<<   Title  Contents

IX The Church

3. PREACHING AND TEACHING

Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lifted up, ye everlastingdoors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Ps. 24:7-8.

Since the magnificent splendor by which the Temple was to surpass the external dignity of the Tabernacle had not as yet been realized, David here is speaking of the future building of the Temple. In this way, he is encouraging the faithful to apply themselves more wholeheartedly and with greater faith to the ceremonies commanded in the law. God showed no ordinary kindness when he dwelt among them [giving them] a visible symbol [of his presence] and wished his heavenly abode to be seen on earth.

The value of this doctrine ought to be clear to us today; because it is a sign of the inestimable grace of God toward us also when, due to the weakness of our flesh, he lifts us up to himself by way of godly practices. For what is the purpose of the preaching of the Word, of the sacraments, of religious gatherings, and of the whole external order of the church except to unite us with God? Not without reason does David give such high praise to the cult ordained by the law, for in the Ark of the Covenant God offers himself to the faithful and gives them a sure pledge of his present help as often as men call upon him.

For God does not dwell in temples made with hands, nor does he find pleasure in external pomp. Yet because it pleased him to help a rude and, so to speak, childish people to be lifted up to God by the use of earthly things, David did not hesitate to propose the building of a splendid temple for the strengthening of their faith. He did this to assure the Jews that the temple is no empty theater but a place for worshiping God rightly according to the direction of his Word. He wanted the temple to stand out before their eyes so that by its effect they might feel the nearness of God. Hence in short, the Temple which God had commanded to be built on Mount Zion was meant with its greater splendor to surpass the Tabernacle, so that by its brilliance it might be a fitting mirror of the glory and power of God who dwelt among the Jews. Meanwhile, David himself burned with the desire for a great temple, and kindled the same zeal in the hearts of all the pious, so that aided by the rudiments of the law, they made progress in the fear of God.

Who is the King of glory?These words, which are in praise of God's power, are meant to teach the Jews that he is not sitting idly in the Temple but coming in with might to bring help to his people. The question is twice repeated -- which shows that it is highly emphatic. The prophet plays the role of an astonished questioner in order to teach the more impressively that God comes clothed with irresistible power to watch over the safety of his people and that under his shadow the faithful are safe.

We have already said that God did not dwell in the Temple as though his immeasurable essence were enclosed in it. But he was present there, with his power and grace, according to the promise given to Moses,Where I will set the memorial for my name, I will come to thee and bless thee(Ex. 20:24). This promise was not given in vain, for the faithful know that God truly stands in their midst. They do not look for him superstitiously, believing that he is affixed to the Temple; but with the aid of the outward worship of the Temple, they turn their spirits toward heaven. In truth, whenever the people invoked God in the Temple, by this very act the Ark of the Covenant was no empty or illusory symbol of the presence of God, for God always stretches out his mighty hand to protect the safety of the faithful.

The repetition also warns us that the faithful cannot be too zealous and untiring in their use of this mediation. When the Son of God, clothed in flesh, appeared asKing of glory, the Lord of Hosts himself entered his Temple to dwell with us, not in a shadowy metaphor, but in reality. Therefore, nothing prevents our boasting that we by his power shall be unconquered. Although today the sanctuary is not on Mount Zion, nor is the Ark of the Covenant the image of God who dwells above the cherubim, our situation is the same as that of the fathers, because the preaching of the Word and the sacraments unite us with God. Therefore, we ought to hold on to these props with reverence, for if we spurn them in ungodly arrogance, it cannot be but that God shall remove himself far from us.

The Lord said to Cain, Why art thou wroth; why is thy countenance fallen?Gen. 4:6.

Moses does not specifyhowGod spoke. Whether he [Cain] was presented with a vision, or heard an oracle from heaven, or was warned by a secret inspiration, in any case, he felt constrained by the judgment of God. To drag Adam into this, and to assume that as God's prophet and interpreter he inveighed against his son, is forced and vapid. I understand the aim of various good men, no less eminent for piety than for doctrine, when they play about with such notions. They intend to glorify the visible ministry of the Word and to cut down Satan's sleights of hand which he passes off under the guise of revelation. I admit that nothing is more helpful to the church than to keep pious minds submissive to the authority of preaching so that they may not seek the Word of God in erratic speculations. But in the beginning it is necessary to remember that the Word of God was given in the form of oracles in order that later when administered by human hands it might be held in greater reverence.

