Institutes of the Christian Religion (2 Volume Set)

by John Calvin

but there is this very essential difference, that they dispensed the gifts of God as his ministers, whereas he exerted his own inherent might. Sometimes, indeed, he used prayer, that he might ascribe glory to the Father, but we see that for the most part his own proper power is displayed.

For the Evangelist relates that he gave power to the apostles to cast out devils, cure the lepers, raise the dead,

whole power was derived from Christ.

“In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,” says P...

Lord (Jehovah)

But the name of Christ is invoked for salvation, and therefore it follows that he is Jehovah.

In asserting the divinity of the Spirit,

In this his divine majesty is clear.

Now, many passages of Scripture show that he is the author of regeneration, not by a borrowed, but by an intrinsic energy; and not only so, but that he is also the author of future immortality. In short, all the peculiar attributes of the Godhead are ascribed to him in the same way as to the Son.

“all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit,”

Most clearly, therefore does Paul ascribe divine power to the Spirit, and demonstrate that he dwells hypostatically in God.

it would be a clear proof of the Spirit’s divinity; how much clearer a proof in that we are not to make a temple to him, but to be ourselves that temple.”

I designedly omit several passages which the ancient fathers adduced.

But as God has manifested himself more clearly by the advent of Christ, so he has made himself more familiarly known in three persons.

Hence it plainly appears, that the three persons,

subsist in the Divine essence.

we conclude that the Word and Spirit are of the very essence of God.

He is not divided according to the distribution of his gifts, but, as the Apostle assures us (1 Cor. 12:11), however they be divided, he remains one and the same.

Christ intimates the distinction between the Holy Spirit and the Father, when he says that the Spirit proceedeth from the Father, and between the Holy Spirit and himself, when he speaks of him as another as he does when he declares that he will send another Comforter; and in many other passages besides (John 14:6; 15:26; 14:16).

I am not sure whether it is expedient to borrow analogies from human affairs to express the nature of this distinction.

This distinction is, that to the Father is attributed the beginning of action, the fountain and source of all things; to the Son, wisdom, counsel, and arrangement in action, while the energy and efficacy of action is assigned to the Spirit.

the Father being considered first, next the Son from him, and then the Spirit from both.

mind of every man naturally inclines to consider,

Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of him who raised up Christ from the dead. And not improperly.

that the Spirit is not different from the Father and the Son, inasmuch as he is the Spirit of the Father and the Son.

The whole Father is in the Son, and the whole Son in the Father, as the Son himself also declares (John 14:10), “I am in the Father, and the Father in me;”

The cause of this discrepancy is well and clearly explained by Augustine, when he says, 10 1 “Christ, as to himself, is called God, as to the Father he is called Son.” And again, “The Father, as to himself, is called God, as to the Son he is called Father. He who, as to the Son, is called Father, is not Son; and he who, as to himself, is called Father,

Augustine’s fifth book on the Trinity is wholly devoted to the explanation of this subject.

But it is far safer to rest contented with the relation as taught by him, than get bewildered in vain speculation by subtle prying into a sublime mystery.

When we profess to believe in one God, by the name God is understood the one simple essence, comprehending three persons or hypostases; and, accordingly, whenever the name of God is used indefinitely, the Son and Spirit, not less than the Father, is meant.

And we know that, in accordance with the received usage of the Greeks, the apostles uniformly substitute the word for Jehovah.

at present it is sufficient to remember, that Paul, after praying to God absolutely, immediately subjoins the name of Christ.

Thus, too, the Spirit is called God absolutely by Christ himself.

For as God is there called a Spirit, so the Holy Spirit also, in so far as he is a hypostasis of the whole essence, is said to be both of God and from God.

Here, if any where, in considering the hidden mysteries of Scripture, we should speculate soberly and with great moderation, cautiously guarding against allowing either our mind or our tongue to go a step beyond the confines of God’s word.

For how can the human minds which has not yet been able to ascertain of what the body of the sun consists, though it is daily presented to the eye, bring down the boundless essence of God to its little measure?

(Heb. 1:10; 10:6; Ps. 102:26; 97:7). All these apply to the one God; and yet the Apostle contends that they are the proper attributes of Christ.

The assumption, that whenever God is mentioned absolutely, the Father only is meant, may be proved erroneous by many passages.

He places the Father in the higher degree, inasmuch as the full perfection of brightness conspicuous in heaven, differs from that measure of glory which he himself displayed when clothed in flesh.

John, declaring that he is the true God, has no idea of placing him beneath the Father in a subordinate rank of divinity.

“that he who in Scripture is called God absolutely and indefinitely, is truly the only God; and that Christ is called God absolutely.”

And in the 12th chapter of the same book he explains that Abraham believed God, because Christ is the maker of heaven and earth, and very God.

This idea of continual generation becomes an absurd fiction from the moment it is seen, that from eternity there were three persons in one God.

For as an eye, either dimmed by age or weakened by any other cause, sees nothing distinctly without the aid of glasses, so (such is our imbecility) if Scripture does not direct us in our inquiries after God, we immediately turn vain in our imaginations.

With the same view Moses relates that the work of creation was accomplished not in one moment, but in six days.

But now that he has arranged the motions of the sun and stars for man’s use, has replenished the air, earth, and water, with living creatures, and produced all kinds of fruit in abundance for the supply of food, by performing the office of a provident and industrious head of a family, he has shown his wondrous goodness toward us.

But as the promise of bruising Satan’s head (Gen. 3:15) applies alike to Christ and to all his members, I deny that believers can ever be oppressed or vanquished by him.

They are often, indeed, thrown into alarm, but never so thoroughly as not to recover themselves.

fine, they labour on through the whole course of their lives, so as ultimately to gain the victory, though they meet with occasional defeats.

God, therefore, does not allow Satan to have dominion over the souls of believers, but only gives over to his sway the impious and unbelieving, whom he deigns not to number among his flock.