The whispered promises of a betrothed groom

Book 3 Chapter 18 Section 1-10

How willingly we make promises to each other when we are in love. Nothing compels us to commit ourselves to each other apart from our desire to intertwine our lives so they can never be separated. On the marriage day we say our vows that promise provision, protection and faithfulness. The promises spring from a well of love that desires to make the other person feel completely secure and safe.

The star-struck lover giving precious promises to his beloved is the image that springs to mind from this final chapter on justification by faith. Here Calvin deals with the passages in the bible where God is said to grant eternal life to those who act graciously and uprightly (e.g. Matthew 25.31-46) and reward those who have acted well in this present life (e.g. 2 Corinthians 5.10). Rather than demonstrating that our works are the ground for our salvation Calvin argues that these passages indicate “not the cause, but the order of sequence.” Eternal life is given to those who have previously been adopted into the family of God for “the kingdom of heaven is not the hire of servants, but the inheritance of sons.”

More than that, we can see that God promises a reward to our works in order to motivate us to keep going. Knowing how weak we are and prone to giving up he promises rewards for our efforts. “For in order to animate us in well-doing, he allows no act of obedience, however unworthy of his eye, to pass unrewarded.” But such rewards are subsequent to salvation, for as Augustine says “To whom could the righteous Judge give the crown if the merciful Father had not given grace…and how could these be paid as things due were not things not due previously given?”

Thus our reward is certain, not because we deserve such a reward, but entirely because God has promised to give us what we don’t deserve. Again Calvin quotes from Augustine, “faithful is the Lord, who hath made himself our debtor, not by receiving anything from us, but by promising us all things.”

Response

We are used to thinking that God is no man’s debtor – that He more than rewards those who give up or sacrifice things for him. However, in an important sense God has put himself in debt to his children to give them what he has promised in his word. Everything God gives us is sourced from his infinite mercy – from our adoption as sons to the rewards for our service. God is not in the least indebted to us in anyway, but he makes himself indebted because he wants to. His rewards are the promised gifts of a lover not the wages of a servant.

There is nothing within us that means we should ever expect a reward for our vain attempts at good works. The basis for our blessing lies entirely within the promises made from a free and sovereign God. Nothing external compelled God to give us these promises – they are founded on the love of a lover for his beloved. It is as if we are the betrothed bride listening to the whispers of our lover, telling us what he will do for his most precious possession.

In Jewish culture the betrothal was a definite and binding agreement upon both groom and bride, who were considered as man and wife in all legal and religious aspects, except that of actual cohabitation. It was a joining of two people that guaranteed marriage at a later stage. Thus God puts himself in our debt, the God who is completely free brings himself under obligation to his bride. He adorns us with sweet promises, the fulfillment of the promises are certain, because of his character and because of his betrothal to us.

“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.” Romans 13.8

Father, we rejoice in the many great and precious promises you have showered upon us. Thank you that you take delight in your people, help us to live in the light of this grace and be people of mercy and compassion. Help us to respond in loving obedience, not for fear of punishment or hope of reward, but out of love for the one who has captured our hearts. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Faith acquires what the law requires

Book II Chapter V Section 1-19

In this final chapter on the subject of free will Calvin addresses some of the questions that are raised in response to his teaching on this topic. So far Calvin has argued that our will is free only in so far as it means we act voluntary and not under compulsion, in our natural state we willingly choose to do what we love – sin. He claims that we are not ultimately free to choose whether to do good or evil until we are created anew by the indwelling Spirit. He recognises that the Spirit acts in the heart of people to restrain them from evil, but this is not sufficient to transform them. We need a new heart. A living soul of flesh implanted by God that wills to serve Him and is enabled by His grace to have the power to serve Him.

Some of the questions he tackles in this chapter are:

• Does God mock us in demanding things we are not able to do (when he commands us to obey precepts He knows we are unable to do)?
• Does this teaching not make the promises and precepts of God pointless if we have no power to respond to their encouragements and warnings?
• Why does God rebuke the people of Israel and blame them for things they were unable to avoid?
• How can mankind be held accountable for things they are powerless to change?
• If the scripture teaches that God waits for us to repent then surely something must depend on us?
• The scripture describes good and bad works as our own, how then is it that we are held responsible for the bad works but the good ones are attributed to Him?

In answer to some of these questions Calvin repeats the comment of Augustine that “God does not measure the precepts of the law by human strength, but, after ordering what is right, freely bestows on His elect the power of fulfilling it”. Augustine himself says “God orders what we cannot do, that we may know what we ought to ask of Him…Faith acquires what the law requires…nay, more, God demands of us faith itself, and finds not what He thus demands, until by giving it He makes it possible to find it”.