I admit that Adam was given the duty of teaching, and I do not doubt that he carefully instructed his children. But the words of Moses are too arbitrarily limited by those who think that God spokeonlyby his ministers.

. . .He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. John 11:43.

Christ's divine power is all the more evident in that he did not touch him, but called him with his voice; meanwhile, in so doing, he has commended to us the secret and astounding efficacy of his Word. How indeed did Christ restore life to the dead except by his Word? Wherefore, in reviving Lazarus, he gave us a symbol of spiritual grace, which we apprehend every day by faith, as he shows that his voice gives life.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. John 3:14.

Here he explains more clearly why he had said that heaven was opened to him alone: it was certainly in order that he might bring to it all who are willing to follow him as their guide. Moreover, he declares that he will appear publicly and openly to all, and will pour out his power upon all men.To be lifted upmeans to be placed in a high and lofty place, so that he may be seen by all. And this occurs by the preaching of the gospel. Some say that this verse refers to the cross; but this explanation does not fit the context and has nothing to do with the subject on hand. The simple meaning of the words is that by the preaching of the gospel Christ is raised up as a standard, so that the eyes of all men may be turned to him, as prophesied by Isaiah (2:2).

Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while I am with you, and then I go unto him that sent me. John 7:33.

By these words he testifies that death will not destroy him, that, rather, when he puts off his mortal body, he will declare himself the Son of God by the victory of his glorious resurrection. It is as if he had said: " In spite of all you can do, when I finish the mission enjoined upon me, my Father will receive me into his heavenly glory. Thus after my death I shall not only retain my present state, but shall also enter one far more excellent which is all ready for me." This statement leads us to the larger admonition that, when Christ calls us to the hope of salvation by the preaching of the gospel, he is present with us. It is not for nothing that the preaching of the gospel is called Christ's descent to us (Eph. 2:17).

. . .I speak to the world those things which I have heard from him.John 8:26.

Jesus says that he advances nothing which he has not received from the Father. The teaching of a minister should be approved on the sole ground of his being able to show that what he says comes from God. We know that Christ at this time was in the form of a servant; therefore it is not strange that he demands to be heard because he presented man with God's mandate. Besides, by his example he set down a law for the whole church: namely, that no man ought to be heard except as he speak from the mouth of God. But while he lays low the wicked arrogance of men who force themselves upon others without having the Word of God, he instructs godly teachers who have a single-minded knowledge of their calling and fortifies them with an indomitable constancy, so that, guided by God, they may have courage to defy all mortals.

Then Jesus said unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall ye know that I am he and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. John 8:28.

It is true that on the cross Christ erased the handwriting of sin and abolished the condemnation of death, and that in so doing he triumphed over Satan before God and his angels. But it is only by the preaching of the gospel that this triumph at last began to be known by men. We ought to hope that what happened after the cross, namely, his coming out of the grave and his ascension to heaven, shall happen in our own day. For in spite of the fact that the impious are busy contriving how they may oppress Christ by way of his doctrine and his church, he not only rises but also turns their wicked zeal into a means of greater advance for his Kingdom.

But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost. . . shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. John 14:26.

Isaiah threatens the unbelievers with the punishment that the Word of God shall be to them as a sealed book (Isa. 29:11). But the Lord also humbles many of his own people in the same way. When he does this, we should not reject the Word, but should wait calmly and patiently for his light. Besides, since Christ testified that it was the peculiar office of the Holy Spirit to teach the apostles whom he himself had already taught by word of mouth, it follows that outward preaching is vain and useless unless the Spirit himself acts as the teacher. God therefore teaches in two ways. He makes us hear his voice through the words of men, and inwardly he constrains us by his Spirit. These two occur together or separately, as God sees fit.

But notice how he promises the Spirit will teach. He says the Spirit will suggest or remind. Therefore, the Spirit will not be a maker of new revelations. With this one statement we must refute all the lies which Satan has introduced into the church, with the pretext that they are of the Spirit. Mohammed and the pope have this principle of religion in common: they pretend that Scripture does not contain perfect doctrine, and that they receive a higher revelation from the Spirit. The Anabaptists[105]and the Libertines[106]in our own time derive their mad ideas from the same notion. But any spirit that comes out with some fable got someplace outside the gospel is an impostor, not the Spirit of Christ. Christ promises the Spirit who shall confirm the gospel as the very one who has written and signed it.

