Taking the red pill

Book 3 Chapter 14 Section 1-21

Sometimes we are unexpectedly faced with a life-changing decision that will effect our whole life. In The Matrix Neo faces the choice of whether he really wants to know the true nature of reality. He can stay as he is, blissfully unaware of the terrors that surround him, or enter the real world with its pain and suffering. At the critical moment Morpheus says to Neo:

“You take the blue pill, the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.“

Neo takes the red pill and life is never the same again. He realises he has been decieved all his life, and that the real world is far more disturbing than he could have ever imagined. In this chapter Calvin brings a similar challenge – do you really want to understand yourself as God sees you, or are you happy in your self-deception? Are you prepared to do whatever is necessary to really see yourself as you are, not how you see yourself? Beware! It will shake your comfortable life, but it will lead you to a deeper understanding of who God is and His great love for you.

This chapter is one of the key sections on Calvin’s discussion of justification by faith, in it he divides all mankind into four sections – as he calls them the “idolarous, profane, hypocritical and regenerate.” He goes on to consider each in turn in a display of penetrating analysis of mankind’s true nature. His key question throughout is, do any of these groups possess any kind of righteousness that could justify them before God? 

1. Those with no knowledge of God (1-6). Can those with no knowledge of God please God by their good works? No, according to Calvin. While he doesn’t deny that many in this category do have admirable virtues, “or rather images of virtues”. Since they do not possess the life that comes only through Christ (1 John 5.12), no matter how far they progress in character it will always be polluted. What is more, as they have an impure heart they are incapable of true righteousness, for “duties are estimated not by acts but by motives.”

2. The religious & hypocrites (7&8). Calvin sees this group as those who while “acknowledging themselves to be unrighteous, because they cannot deny it, they yet arrogate to themselves some degree of righteousness.” They have a form of godliness – but deny its power (2 Timothy 3.5).  This group have an appearance of righteousness for they partake in religious ceremonies, but underneath their hearts are not right with God – and they know it. This shallow spirituality does not impress God, for their “works are not pleasing to God unless the person has previously found favour in his sight.” 

3. The saved (9-21). Here Calvin addresses those who recognise that nothing good in them commends them to Almighty God, rather they trust in another’s righteousness.  Calvin lays out this in stark truth when he says “no believer ever performed one work, which, if tested by the strictest judgement of God, could escape condemnation.” And “that all the righteousness of men collected into one heap would be inadequate to compensate for a single sin.”

Lest we should remain in any doubt that even the works of believers are never 100% pure and holy Calvin finishes us off with this challenge: “Let the holy servant of God, I say, select from the whole course of his life the action which he deems most excellent, and let him ponder it in all its parts; he will doubtless find in it something that savours of the rottenness of the flesh, since our alacrity in well-doing is never what it ought to be, but our course is always retarded by much weakness.”

Response

Whew! This is Calvin at his sharpest. He would not have believers under any illusions that their good works are able to justify them before God. Let us truthfully examine ourselves and we will have to agree with him – is their any action that I have done that has been wholly and utterly pure and self-less? Is there not always a taint of our own selfishness and pride in every “good” work?

Reading this kind of language for the first time it may seem as though this would drive believers to despair, but actually it is the ground of all our confidence. For once we come to this place of complete and utter bankruptcy then we give up all hope of ever repaying the debt ourselves. Then we are either completely without hope and lost, or someone must intervene for us on our behalf. There is no shame in casting ourselves on another to save us once we have realised that all our attempts are futile. Then and only then do we really understand that we need a Saviour. This is the reality that we must face if we would know God – painfully uncomfortable at first and then joyfully exhilerating.

“Not the labour of my hands, can fulfil Thy law’s demands; could my zeal no respite know, could my tears forever flow. All for sin could not atone, Thou must save and Thou alone.”
Rock of Ages, Augustus Toplady.

Father, break through our self-deception and comfort with the burning, illuminating light of your word. May the trail blazed by Calvin be re-traced by your people to fall at your feet in wonder and adoration at your mercy and grace. Thank you Jesus for saving me through your death and resurrection.

More Calvin goodies!

Over at The Theologian they have posted a number of talks on Calvin and a couple of interesting articles…worth putting on your mp3 player/ipod to listen to on holiday! I’ll try and listen to them this week on my way to work before heading off to Keswick on Saturday for week 2 of the convention. Have a great summer wherever you are going.

Tribute to Calvin by Derek Thomas

Over at Reformation21 Derek Thomas has written a helpful article on why we should by thankful for Calvin’s life and work. While we never want to idolise men or women, we can be thankful for the gifts God gave him to serve and edify His people.

When speaking of the gallery of saints in Hebrews 11, Derek comments: ”For my part any such gallery must include John Calvin. His disciplined style, his determination never to speculate, his utter submission to Bible words as God’s words, his concern to be as practical as possible: godly living was his aim and not theology for the sake of it; these are some of the factors that make him a giant in the gallery of faithful expositors of Scripture.”

You can read the rest here

Happy Birthday Calvin – 500 years today!

I feel like I am getting to know Calvin well after reading half of his Institutes in the first half of 2009. He was passionate for the truth and had a deep and genuine love for his Saviour. But he also wasn’t a fan of ceremony and celebrity – so he probably wouldn’t like all the fuss that is made of it being his 500th anniversary today!

We can thank God for giving the church such a wonderfully gifted and intellegent man (with his share of faults). May Calvin inspire us, not to be Calvin-clones, but Christ-disciples, seeing his example as just one of the “great cloud of witnesses” that line the path ahead of us.

