Institutes of the Christian Religion: The First English Version of the 1541 French Edition

by John Calvin

Those who abandon scripture and imagine some other way to come to God are not so much deceived by error as they are excited by sheer craziness. From

these citations aim toward the purpose that no one should ever rest the least confidence in the world on his own strength if he wants God to be his help - God who sets Himself against the proud and gives grace to the humble.

already some spark of brightness in the human spirit, in that it has a natural love for the truth, and the brute beasts' scorn for this shows that they are full of dullness of spirit and without any reason.

fornication, you shall not steal;' so they do not

reveals His mercy to us we are sufficiently enlightened to have a firm assurance. Both of these are properly shown to us by the apostle in different places. For in saying that "we know in part, prophesy in part, and see unclearly as in a mirror" (1 Cor. 13[9, 12] ), he indicates how small the portion of divine wisdom given to us in this life is. But he himself shows in another passage how great is the certainty of the least drop of faith which we have in us, when he testifies that by the gospel we so contemplate the glory of God, uncovered and without hindrance, that we are transformed into the same image (2 Cor. 3[18]).

The first is that, when this story is explained to us, it is not for the purpose of our stopping there with a simple knowledge of the story but rather that by it our understanding may rise to the understanding of something higher.

For there are two kinds of things told to us in the creed, one visible and the other invisible, and what we say is clearly seen in both.

it is not enough to believe them to be true unless from this belief we take grounds for confidence and hope so that we not only think that God is all powerful but that we recogn...

But Christ's nativity, death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven were things...

From this teaching come various benefits for our faith. For we understand that by His ascension to heaven the Lord Jesus has made an opening there for us (Jn. 14[2-3]), where Adam had closed it. For since He entered heaven in our flesh and as if in our name, there follows what the apostle says: "already in some way we are seated with Him in the heavenly places" (Eph. 2[6] ),

If we seek the heavenly inheritance, we are assured of it by His ascension.

penitence

since it is not only joined together with faith but also is engendered by it.

faith without bringing his ...

But in sticking very superstitiously to the order of the words they do not pay attention to the purpose at which the sentences are ai...

Because these words mean the same as if they said: "Since the kingdom of God has ...

but we want to indicate that a person cannot rightly give himself to repentance unless he knows that he belongs to God. Now

no one can be determined to belong to God unless he has first known His grace.

For the rest, those who invent a new kind of Christianity in which, in order to receive baptism there must be certain days during which one practices penitence before being received to communicate in the grace ...

penitence, something which ought to be continued by the Christian...

A long time ago some wise men, wanting to speak of penitence simply and purely according to the rule of scripture, said that it consists in two parts: that is, mortification and vivification. They interpreted "mortification" as "a sorrow and great fear of heart which is conceived by the knowledge of sin and the feeling of God's judgment." For when someone is led to the true knowledge of his sin, he then begins to hate and detest it; then truly he is displeased with himself in his heart and confesses that he is wretched and ashamed and hopes to be different than he is. Besides, when he is moved with a feeling of God's judgment (for one follows the other), then, humbled,...

as a comfort produced by faith: when a person, ashamed by the consciousness of his sin and struck with fear of God, casts his eyes on God's goodness and mercy, on the grace and salvation which are in Jesus Christ, and is comforted, able to breathe, ...

Ot...

thought there are two kinds o...

one "l...

o...

"evangel...

it means that after they rec...

weight of their sin, they feared God's wrath, but since they thought only of God's vengeance and judgment, they were over...

So their penitence was only a gate to hell and, having already entered it in this present life, they began to suffer the wrath of God's majesty. On the other hand we see evangelical penitence in all those who, after they were pierced in themselves with the goad of sin, ...

Exam...

Hez...

Nine...

D...

those who were wounded in their hearts at the preach...

Although all these things...

differ...

For the fact that they confuse faith with penitence goes against what St. Paul says in Acts: that he "testifies to Jews and to Gentiles about penitence t...

What then? Can true penitence rest firmly without f...

But although they cannot be separated they must still be distinguished. For although faith cannot be without hope, still f...

nevertheless they must be joined together rathe...

Hebrews have to signify penitence mea...

Greeks have means change of counsel and...

That is why, in my judgment, we can properly define penitence this way: it is a true conversion or turning around of our life to fol...

which consists in the putting to death (mortification) of our flesh and old person and the ...

prophets as well as the...

"Let them produce fruits worthy of repe...

meaning that they must lead a life which shows and witnesses such an amendme...

But before proceeding further, it is necessary to explain th...

in which there are chiefly three article...