Behold the Lord will proclaim to the end of the earth, Say to the daughter of Zion, Behold your Savior cometh. Isa. 62:11. (Calvin's wording.)

When he saysSay to the daughter of Zion, he leaves us in no doubt that the task of the ministers of the Word and of the prophets whose peculiar work God himself assigns is to promise freedom and security to the church. And we gather that these promises were not restricted to one age only but were to extend to the end of the world. For although a beginning was made by the return from Babylon to Judea, the promise continued in effect to the coming of Christ; for at his coming it was that this prophecy was finally fulfilled and redemption reached its goal. Moreover, the Savior comes whenever the grace of God is proclaimed by the gospel. In short, the prophet is announcing the future day when the voice of God will resound from the rising of the sun to its setting, and will be heard not by one people but by all people. The voice cries,Behold your Savior comes; and we know this refers properly to the gospel. Therefore the teachers of the church are commanded to lift up the minds of the faithful with the confidence of the Lord's coming, even though God seems far away from his people. In fact, this promise applies especially to Christ's Kingdom, in which these things are fully and solidly established. Christ has truly revealed himself the Savior of his church.

Of righteousness, because I go to the Father, and ye see me no more. John 16:10.

Of righteousness. Notice the order of Christ's words. He now says that the world is convicted with regard to righteousness. For men do not hunger and thirst after righteousness; on the contrary they reject whatever is said about it unless they are touched by a sense of sin. We must understand, about the faithful especially, that they cannot make progress in living according to the gospel unless first they are humbled; but this does not happen unless they first know they are sinners.

It is the peculiar office of the law to call consciences before the judgment seat of God and to strike them with terror. But the gospel is not preached rightly unless it lead men from sin to righteousness and from death to life. Therefore, we must learn the meaning of the first clause,of sin, from the law. But we must here understandrighteousnessas communicated to us by the grace of Christ. So, it is with good reason that Christ makes it to depend upon his ascension to the Father. As Paul is witness (Rom. 4:25), He rose for our justification, and sits on the right hand of the Father, to exercise the dominion given him and thus to fill all things. In short, from the glory of heaven, he covers the earth with the sweet savor of his righteousness. The Spirit proclaims through the gospel that this is the only way we are accounted righteous. After the world becomes convicted of its sin, the Spirit convinces it of true righteousness. When Christ ascended to heaven, he established the Kingdom of Life; and he sits at the right hand of the Father to maintain true righteousness.

And when he is come, he will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. John 16:8. (Calvin's wording.)

He will convict the worldmeans that he will not remain enclosed in you, but will send forth his power from you into the whole world. He therefore promises his Spirit who shall judge the world and constrain to an orderly life those who formerly, without reverence or fear, lived in the frenzy of an unbridled license. But let it be clear that he is speaking here not of a secret revelation, but of the power of the Spirit which is manifested in the external teaching of the gospel, and that by the voice of men. But how does it happen that the voice of man penetrates the soul, and working at its very root, finally brings forth fruit, changing hearts of stone into hearts of flesh and renewing the whole man -- how, unless this same voice be endowed with power by the Spirit of Christ? Otherwise it would be a dead letter and a mere sound, as Paul teaches beautifully in 2 Cor. 3:6, where he glories in being a servant of the Spirit because God has worked mightily through his teaching. All this means that the apostles were to receive the Spirit, who would endow them with a heavenly and divine power, and would enable them to exercise authority throughout the world. All this is ascribed to the Spirit rather than to themselves, because they were to have nothing of their own power; they were to be servants and instruments, ruled by the Holy Spirit alone.

Byworld, I understand all those who have been converted to Christ, including the hypocrites and the reprobates. There are two ways in which the Spirit convicts men by the preaching of the gospel. Some are affected seriously, so that they bow down readily and assent willingly to the judgment which condemns them. Others, even though convicted, are unable to escape condemnation, because they do not yield from the heart, and will not yield to the authority and dominion of the Holy Spirit. Even though overcome, they rage within themselves; and while confounded, they do not cease to revel in being obstinate. Now we understand how the Spirit was to convict the world through the apostles. God himself stands in judgment through the gospel; and thus it is that men begin to be disturbed in their consciences and to feel the grace of God.