There is no “we” in glory

Book 3 Chapter 13 Section 1-5

I’m sure you have seen the posters on the walls of schools – the picture of a triumphant football squad with the winning trophy, and below is the line “There is no I in team“. As a spotty teenager who loved my football I got the message – there is no room for those who are only out for themselves in a team sport.

Here in Chapter 13 Calvin is teaching us something of God’s jealousy for His own glory. When it comes to who gets the glory for our salvation it is either us or God, there is no middle ground, there is no “we” in glory. For whoever “glories in himself glories against God.” God would have every mouth closed before Him as the world stands in silence in their guilt (Romans 3.19). We should beware of attributing any part of our salvation to our own wisdom, inclinations or desires, “for so long as a man has anything, however small, to say in his own defence, so long he deducts somewhat from the glory of God.”

Calvin’s aim in this chapter is to uphold two principles that should shape how we understand justification by faith. Firstly, that the glory of God be maintained unimpaired and, secondly, that our consciences be at peace. Regarding the former principle Calvin argues from many New Testament passages that God conferred salvation upon us in order that He might show forth the glory of His name (Eph 1.6, 2.8; 1 Peter 2.9). He alone will be praised and adored for redeeming us from the curse of our fallen natures, He alone will be seen to be the author and perfector of our faith.

Rather than detracting from our sense of peace, removing all credit from the creature actually strengthens our comfort. For how could we ever expect to have any peace from our conscience, let alone the heavenly court, if we trust, even a fraction, in our own goodness and righteousness? For “conscience, when it beholds God, must either have sure peace with his justice, or be beset by the terrors of hell.” By putting every last ounce of our salvation squarely in God’s hands we can find peace by relying in His promises and not our own efforts. For “never could anyone rest securely in it, for never could he feel fully assured that he had fully satisfied the law.”

Response

Whatever beginnings of righteousness we may have now were given to us through the righteousness of Christ, whatever desire we had for God before our conversion was due to the secret drawing of God. We can take no credit for the work of the Spirit in our lives.  But this is not to say that God does not reward our good works (as we shall see in chapter 18 of Book 3), or that we will not be one day bask in reflected glory.

For the wonder of God’s grace does not stop at our justification, but is made complete in our sanctification and glorification (Romans 8.30). We will never be the source of glory, but through God’s transforming work we will become mirrors of His glory – when “we” are enabled by our generous God to share in His glory.

“And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” 2 Corinthians 3.18

“We must have complete transparency”

Book 3 Chapter 12 Section 1-8

For those of us in the UK the last few months have been dominated by one news story – the MP’s expenses scandal. A number of MPs have now stood down from office and some are potentially even facing charges for abusing the expenses system. While it seems that the rules allowed a certain degree of flexibility, when viewed in the cold light of day many of the legally-claimed expenses appear ridiculous.  So, after much finger-pointing and public displays of contrition, there is to be a full review of the expenses process. The man leading this review, Sir Christopher Kelly, stated that “we must have complete transparency” in a recent interview, so that MPs can be held accountable for what they claim.

Transparency is a funny thing, its great when you are the detective investigating a crime, but not so great when the alleged criminal turns the tables and claims an illegitimate arrest. This happened last weekwhen the BBC had to respond to a Freedom of Information request asking for its expenses, as a publicly funded body. No doubt enjoying the irony (and the view from the moral high ground), Conservative MPs say the BBC should publish details of all salaries on the grounds of “transparency”.

Calvin is all for complete transparency. In fact he believes that if we are truly transparent with our own hearts we will be forced to see the futility of trying to be justified by works. In this chapter Calvin challenges us to “look to ourselves without flattery or blind self-love.” He believes that if we can see the heavenly tribunal that is awaiting all of us we will not be tempted to measure ourselves by human standards of perfection. “For if the stars which shine most brightly by night lose their brightness on the appearance of the sun, what think we will be the case with the highest purity of man when contrasted with the purity of God?”

A true understanding of our condition forces us to give up any hope of our own righteousness before our Creator. Outward appearances will count for nothing, the only thing that will count will be “the true intent of the will”. This is a greater level of righteousness than outward observance of the law, it has to do with the inner man – our thoughts, desires and intentions.  External comparisons will count for nothing as each of us stands alone, our every thought exposed to the penetrating eye of our judge. Which of us then will have the nerve to claim we are not deserving of the just punishment of a holy God?

What is Calvin’s solution to this predicament? Therefore “if we would make way for the call of Christ, we must put far from us all arrogance and confidence.” For “when we have entirely discarded all self-confidence and trust solely in the certainty of his goodness, we are fit to apprehend and obtain the grace of God.”

Response

Everybody loves a scandal, its sells papers and writes headlines. But in the hysteria that followed the recent expenses revelations we would do well to remember that one day all our secrets will be revealed and all our thoughts laid bare. It’s good to want transparency,  but we need to be prepared for what it will reveal. Every action, thought and intention of every day of our lives will be completely transparent for all to see. Not just where we may have bent the rules a bit, but where we outright broke them, thought about breaking them, and lived in rebellion to God’s kindness.

But before we despair of hope we must remember that there is a solution. For our greatest danger is not that we are stand before our Maker exposed, shamed and guilty – our greatest danger is that we enter the dock before we recognise there is a remedy. For at that point it will be too late. There is a Saviour for sinners, may we run to Him for forgiveness while we still can.

“Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the worst.” 1 Timothy 1.15