Calvin argues that there is no contradiction between God demanding a new heart within us, and then declaring that He gives it. Again from Augustine: “What God promises, we ourselves do not through choice or nature, but He Himself does by Grace”.

How does all this work in practise? Does God do everything while we sit back and relax? Well, not quite. God has given the believer a new heart to love and serve Him. Now they have the Spirit within to empower them to live for Him. So we want to act righteously, and although we often fail, we freely choose to follow our Saviour. Calvin puts it this way “you act and are acted upon, and you then act well when you are acted upon by one that is good…nature furnishes the will which is guided so as to aspire to good”.

Response
What Calvin is essentially saying here is that our nature has provided the power to will, but God provides the new direction and sustaining power. We have the innate ability to reason and decide on a particular action, but like the horse illustration that was used in the last chapter, we need to be broken in. God must tame our stubborn wills and bring us to a point of submission. Although the final victory over our old nature was certain from the moment of regeneration, there is a moment by moment decision required of whether to yield or resist.

God pleads with His people to be willing, “do not be like the horse or mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you” (Psalm 32.9). But we are weak and our efforts half-hearted. How we need His forgiving, healing Grace. Praise Him that our salvation does not depend on us, but on our sinless, spotless, Saviour.

“For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so He condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit”. Romans 8.3+4

Father, help our weak wills and sinful hearts to long and search for You. Forgive us our sins and renew our hearts that we may walk with You in unity rather than grieving Your Spirit within us. Pour out Your Grace today Lord, for Jesus’ sake, Amen.

The law of unintended consequences

Book II Chapter IV Section 1-8

The law of unintended consequences states that any purposeful action will produce some unintended consequences.  It means that however much we try and control the effects of our actions some things will happen that we did not intend. The truth of this law seems pretty self-evident and thinking about this law can provide some insights into Calvin’s arguments in this short chapter. In it he returns to the question of God’s control over both evil and indifferent events and how He manages to overule everything to His own ends. If He is overuling such events then how much responsibility can be attributed to man and how much to the devil?

Calvin begins to answer this question by using Augustine’s analogy of comparing the human will to a horse where God and the Devil are the riders. When once the control of the will is given to the Devil “like an ignorant and rash rider, he hurries it over broken ground, drives it into ditches, dashes it over precipices, spurs it into obstinacy or fury”. By contrast when the reigns of life are given to God “like a temperate and skilful rider, guides it calmly, urges it when too slow, reins it in when too fast…and keeps it on the proper course”.

Calvin next attempts to explain how we can attribute the same work to God, to Satan and to man without either excusing Satan or making God the author of evil. This issue was also addressed in Chapter 18 of Book I. Calvin argues that we can understand how these various factors interconnect if we look “first to the end (or purpose), and then the mode of acting” (italics mine). Using the example of the Chaldeans attack on Job’s camels in Job 1.17, we can see the three different purposes in the same act:

1. God’s purpose is to exercise the patience of His servant through adversity
2. Satan’s purpose is to drive Job to despair
3. The Chaldeans purpose is to make unlawful gain by plunder

Calvin argues that “such diversity of purpose makes a wide distinction in the act”. We can also note the diversity of the mode of action:

1. God allows Satan to afflict his servant, he hands over the Chaldeans to the impulses of Satan
2. Satan willingly incites the Chaldeans to commit the crime
3. The Chaldeans willingly rush to fulfil their desires

Thus, we can see how the same act can be attributed to God, Satan and man “while, from the difference in the end and mode of action, the spotless righteousness of God shines forth at the same time that the iniquity of Satan and of man is manifested in all its deformity”.

Response

This one illustration powerfully demonstrates the boundaries of the law of unintended consequences. All created creatures, whether spiritual or human beings are bounded by this law. Neither angels, or devils or people can control all the outcomes of one simple act. However, God is not bound by this law, He sustains and controls all things for His own purposes. He works within His own law of intended consequences.

Often we cannot understand what He is doing and why, and sometimes it is impossible for us to see any good to come out of an act. But we can rest in this truth that our God is able to overule the most impossible situations to bring His purposes to fulfilment. One day we will more fully understand how God has caused all things to work for the good of those that love Him. But for now we walk by faith, trusting our loving Father.

“It was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you…So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God”. Genesis 45.5+8

Father, we pray you would enable us to fully trust that you are in control of all things, overuling them for our benefit. Even in the darkest night we hold onto Your hand and look to You to lead us. We believe and know You are working for our good, help us to find our peace in acceptance of this truth, for Your sake, Amen.