And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me: ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape. John 5:37.

It is wrongheaded to limit this statement to the voice heard at his baptism. When he says God has testified to him in the past, he means that he has not come forth as somebody no one had ever heard of, because God had already pointed to him in the Law and the Prophets, and given him certain marks which he might bring with him and by which he might be recognized. This means that God testified to his Son when long ago he held out the hope of salvation to the ancient people, or promised the full restoration of the Kingdom of Israel. Therefore, the Jews should have known Christ from Scripture, even before he appeared in the flesh. And now, since they despise and reject Christ, it is obvious that they have no taste for the law; hence Christ's reproach is just. And yet they glory in their knowledge of the law, as if they had never left God's bosom.

After Christ complains that they have not received him, he speaks even more bitterly of their blindness. When he says that they have not heard or seen God, he speaks in a metaphor and means that they are utterly turned aside from the knowledge of God. For as men make themselves known by face and speech, so God speaks by the voice of his prophets, and puts on a visible form in the sacraments, so that he may be known by us according to our own measure. Anyone who does not know God through the living image he himself has given us shows that he only worships a God of his own fabrication. Therefore Paul says that they do not see the glory of God in the face of Christ, because a veil is thrown over their eyes (2 Cor. 3:14).

Verily, verily, I say unto you, we speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen. . . . John 3:11.

Some say thatweabove refers to Jesus and John the Baptist. Others say that the plural pronoun has been put in the place of a singular. I myself do not doubt that Christ here speaks for all the prophets of God and for himself as one of them. Philosophers and other windy doctors often force upon us trifles which they themselves have invented. But here Christ vindicates himself and all the servants of God as men who hand down only teaching that is true and certain. God does not send his servants to babble of things of which they are ignorant or doubtful. He trains them in his own school, in order that what they have learned from himself they deliver to others. While with this eulogy Christ declares to us the certainty of his own teaching, he also prescribes the rule of modesty for all his servants. They are not to mouth their own dreams and opinions, or to offer human inventions in which there is nothing solid; on the contrary, they are to be faithful and bear a pure witness to God. Let everyone attend to what God has revealed to him, and let him not go beyond the bounds set by his faith. Finally, let no man allow himself to speak except as he hears from the Lord.

Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner: but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Matt. 3:12.

In the former verse John dealt with the grace of Christ, so that Jews might turn to him and receive a new life. But now he speaks of judgment, in order to strike the scornful with terror. Since many hypocrites are proud enough to repudiate the grace which Christ offers them, it is necessary to proclaim the judgment which awaits them. For this reason John presented Christ as a dreadful judge toward unbelievers. We also must present our doctrine in this order, and let them know that their rejection of Christ will not go unpunished; they must be aroused from their torpor, and led to fear him as Judge, whom they despised as Savior.

Besides, I have no doubt John intended to teach that Christ would accomplish this judgment by means of his gospel. The preaching of the gospel is the winnowing fan. Before God sifts us, everyone flatters himself that he is wheat. The whole world is in a state of confusion, with the good and the evil thrown together. Hence it is necessary that the chaff be blown away. When Christ comes in our midst with his gospel, when he rebukes our consciences and brings us before the judgment seat of God, then the chaff, which took so much space on the floor, is blown away with the wind. Although the gospel purifies each one of us from chaff, John here compares the reprobate with chaff, and the believers with wheat.

Therefore, since the threshing floor is not the world, as some would have it, but the church, we must consider to whom it is that John speaks. The Jews flatter themselves that they alone were the church, since up to that time they alone were in it. But John tells them that their pride is foolish, since they would soon be thrown out on the threshing floor like so much chaff, and that rightly. He takes a look at the church at that time, which was filled with husks, straw, and other rubbish, and declares that it will soon be purified with the blowing of the gospel.

