In Book One, Chapter Five, Sections One to Four. I.5.1-4.
THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD CONSPICUOUS IN THE CREATION, AND CONTINUAL GOVERNMENT OF THE WORLD.
Calvin has been making the point that the invisible, immortal and incomprehensible essence of God is manifestly demonstrated by the works of his hands. He has spoken of the marvels of astronomy as well as the symmetry, complexities and interconnectedness of the human body. Every eye of every human of every clime and every nation is presented with this universal, daily, dynamic and Divine Witness. Calvin also addresses the issue of the endowments of the soul and mind as further evidences.
His repeating theme, as throughout the Institutes, is that humanity, apart from justification and regeneration, is manifestly and shamefully unthankful. There are no objections worthy of consideration.
Man is stubborn, obstinate, proud, egocentric (Ich theologie or clincial narcissism), wickedly guilty and proactively represses and rebels against the Creator, the Judge, the Witness and the Jury in His own Divine Courtroom. It's odorific, malodorous and rank obstinancy, at the deepest level of the human psyche. It is fatal, terminal and irreversible apart from the Divine, unilateral, sovereign, and efficacious reversal.
The untamed, rebellious and unconverted man woman has a "monster mind;" unconverted intellectuals are perhaps the worst species of them all since they use the divine gifts of rationality, affection and volition to hate, run from, and pervert the divine revelation; further, they delight in their own self-abuse and abuse and destruction of others...stupidly and witlessly.
Men and women, even in their worst states and conditions, still have “uncomfortable inklings” about this, but repress that also.
There would have been no injustice had God simply condemned all without exception, exemption, or classification with respect to rank or position in life.
This sentence is very important to grasp. It is the source of sin and error in Pelagianism, semi-Pelagianism, Arminianism, Wesleyanism, Romanism, Orthodoxy, and Charismania in Christendom. While these communions teem with converted Christian, indubitably, yet...the systems of theology have not understood the above paragraph. It is simple, but it is deep and it governs the rest of theological inquiry. These systems of thought have not embraced the book of Romans and their systems are faith and works-salvation schemes.
Of course, that applies to those not claiming the term Christian.
Every non-Christian system is a works-based religion.
There are two systems of theology. Salvation by grace or by works (and combinations/permutations thereof).
Yet, God had mercy and God forgives us our trespasses through Christ Jesus, the only Advocate and Redeemer.
May we pray,
Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our day bread. And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory. Amen.
------------
Here is Calvin.
(God manifested in his created works, 1-10)
1.The clarity of God's self-disclosure strips us of every excuse
Since the perfection of blessedness consists in the knowledge of God (cf. John 17:3), he has been pleased, in order that none might be excluded from the means of obtaining felicity, not only to deposit in our minds that seed of religion of which we have already spoken, but so to manifest his perfections in the whole structure of the universe, and daily place himself in our view, that we cannot open our eyes without being compelled to behold him. His essence, indeed, is incomprehensible, utterly transcending all human thought; but on each of his works his glory is engraven in characters so bright, so distinct, and so illustrious, that none, however dull and illiterate, can plead ignorance as their excuse. Hence, with perfect truth, the Psalmist exclaims, "He covereth himself with light as with a garment," (Psalm 104: 2;) as if he had said, that God for the first time was arrayed in visible attire when, in the creation of the world, he displayed those glorious banners, on which, to whatever side we turn, we behold his perfections visibly portrayed. In the same place, the Psalmist aptly compares the expanded heavens to his royal tent, and says, "He layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters, maketh the clouds his chariot, and walketh upon the wings of the wind," sending forth the winds and lightnings as his swift messengers (Ps.104: 2-4). And because the glory of his power and wisdom is more refulgent in the firmament, it is frequently designated as his palace (Ps. 11:4). And, first, wherever you turn your eyes, there is no portion of the world, however minute, that does not exhibit at least some sparks of beauty; while it is impossible to contemplate the vast and beautiful fabric as it extends around, without being overwhelmed by the immense weight of glory. Hence, the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews elegantly describes the visible worlds as images of the invisible, (Heb. 11: 3,) the elegant structure of the world serving us as a kind of mirror, in which we may behold God, though otherwise invisible. For the same reason, the Psalmist attributes language to celestial objects, a language which all nations understand, (Psalm 19: 1,) the manifestation of the Godhead being too clear to escape the notice of any people, however obtuse. The apostle Paul, stating this still more clearly, says, "That which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has showed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead," (Rom. 1: 20.)
