The Holiness of God and the Legacy of John Calvin
by R.C. Sproul

Join us at Ligonier Ministries' 2009 National Conference to study the holiness of God and for a mini-conference on the life and influence of John Calvin, whose 500th birthday we celebrate in 2009.

Burk Parsons on "The Humility of Calvin's Calvinism"
"At the foundation of Calvinism according to Calvin is the reality that God is inherently holy and we are not. Calvin's doctrinal explanation of the depravity of man was not formulated by a cursory comparative examination of the state of mankind in the sixteenth century; rather, his understanding of man's condition came as a result of his study of all the Bible has to say about the degenerate, humble existence of man after the fall and, in contradistinction, his study of the majestic holiness of God. In a section of his Institutes titled "True humility gives God alone the honor," Calvin writes of our humility and God's "loftiness" or "exaltation": "As our humility is his loftiness, so the confession of our humility has a ready remedy in his mercy."

These were the kinds of questions Calvin wrestled with throughout his Christian life: What does it mean that God is holy? What are the implications of God's holiness for our study of doctrine? What are the implications of God's holiness for our lives? Calvin writes:

From what foundation may righteousness better arise than from the Scriptural warning that we must be made holy because our God is holy? . . . When we hear mention of our union with God, let us remember that holiness must be its bond; not because we come into communion with him by virtue of our holiness! Rather, we ought first to cleave unto him so that, infused with his holiness, we may follow whither he calls.

We do not possess holiness inherently, Calvin explains; rather, it is the very holiness of God that overcomes us and enables us to follow the Lord. In his comments on Exodus 28, Calvin further explains this and describes the impurity of our own "holiness" as he considers Jesus' High Priestly Prayer, wherein He prayed, "And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth" (John 17:19):

It is undoubtedly a remarkable passage, whereby we are taught that nothing proceeds from us pleasing to God except through the intervention of the grace of the Mediator; for here there is no reference to manifest and gross sins, the pardon of which it is clear that we can only obtain through Christ. . . . This is a harsh saying, and almost a paradox, that our very holinesses are so impure as to need pardon; but it must be borne in mind that nothing is so pure as not to contract some stain from us.

Calvin's doctrine of God humbled him. He took no pride in his formulation of that doctrine, for he could not boast in a holiness that was not his to boast about. Rather, he boasted only in the majesty and holiness of God. It was that holiness that made him aware of his naturally depraved condition and drove him in his struggle to think, speak, and live as Jesus did. Just as we fail daily in our endeavor to follow our Lord perfectly, so did Calvin; yet he was a man of constant repentance who was more critically aware of himself and his own frailties than anyone else could have been, even admitting toward the end of his life: "I am, and always have been a poor and timid scholar." Such statements by Calvin were not deceitfully contrived by a mind held captive by false modesty; rather, they overflowed from a mind that had been captivated and a heart that had been humbled by God's majesty shining through His Word."

Excerpt taken from John Calvin: A Heart for Devotion, Doctrine, & Doxology by Burk Parsons.

Derek Thomas on "Who was John Calvin?"
On Feb. 26, 1564, Calvin gave his last lecture from a portion of Ezekiel 20. His final sermon had been given a few weeks earlier, on Feb. 6. He made visits to church meetings during the next few weeks, participating in the Lord's Supper on Easter Sunday (April 2). On April 25, Calvin dictated his will to a notary. It gave expression to his belief that he had served the Lord as he had been given ability. Two days later, he bade farewell to the syndics and the members of the Little Council, they having come to his home for the purpose. He died on May 27 and was buried the following day at 2 in the afternoon, "wrapped in a shroud and encased in a plain wooden coffin, without pomp or elaborate ceremony . . . his grave marked by a simple mound like that of his humbler associates in death," in accord with his own wishes.

Calvin's life was over, but he left behind hundreds of sermons, commentaries on almost the whole Bible, a theology textbook that remains definitive, countless tracts and letters, and much more than these, a life lived wholeheartedly for God.

Excerpt taken from John Calvin: A Heart for Devotion, Doctrine, & Doxology, edited by Burk Parsons.

Steven Lawson on "Calvin's Life and Legacy"
Calvin was primarily a preacher, a biblical expositor of the highest order. Indeed, the German Reformer Philip Melanchthon labeled him simply "the theologian," an indication of the respect Calvin was accorded for his abilities as an interpreter of Scripture. In his years in Geneva, Calvin viewed the pulpit as his principal responsibility, the first work of his pastoral calling. Thus, this magisterial Reformer gave himself to the exposition of the Word as perhaps no one else in history. He esteemed and elevated biblical preaching to be of highest importance, and so he made it his lifelong commitment.