But how is Christ to separate the chaff from the wheat when there is nothing but chaff in us? The answer is easy. The elect shall be made into wheat; in this way, freed from chaff, they shall be gathered into the barn. This cleansing is begun by Christ, and continued day by day; but its effect shall not be realized fully until the Last Day. For this reason, John turns our minds toward our ultimate end. But we must remember that even now the faithful enter by hope into God's granary which is their real and eternal home. The reprobate on the other hand even now, being under conviction of guilt, feel the heat of the fire which shall at the Last Day become a devouring conflagration. Many have given us subtle discourses about the eternal fire which shall torment the wicked after the Last Judgment. But many passages in Scripture make it plain that the wordfireis a metaphor. For if the fire is real or as they call it material, so are the sulphur and brimstone mentioned by Isaiah (30:33). Surely,the fireis no different fromthe worm; and if, as everybody agrees,the wormis a metaphor, we must think the same ofthe fire. To put aside speculations with which silly people weary themselves for nothing, it is enough to hold that such forms of speech were used because of our own crudity. They were intended to convey to us a sense of dreadful torment which we can neither imagine nor express properly with our words.

Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should return from his ways and live?Ezek. 18:23.

Here the prophet reiterates in different words that God certainly desires nothing more than for those who are perishing and rushing toward death to return to the way of safety. This is why the gospel is today proclaimed throughout the world, for God wished to testify to all the ages that he is greatly inclined to pity. Even to pagans, deprived of the Law and the Prophets, some taste of this truth has always been given. They have often smothered it under many errors, yet we always find them being led by some hidden impulse to seek divine favor. The feeling is somehow ingrained in them that God is merciful to all who seek him.

But God has given clearer witness to this truth in the Law and the Prophets. Moreover, we know in what intimate terms he appeals to us in the gospel when he promises his forgiveness. Indeed, this is the knowledge of salvation: to embrace God's mercy offered to us in Christ. It is in Christ that what the prophet says here is proved to be most true: [We know that] " God does not desire the death of the sinner," because of his own will he comes forth to meet him. Not only is he ready to receive all who flee to his mercy, but he calls to himself with a loud voice those whom he sees cut off from every hope of safety.

We must also notice how God desires all to be made safe, that is, byturning from their own ways. God does not wish to save all men by destroying the distinction between good and evil. Before forgiveness comes repentance. How then does he wish all to be made safe? Truly, as formerly through the Law and the Prophets, so also today the Spirit through the gospel condemns the world for sin, by righteousness and judgment (John 16:8). In this way God reveals to men their misery, in order that he may receive them to himself. He wounds that he may heal; he kills that he may give life. We believe and are assured that God does not desire the death of sinners, because he calls all equally to repentance and promises that if they only repent he will be ready to receive them.

Then Jesus said unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins; whither I go, ye cannot come. John 8:21.

First, we must consider how the people to whom he speaks sought Christ. If their conversion had been real, they would not have sought him in vain, because he has promised truly that no sooner does a sinner groan over his sin than He shall run to his help. Therefore, Christ means that they have sought after him not by the proper means of faith, but because of a desire to escape the anxiety which is an extreme evil. While the unbelievers want God to look on them with favor, they do not cease to run away from him. God himself declares to us that by repentance and faith we may come to him. But they, hard of heart, turn against God: and broken down with despair, they cry against him. In short, they are so far from seeking God that they will not let him help them, unless he be untrue to himself, which he will never be. Thus it is that the scribes, however impious, were willing to receive the redemption promised at the hand of the Messiah, provided Christ changed himself to suit their own nature. Wherefore by this word Christ denounces all unbelievers and threatens that if they despise the teaching of the gospel, even if they be filled with such anguish as to be forced to cry to God, their howling will do them no good, because as we have said already,seeking, they do not seek.

And Abraham took Ishmael his son and all that were born in his house and all that were bought with his money. . . and circumcised the fleshof their foreskins, in the selfsame day, as God had said unto him. Gen. 17:23.

Moses now praises the obedience of Abraham, because he circumcised his whole household as he had been commanded. . . . Two points are worth considering. First, Abraham was not deterred by the difficulty of the task from offering to God the sacrifice which he owed. We know that he had a great number of people in his household. . . . And there was danger of stirring up a riot in a peaceful community. But relying on God, he began what was an impossible task. Secondly, we see how well-ordered his household was. Not only the slaves born in the house, but also foreigners bought for money, quietly accepted the pain of circumcision. Obviously Abraham had taken great pains to train them in their duty. And since he had kept up a holy discipline, he now received the reward of the care he had taken. Discipline in easy things prepared the way for something hard.

