Calvin on Sovereignty, Providence, and Predestination Quotes

“The woman had nagged her son for years to clean up his life, but all those efforts had failed. Then the boy fell in love, and it was the expulsive power of that new affection that drove away his dirty habits. That is the way it is with God’s sovereign election, for it is by His effectual grace that He creates in us a new will that makes us desire Christ and want to please Him.”
― Joel R. Beeke, Calvin on Sovereignty, Providence, and Predestination

“What is more foolish: ascribing to God the things that are God’s or winning a lottery and believing you deserved it?”
― Joel R. Beeke, Calvin on Sovereignty, Providence, and Predestination

“The Calvinist is the man who sees God: God in nature, God in history, God in grace. Everywhere he sees God in His mighty stepping, everywhere he feels the working of His mighty arm, the throbbing of His mighty heart. The Calvinist is the man who sees God behind all phenomena and in all that occurs recognizes the hand of God, working out His will. [The Calvinist] makes the attitude of the soul to God in prayer its permanent attitude in all its life activities; [he] casts himself on the grace of God alone, excluding every trace of dependence on self from the whole work of his salvation.11”
― Joel R. Beeke, Calvin on Sovereignty, Providence, and Predestination

“To be Reformed is to stress the comprehensive, sovereign, fatherly lordship of God over everything: every area of creation, every creature’s endeavor, and every aspect of the believer’s life. Calvin and Calvinism’s ruling motif is “In the beginning God” (Gen. 1:1).”
― Joel R. Beeke, Calvin on Sovereignty, Providence, and Predestination