As a result, apart from the biblical authors themselves, Calvin stands today as the most influential minister of the Word of God the world has ever seen. No man before or since has been so prolific and so penetrating in his handling of Scripture. Calvin's exegetical insights address most of the Old Testament and all of the New Testament except Revelation. By overwhelming consent, he remains the greatest biblical commentator of all time. On his deathbed, when Calvin reviewed his many accomplishments, he mentioned his sermons ahead of even his vast writings. For Calvin, preaching was job number one.

This estimation of the priority of biblical preaching in Calvin's ministry is not novel. No less an authority than Emile Doumergue, the foremost biographer of Calvin, stood in the great Reformer's pulpit in 1909 to mark the four-hundredth anniversary of Calvin's birth, and said: "That is the Calvin who seems to me to be the real and authentic Calvin, the one who explains all the others: Calvin the preacher of Geneva, moulding by his words the spirit of the Reformed of the sixteenth century." In that same memorable address, Doumergue remarked: "While he has come to be remembered as a theologian who recovered the doctrinal landmarks which had been buried under the debris of confused centuries, or as a powerful controversialist whose name opponents have sought to fasten upon beliefs which they judged odious, the truth is that Calvin saw himself, first of all, as a pastor in the church of Christ and therefore as one whose chief duty must be to preach the Word."

D'Aubigné has likewise affirmed the primacy of Calvin's preaching amid his many ministries. Calvin's principal office, D'Aubigné remarked, was the one he assigned to the minister: to proclaim the Word of God for instruction, admonition, exhortation, and reproof. To this end, Calvin's preaching was replete with practical instruction and application, which he saw as a fundamental necessity. Thus, according to D'Aubigné, Calvin's chief mission was the explication and application of the Holy Scriptures. This was the real Calvin-the biblical expositor who considered the pulpit to be "the heart of his ministry."

Excerpt taken from The Expository Genius of John Calvin, by Steven J. Lawson

Steven Lawson on "Preparing the Preacher"
As a man, preacher, writer, and theologian, Calvin was unflinching in his pursuit of God. He was an ardent Bible student and an impassioned servant of the Lord. Week after week, month after month, year after year, and decade after decade, he anchored himself to the biblical text, then made it known to his people.

This tenacious study, personal piety, and relentless ministering were maintained by a passionate desire to see God glorified. For Calvin, "Teachers cannot firmly execute their office except they have the majesty of God before their eyes." Even to the end, Calvin held that "The majesty of God is . . . indissolubly connected with the public preaching of His truth. . . . If His Word is not allowed to have authority, it is the same as though its despisers attempted to thrust God from heaven." This focus on upholding the glory of God gave meaning to his life, his ministry, and especially his preaching.

It is desperately essential in this hour that preachers recover a soaring vision of the supremacy of God. Life-changing, history-altering preaching will come only when pastors reclaim a high view of God's blazing holiness and are overshadowed by His absolute sovereignty. Towering thoughts of God's transcendent glory must captivate preachers' souls. May you be one who leaves the lowlands of trivial thoughts about God behind. A low view of God leads only to mediocrity. But a high view of God inspires holiness and a resolute spirit. May you ascend to the heights of the mountaintop and behold, as Calvin did, the breathtaking glory of God.

Excerpt taken from The Expository Genius of John Calvin, by Steven J. Lawson

R.C. Sproul on "Who God Is"
At the risk of sounding like a broken record because I've said it so many times, I really think that the biggest problem we have in theology is achieving a correct understanding of two doctrines-the doctrine of God and the doctrine of man. In the Institutes of the Christian Religion, in the opening chapter, John Calvin writes about the importance of having a sound understanding of who man is in order to gain a proper understanding of Who God is. He then makes a somewhat paradoxical statement and says that in order to understand man, you have to understand God, too. Unfortunately, we don't know Who God is, so we don't know who we are, but the more we understand of the holiness and the righteousness of God, the more we begin to see by contrast how desperately fallen we are and how utterly dependent we are on His mercy and grace.

The basic conflict in theology is between a theocentric theology and an anthropocentric theology-a God-centered theology or a man-centered theology. I'm afraid that many professing Christians are much more concerned about the exaltation of human beings than they are about the dignity of God Himself.

Excerpt taken from The Truth of the Cross, by R.C. Sproul

Join us at Ligonier Ministries' 2009 National Conference to study the holiness of God and for a mini-conference on the life and influence of John Calvin, whose 500th birthday we celebrate in 2009.

Sunday, February 01, 2009