Blogging The Institutes

In 2.11.10, Calvin turns to the important topic of law and gospel in Scripture. Martin Luther famously taught that everything in the Bible that is command falls under the heading of law - what we must do - and everything in the Bible that is promise falls under the heading of gospel - what God will...

Although the unity of the old and new covenants is primary, the differences between the two covenants are also important. The first of these differences, as we have seen, concerns the manner in which eternal benefits are experienced, whether first by tasting a related blessing on earth (the Old...

Calvin continues proving the doctrine of eternal life from the Old Testament Scriptures by pointing to Ezekiel's prophecy that dead, dry bones will live and rise again (Ezek. 37). No one should think that the covenant promises God made to the Jews were merely carnal, which was the error of the...

2.10.14 to 2.10.20 Somehow the myth persists that the Old Testament has no clear doctrine of the afterlife. Apparently, the scholars who believe this have never read Calvin, because the Institutes make a clear and compelling case that the people of God have always believed in a life to come. This...

It is sometimes thought that whereas the blessings that God gave to his people in the Old Testament were earthly, the blessings that he promises to give his New Testament people in Christ are heavenly. Calvin disagreed with drawing such a sharp distinction between the old and the new covenants...

John Calvin is a covenant theologian. That is to say, he comprehends the whole biblical teaching on salvation under the category God's gracious covenant for the redemption of his people in Christ. While Calvin recognizes differences between the Old and New Testaments, he emphasizes continuities in...

Calvin now begins to emphasise what has become apparent in Chapter 8. There we saw that there is one law of God, as obligatory in the New Testament era as in the Mosaic era. So now he insists that there is one Gospel of God's grace, anticipated in the Old Testament, and clearly revealed in the New...

Calvin's approach to the moral law is not moralistic but evangelical. Keeping the commands is to spring from the fear of God which the Gospel engenders. For the Law and the Prophets give first place to faith. (Here Calvin is giving us a brief foretaste of what is to come in the next Chapters.) In...

Calvin's distinctive way of setting forth of the true purpose of the law is now apparent. And so bearing false witness stands for having a general regard for truth, for God is truth, and we should tell the truth, and not merely avoid telling lies. In our truth-telling we should aim to help others,...

The commands forbidding murder and adultery are, if anything, interpreted even more widely by Calvin. The command not to kill implies not merely a refraining form certain kinds of action, but carries the obligation to look out for a neighbour's welfare. The command is also intensive, for it extends...