Free to do what you love

Book II Chapter II Section 1-27

After looking at original sin (or as Calvin calls it, hereditary sin) in Chapter 1 of Book 2, Calvin moves on to consider whether as a result of the fall man really has the freedom to choose to do good or evil. Does man really have a free will?

In order to answer this question Calvin first outlines how the mind works, how we make decisions. He identifies various elements within the soul, including the intellect, sense and appetite or will. He outlines the view of the philosophers who saw reason as illuminating the mind and informing the will to make decisions. However, they acknowledged that the will could be diverted from following reason by sense (pleasure and passion) that distort the appetite and turn will towards lust. But they believed that if man could rise above the influence of such carnal desires then he would be able to act justly and live an upright life. Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations is an excellent example of stoic philosophy that taught distancing ourselves from pleasure and pain in order to live a just life. Thus, the philosophers saw our innate reason as essentially pure and perceived the problem to be in trying to follow its inner light.

Discarding this view as not fully appreciating the impact of the Fall, Calvin then assesses the view of the church fathers on the topic of free will. He concludes that all of them, with the exception of Augustine, see man as corrupted at the sensual level only. They, like the philosophers, see our innate sense of reason as largely unaffected. He thinks this was driven by a misguided attempt to prevent people from feeling impotent to change their behaviour. Augustine defines free will in this way “it is a power of reason and will to choose the good, grace assisting, – to choose the bad, grace desisting”, emphasising man’s reliance on God’s grace for every good act. Calvin agrees with Augustine that without the transforming effect of grace man is completely powerless to live uprightly. He admits that mankind is not without the occasional spark of insight into the right path to follow, but our love for sin is such that we continue to decide to do that which we love – our sin.

Calvin goes on to describe three types of freedoms – the freedom from necessity (or compulsion), the freedom from sin, and the freedom from misery. He argues that the first freedom – the freedom from being forced how to act – is inherent to man and could not be removed, but the other two freedoms have been lost through the Fall. So, man has the free will to act however he so chooses, but he cannot act free from the power of sin. Calvin sums it up this way: “man is said to have free will, not because he has a free choice of good and evil, but because he acts voluntarily and not by compulsion”. But is this any type of freedom? “that man is not forced to be the servant of sin, while he is, however, a voluntary slave, his will being bound by the fetters of sin”.

Response

The issue of free will is contentious, we feel like we act freely and make up our minds over how to act. Indeed, it is true that even after the Fall, reason is able to act as a guide. But it is also in some measure corrupted, our conscience is not always reliable and even when it points us in the right direction we do not have the moral power to carry out our good intentions. Even when we recognise that we are caught in a trap, our will is not free to step out of the net.

We need help from outside to change. Just like the English rugby player who after he was caught for doing cocaine was actually pleased that he had been found out before his addiction completely ruined his life, we need someone to step in and save us. Someone who has the power to overcome our weak will and set it in a new direction.

The case for the Saviour is being steadily built as each chapter unfolds. He is able to take us from being voluntary slaves to sin and make us willing love slaves to Him, so that we desire to do what’s right and have the power to carry it out. Then and only then are we willing and able to do what pleases Him. The struggle with sensual desires still wages but we have a new power within to will and to do what we now love – live a godly life.

“I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin…So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed”. John 8.34

Father, if we are completely honest we recognise that there is nothing in us that desires you. It is only by your Spirit working in us that we desire to draw near to you and begin to love and serve you. Thank you that you have taken away our heart of stone and given us a heart of flesh. Fan into flame this desire and give us a steadfast heart to seek Your face, for your name’s sake, Amen.

A straight line with a crooked stick

Book I Chapter XVIII Section 1-4

If God controls all things and directs them according to His plan and purpose, including even the actions of Satan himself, then how can He also be free from all blame as well? This is the most common objection to the doctrine of providence and it is to this that Calvin applies himself in this chapter. He  tries to understand the issue by laying out some proposed solutions:

1. God permits evil but does not will it. This is the idea that God sits back and does nothing when evil occurs, He allows it to happen but does not want it to. The question here is if God “permits” things to happen does He do so willingly or unwillingly? Does He turn a blind eye as a passive spectator or does He in some sense will these things to happen? We know that God cannot be completely in control of all creation, and yet not also be completely in control of evil events occurring in that creation. God Himself testifies in His word that He is in control of events, whether good or evil (e.g. Isaiah 45.7, Amos 3.6). So if we agree that in some sense He is willing, or controlling, these events, that are against His declared will written in the law, does that mean He has two wills?…

2. There are two contrary wills in God. This tries to address the question of how God can decree by a “secret counsel” what He openly prohibits in His law. In Himself His will “is one and undivided, to us it appears manifold, because from the feebleness of our intellect, we cannot comprehend how, though after a different manner, He wills and wills not the very same thing”.

