Book I, Chapters 1-4

In these initial posts dealing with the Institutes proper, I'll briefly cover all five chapters dealing with what we can generally refer to as the knowledge of God through General Revelation. Chapters 1-4 will be covered here, and Chapter 5 in a separate post.

As one reads through these first five chapters of the Institutes, one senses that without too much trouble, Calvin could have published this section separately under the title: "A Commentary on Romans 1".

After Chapter One, which in itself could be a commentary on Is. 6, and the need to know God before we can rightly know ourselves, that is precisely what we have. Calvin is, without specifically saying so, exegeting that great chapter in which Paul describes man's suppression of the truth and the substitution of that truth for the lies of idolatry by which he demonstrates himself to be a fool under the judgment of God.

In Chapter two Calvin sets forth his understanding of the knowledge of God, which is not only the mere knowledge of His existence, but also that which enables us to glorify Him. But, following Romans 1, Calvin also sets forth the limitations of our ability to know Him in His general revelation, noting that because of the fall, we are unable to "know" God fully, that is, in a salvific sense, apart from the further revelation that comes in Christ. Finally, Calvin speaks of what the knowledge of God should accomplish, and these accomplishments are two-fold. First, the knowledge of God should lead us to fear and reverence. Secondly, it should lead us to thankfulness, once we have learned who He is and what He has done. This, too, is from Romans 1. Paul there asserts that those who have suppressed the truth of God, "neither give thanks".

There is one particular sentence that i must mention before leaving Chapter 2. The last line of the first section, seems to me to have been, at least in part, the basis of the first question of the Westminster Catechism.

Q1: What is the Cheif end of man?
A: To glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.

Calvin: "Unless they establish their complete happiness in Him, they will never give themselves truly and sincerely to Him."

As Chapter 3 begins, we find a statement that could very well be utilized in describing the basis of Presuppositional Apologetics. Once again, the idea is taken directly from Romans 1.

"There is within the human mind, and indeed by natural instinct, an awareness of divinity. This we take to be beyond controversy. To prevent anyone from taking refuge in the pretense of ignorance, God himself has implanted in all men a certain understanding of his divine majesty."

What also struck me in these chapters is how prescient Calvin seems to be. There are statements here that lead me to think that God somehow provided Calvin with advanced (ok, VERY advanced) copies of some of the New Atheist books that have come out over the past few years.

"Therefore, it is utterly vain for some men to say that religion was invented by the subtlety and the craft of a few to hold the simple folk in thrall by this device..."

"How destestable, i ask you, is this madness: that man, finding God in his body and soul a hundred times, on this very pretense of excellence denies that there is a god?"

He could very well be describing Dawkins and Hitchens.

I thought what Calvin says here in Chap. 3 regarding the distinction between various aspects of religion and religion itself is very helpful in the realm of apologetics. He makes the point that "clever men" have, indeed, invented various religious "things" by which people are taken advantage of. But this would not have been effective unless an innate religiosity, the knowledge of God, was already present within them. That is helpful when confronted by one who seeks to make much of the fact that there are so many different religions and different religious practices.

Calvin's orderly mind is once again displayed for us in Chapter 4, as he puts forth various means by which men suppress the truth. He mentions several, including superstition, the conscious turning away from God, the makin of gods in our own image, and hypocrisy.

All of this is quite good, but I was particularly struck with one particular statement of his in section 3, which, it seems to me is an excellent description of the foundation for the Regulative Principle of Worship. The RPW is that principle which states that only those aspects of worship which God has specifically set forth in His word, are to be included in our corporate worship of Him and anything God has not commanded, is to be excluded from our worship.

Although Calvin doesn't call it the RPW, certainly the logic behind it is found in his words...

"...all who set up their own false rites to God worship and adore their own rantings."

The footnote to this section adds, "The rejection of human invention in worship is a consistent theme of Calvin against both paganism and the Roman Church."

In that same section, we once again see the timelessness of Calvin's thought. Can one read...

"Thus is overthrown the vain defense with which many are wont to gloss over their superstition. For they think that any zeal for religion, however preposterous, is sufficient..."

...and not think of the contemporary equivilent, "As long as you're sincere..."