Today, when God wishes his gospel to be preached in the whole world, so that the world may be restored from death to life, he seems to ask for the impossible. We see how greatly we are resisted everywhere and with how many and what potent machinations Satan works against us, so that all roads are blocked by the princes themselves. Yet each man must perform his duty without yielding to any impediment. At the end our effort and our labors shall not fail; they shall receive the success which does not yet appear.

These things I have spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh when I shall no longer speak to you in proverbs, but I shall show you plainly of the Father. John 16:25.

Christ's purpose at this point is to encourage his disciples. He does not want them to think that his teaching is of little help to them in their hope of progress toward the better, because there is so much in it they cannot follow. For, they might have suspected that Christ did not want to be understood, or that he was purposely keeping them in suspense. So, he promises them briefly that his teaching, which might offend them by its obscurity, will become fruitful to them. The Hebrew wordmashalat times means " a proverb." The Hebrews called riddles and remarkable sayings alsomeshalimbecause, like proverbs, they contained similes and figures of speech; and the Greeks called them a) pofqe/ gmatabecause they are usually ambiguous and obscure. Christ means therefore that he is speaking to them in figures and not in a simple and plain language, but that soon he shall speak to them with familiar words, so that his teaching may not be to them perplexing or difficult.

Now we understand what I have already touched upon: namely, that he wants to encourage his disciples to expect further progress, and to keep them from rejecting his teaching because they do not understand it. Unless the hope of some benefit burns and glows within us, zeal for learning must necessarily cool off. Besides, we see clearly that Jesus spoke to his disciples in a simple and even homely style, and not in riddles; but they were so dull that they hung on to his words dumfounded but without understanding a thing. So the obscurity was not in the teaching but in their minds.

And the same happens to us. People praise the Word of God rightly as our very light. But still, our own darkness obscures the Word of God to such an extent that we think we are only hearing allegories. The prophet Isaiah threatened the wicked and the unbelievers, saying that he would be to them as a barbarian and would speak with a stammering tongue (28:11); again, Paul said that the gospel is hidden from those whose minds are blinded by Satan (2 Cor. 4:3). So, also, to weak and uneducated people, Christ's words sound so confused as to be unintelligible. Even when their minds are not altogether darkened, as are those of the ungodly, they still are as it were in a cloud. And the Lord allows us for a while to be stupid, so that he may humble us with a sense of our poverty; but he enables those whom he illumines with his Spirit to make such progress as to know his Word and understand it.

The same is true of the next phrase,the hour cometh: that is, " the hour will come when I shall no longer speak to you in figures." Certainly, the Spirit did not teach the apostles anything they had not heard from Christ's own mouth. What he did was to fill their hearts with a new light, and thus to drive their darkness away, so that they heard Christ in a new and different way, and understood what he said.

When Jesus said thathe would speak of the Father, he pointed to the proper goal of his teaching, which is to lead us to the Father in whom alone we shall find our true happiness. But another question remains, Why does he elsewhere say that it is given the disciples to know the mystery of the Kingdom of God (Matt. 13:11), whereas here he admits that he speaks to them in riddles? Why did he in the previous statement distinguish between the disciples and the crowd to whom he spoke in parables? I answer, The apostles were not such ignoramuses as to have no inkling of a notion as to what their Master was saying. Therefore, Christ had reason to distinguish them from crowds who were blind. But when in this place he says that he has spoken to them in allegory, he is turning their attention to the future when his gracious Spirit shall endow them with a new and bright light of understanding. Therefore, both statements are true. The apostles were far beyond those who had no taste for the Word of the gospel. Still, compared to the new wisdom which they were to receive from the Spirit, their knowledge was like that of children at their alphabets.

Indexes

INDEXES

[105]See Ch. 1, note 1.

[106]Libertines-- a pantheistic and antinomian sect whose members called themselves spiritual. There is no evidence that they were a power inside Geneva. Calvin's own enemies were libertines in the sense that they resented the moral and social discipline imposed upon the formerly gay city. (Opera, Vol. 7, pp. 145-248.)

<<   Title  Contents