Calvin uses the example of the death of Christ as an event which was against the precept of God (“thou shalt not murder”) but at the same time it was willed by God to happen (Acts 4.28). Augustine puts it this way when speaking of that which is done contrary to His law “nor does He permit it unwillingly, but willingly; nor would He who is good permit evil to be done, were He not omnipotent to bring good out of evil”. Or as Luther put it, “God can use a crooked stick to draw a straight line” or as Dr David Calhoun says in lecture 6 of his lectures on the Institutes: ”we do not know how God wills to take place what He forbids to be done”. 

3. God is the author of sin. If we agree that God uses the agency of the wicked but also governs their “counsels and affections” for His own purposes then are not the wicked unjustly punished for only doing what He wanted? Is He not complicit in their crimes? But Calvin argues we are confusing God’s will with His precept. for while evil men “act against the will of God, His will is accomplished in them”. He argues that these men are following the evil desires of their hearts and that “they are not excusable as if they were obeying His precepts, which of set purpose they violate according to their lust”. Each is responsible for his own sin, irrespective of how God overrules the outcome.

Response

Confused? That’s probably a good sign, my head hurts. Well does Calvin say “the feebleness of our intellect” in understanding such deep truth. This is a hard teaching and at this point its important not to react by throwing our hands up in the air and saying its impossible to understand any of this so why bother. Calvin recognises this danger and warns against discarding a truth revealed in scripture just because it exceeds our capability to understand it!

He also reminds us that if these truths were not useful to be known God would never have ordered his prophets and apostles to teach them. Even though we cannot understand how God accomplishes His will through evil instruments we cannot deny that this is what the scriptures teach. How should we deal with these hard truths? “Our true wisdom is to embrace with meek docility, and without reservation, whatever the Holy Scriptures have delivered”.

“I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things.” Isaiah 45.7

Father, once again we have reached the end of human wisdom. Help us to trust in Your wisdom and gracious loving care. As a child trusts their father to do right, we trust you even when we can’t understand you. We are the creatures, you are the Creator. You are infinite, we are finite. Bring us all to the place of clearly understanding what the scriptures teach, and there may we stop and gaze, lost in wonder and adoration at Your infinite wisdom. Amen.

The secret impulse of God

Book I Chapter XVI Section 1-9

How involved is God in His creation? Did He set up the laws of nature then step back to observe the outcome? Does He intervene only at certain times in order to fashion His desired outcomes? Does He control every motion within the universe moment by moment? Where do we put God’s involvement on the spectrum from blind watchmaker to micro-manager? This is the issue Calvin addresses in Chapter 16.

Calvin begins by refuting the notions of chance and fortune. He reasons that while inanimate objects are subject to innate properties, yet they “exert their force only in so far as directed by the immediate hand of God”.  They are merely instruments which “God constantly infuses with energy” and uses for His purpose. Calvin then illustrates this point using the example of the sun (and earth). He points to the occasions in the bible when at the prayer of Joshua and Hezekiah the shadow of the sun was stopped or moved back, respectively. Thus, although the earth appears bound by natural laws which govern its motion, it in reality it is governed by God.

So, God is able to overrule natural law when He so chooses, but isn’t this just a special case? Not so argues Calvin. By referring to many passages speaking of the intimate governance of God, Calvin argues that “not a drop of rain falls without the express command of God”. Here Calvin agrees with Augustine, who taught that “if anything is left to fortune, the world moves at random”. What seems to others as chance, “faith will recognise as the secret impulse of God”.

Response:

If we really believe that not one sparrow falls to the ground without His will (Matthew 10. 29, along with many other passages of similar teaching) then it is logical to believe that God is intimately involved in every single action within creation. While it may be logical, its hard to get our head around. How can all the seemingly random acts of creation – including animals, humans and the cosmos – at all times, in all places, over all history, be controlled and guided by a divine hand?

As finite creatures limited by time and space this is a hard concept to grasp. Much easier to say that God is in charge in some abstract disconnected way and that he occasionally steps in for the odd miracle or two. But He has not left this option open to us. This teaching gives us some insight into what omnipotent and omniscient really mean. How big is our God?

This doctrine immediately leads onto two key questions: if absolutely everything that happens is governed and directed by God, then how can we understand the occurrence of evil in the world and what role do our decisions and actions take in God’s providence? It is these questions that Calvin addresses in the next chapter. I’m looking forward to it already!!

“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father…So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” Matthew 10.29+31

Father, we see something of Your amazing power and care as we meditate on these truths. Help us resist the temptation to try explain how You do it, but rather help us to become lost in wonder and adoration at Your intimate involment in our world. Thank you for Your loving and personal care, Amen.