2.The divine wisdom displayed for all to see
In attestation of his wondrous wisdom, both the heavens and the earth present us with innumerable proofs not only those more recondite proofs which astronomy, medicine, and all the natural sciences, are designed to illustrate, but proofs which force themselves on the notice of the most illiterate peasant, who cannot open his eyes without beholding them. It is true, indeed, that those who are more or less intimately acquainted with those liberal studies are thereby assisted and enabled to obtain a deeper insight into the secret workings of divine wisdom. No man, however, though he be ignorant of these, is incapacitated for discerning such proofs of creative wisdom as may well cause him to break forth in admiration of the Creator. To investigate the motions of the heavenly bodies, to determine their positions, measure their distances, and ascertain their properties, demands skill, and a more careful examination; and where these are so employed, as the Providence of God is thereby more fully unfolded, so it is reasonable to suppose that the mind takes a loftier flight, and obtains brighter views of his glory. Still, none who have the use of their eyes can be ignorant of the divine skill manifested so conspicuously in the endless variety, yet distinct and well ordered array, of the heavenly host; and, therefore, it is plain that the Lord has furnished every man with abundant proofs of his wisdom. The same is true in regard to the structure of the human frame. To determine the connection of its parts, its symmetry and beauty, with the skill of a Galen, (Lib. De Usu Partium,) requires singular acuteness; and yet all men acknowledge that the human body bears on its face such proofs of ingenious contrivance as are sufficient to proclaim the admirable wisdom of its Maker.
3. Man as the loftiest proof of divine wisdom
Hence certain of the philosophers have not improperly called man a microcosm, (miniature world,) as being a rare specimen of divine power, wisdom, and goodness, and containing within himself wonders sufficient to occupy our minds, if we are willing so to employ them. Paul, accordingly, after reminding the Athenians that they "might feel after God and find him," immediately adds, that "he is not far from every one of us," (Acts 17: 27;) every man having within himself undoubted evidence of the heavenly grace by which he lives, and moves, and has his being. But if, in order to apprehend God, it is unnecessary to go farther than ourselves, what excuse can there be for the sloth of any man who will not take the trouble of descending into himself that he may find Him? For the same reason, too, David, after briefly celebrating the wonderful name and glory of God, as everywhere displayed, immediately exclaims, "What is man, that thou art mindful of him?" and again, "Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast ordained strength," (Psalm 8: 2, 4.) Thus he declares not only that the human race are a bright mirror of the Creator's works, but that infants hanging on their mothers' breasts have tongues eloquent enough to proclaim his glory without the aid of other orators. Accordingly, he hesitates not to bring them forward as fully instructed to refute the madness of those who, from devilish pride, would fain extinguish the name of God. Hence, too, the passage which Paul quotes from Aratus, "We are his offspring," (Acts 17: 28,) the excellent gifts with which he has endued us attesting that he is our Father. In the same way also, from natural instinct, and, as it were, at the dictation of experience, heathen poets called him the father of men. No one, indeed, will voluntarily and willingly devote himself to the service of God unless he has previously tasted his paternal love, and been thereby allured to love and reverence Him.
4.But man turns ungratefully against God
But herein appears the shameful ingratitude of men. Though they have in their own persons a factory where innumerable operations of God are carried on, and a magazine stored with treasures of inestimable value - instead of bursting forth in his praise, as they are bound to do, they, on the contrary, are the more inflated and swelled with pride. They feel how wonderfully God is working in them, and their own experience tells them of the vast variety of gifts which they owe to his liberality. Whether they will or not, they cannot but know that these are proofs of his Godhead, and yet they inwardly suppress them. They have no occasion to go farther than themselves, provided they do not, by appropriating as their own that which has been given them from heaven, put out the light intended to exhibit God clearly to their minds.
At this day, however, the earth sustains on her bosom many monster minds - minds which are not afraid to employ the seed of Deity deposited in human nature as a means of suppressing the name of God. Can any thing be more detestable than this madness in man, who, finding God a hundred times both in his body and his soul, makes his excellence in this respect a pretext for denying that there is a God? He will not say that chance has made him differ from the brutes that perish; but, substituting nature as the architect of the universe, he suppresses the name of God. The swift motions of the soul, its noble faculties and rare endowments, bespeak the agency of God in a manner which would make the suppression of it impossible, did not the Epicureans, like so many Cyclops, use it as a vantage ground, from which to wage more audacious war with God. Are so many treasures of heavenly wisdom employed in the guidance of such a worm as man, and shall the whole universe be denied the same privilege? To hold that there are organs in the soul corresponding to each of its faculties, is so far from obscuring the glory of God, that it rather illustrates it. Let Epicurus tell what concourse of atoms, cooking meat and drink, can form one portion into refuse and another portion into blood, and make all the members separately perform their office as carefully as if they were so many souls acting with common consent in the superintendence of one body.
No comments:
Post a Comment