Christian Living - Part IV

I'm not saying that the conduct of a Christian will breathe nothing but pure gospel, although this should be desired and pursued. I'm not, in other words, talking about gospel perfection, as if I were unwilling to acknowledge or recognize a man or woman as a Christian who has not obtained perfection. If that were the case, everyone would be excluded from the church, since we do not find any in it who are close to be perfect. Indeed, we find many in the church who have progressed little toward perfection, but who, nevertheless, it would be unjust to reject as Christians.

What I am saying to this: Let us fix our eyes on the goal and sole object of our pursuit. Let that goal, toward which we must strive and contend, be established from the beginning. After all, it's not right to barter with God regarding what we will and won't undertake from those things He has prescribed for us in His Word. God always commends - as of utmost importance - integrity as the principal part of His worship (1 Kings 9:4-5).

And by the word integrity He means sincere simplicity of heart, free from pretense and deceit, which is the opposite of duplicity of heart. In other words, right living has a spiritual basis where the inner affection of the soul is sincerely devoted to God for the nurture of holiness and righteousness.

[Tomorrow, I will have some final words from John Calvin.]

Calvin on the Scripture's Call to Christian Living - Part III

Something must be said about whose who want to be called Christians but possess nothing of Christ except the title and appearance. They arrogantly glory in His holy name. But only those who have gained a true knowledge of Christ from the Word of the gospel have a relationship with Him. And the Apostle denies that any have rightly learned Christ who have not learned that they must put off the old man, who is corrupted by deceitful desires, and put on Christ (Ephesians 4:20-24). Such nominal Christians demonstrate their knowledge of Christ to be false and offensive no matter how eloquently and loudly they talk about the gospel. For true doctrine is not a matter of the tongue, but of life; neither is Christian doctrine grasped only by the intellect and memory, as truth is grasped in other fields of study. Rather, doctrine is rightly received when it takes possession of the entire soul and finds a dwelling place and shelter in the most intimate affections of the heart. So let such people stop lying, or let them prove themselves worthy disciples of Christ, the teacher.

We have given priority to doctrine, which contains our religion, since it establishes our salvation. But in order for doctrine to be fruitful to us, it must overflow into our hearts, spread into our daily routines, and truly transform us within. Even the philosophers rage against and reject those who profess an art that ought to govern one's life, but who twist that art hypocritically into empty chatter. How much more then should we detest the foolish talk of those who give lip service to the gospel? The gospel's power ought to penetrate the innermost affections of the heart, sink down into the soul, and inspire the whole man a hundred times more than the lifeless teachings of the philosophers.

Calvin on the Scripture's Call to Christian Living - Part II

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.

Calvin on the Scripture's Call to Christian Living - Part I

The following is from the "A Little Book on the Christian Life," an edited work of the writings of John Calvin, specifically, "The Institutes of the Christian Religion." This section is on the Scripture's call to Christian living. This post is the first part of a four-part series.

There are two main parts to the instruction from Scripture on the Christian life....The first is that a love of righteousness - to which we are not naturally prone - must be implanted and poured into our hearts. The second is that we need some model that will keep us from losing our way in our pursuit of righteousness. Scripture contains many arguments to encourage us on the path of righteousness....

To begin with, what better foundation can Scripture give for the pursuit of righteousness than to tell us we should be holy because God Himself is holy? Moreover, when we are scattered and wandering like sheep, lost in the maze of the world, God found us and gathered us to Himself. When we contemplate this relationship between ourselves and God, let us remember that holiness is the bond of our union with Him. Not, of course, because we enter into fellowship with Him by the merit of our own holiness. Rather, we first of all cling to Him, and then, having received His holiness, we follow wherever He calls us. For it is characteristic of His glory that He has no fellowship with sin and impurity. Holiness is the goal of our calling. Therefore we must consistently set our sights upon holiness if we would rightly respond to God's calling. To what purpose did God pull us out of the wickedness and pollution of this world - wickedness and pollution in which we were submerged - if we allow ourselves to wallow in such wickedness and pollution for the rest of our lives?

Furthermore, if we count ourselves among God's people, Scripture tells us to live as citizens of the holy city of Jerusalem, which He has consecrated Himself: "For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come." (Hebrews 13:14)

It's shameful that the citizens of the holy city should pollute it by their impurity. Thus, we read that there will be a dwelling place in God's tabernacle for those who walk blamelessly and pursue righteousness. It's not right that the sanctuary in which God dwells should resemble a filthy stable.