Calvin's views on
the Holy Spirit
By John H.
Adams
The Layman
Online
Friday,
October 10, 2003
While John
Calvin may be best known for his doctrine of predestination and election
– although Augustine and Luther wrote more than he did about that
subject – he was even more committed to the theology of the Holy
Spirit.
Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920), who taught at Princeton Seminary before
becoming the president of the Netherlands, credited Calvin with being
one of the greatest commentators on the Holy Spirit.
"The doctrine of the work of the Holy spirit is a gift from John
Calvin to the Church of Christ," Kuyper said in The Work of the
Holy Spirit. "He did not, of course, invent it. The whole of it
lay spread out on the pages of Scripture with a clearness and fulness of
utterance which one would think would secure that even he who ran should
read it; and doubtless he who ran did read it, and it has fed the soul
of the true believer in all ages."
"Luther rose to proclaim justification by faith, and Calvin to set
forth with his marvelous balance the whole doctrine of the work of the
Spirit in applying salvation to the soul," Kuyper added.
Calvin's understanding of the Holy Spirit was far different from how
many Presbyterians use that phrase today. He believed in an inextricable
connection between Scripture and the Spirit; i.e., that the Spirit, the
third person of the Trinity, did not contradict or embellish the Bible.
Nonetheless, he insisted, Scripture could be understood only by a
Christian who's mind and heart had been subdued by the Spirit – in
accordance with Scripture.
Here are excerpts about the Holy Spirit from Calvin's Institutes of The
Christian Religion:
The Holy Spirit pronounces all to be apostates, who, in the blindness of
their minds, substitute demons in the place of God. For this reason Paul
declares that the Ephesians were "without God," until they had
learned from the Gospel what it is to worship the true God.
*** All worship of man's device is repudiated by the
Holy Spirit as degenerate.
*** If, then, we would consult most effectually for
our consciences, and save them from being driven about in a whirl of
uncertainty, from wavering, and even stumbling at the smallest obstacle,
our conviction of the truth of Scripture must be derived from a higher
source than human conjectures, Judgments, or reasons; namely, the secret
testimony of the Spirit.
*** The testimony of the Spirit is superior to reason.
*** For as God alone can properly bear witness to his
own words, so these words will not obtain full credit in the hearts of
men, until they are sealed by the inward testimony of the Spirit. The
same Spirit, therefore, who spoke by the mouth of the prophets, must
penetrate our hearts, in order to convince us that they faithfully
delivered the message with which they were divinely entrusted.
*** Some worthy persons feel disconcerted, because,
while the wicked murmur with impunity at the Word of God, they have not
a clear proof at hand to silence them, forgetting that the Spirit is
called an earnest and seal to confirm the faith of the godly, for this
very reason, that, until he enlightens their minds, they are tossed to
and fro in a sea of doubts.
*** Let it therefore be held as fixed, that those who
are inwardly taught by the Holy Spirit acquiesce implicitly in
Scripture; that Scripture, carrying its own evidence along with it,
deigns not to submit to proofs and arguments, but owes the full
conviction with which we ought to receive it to the testimony of the
Spirit.
*** Let those dogs deny that the Holy Spirit descended
upon the apostles, or, if not, let them refuse credit to the history,
still the very circumstances proclaim that the Holy Spirit must have
been the teacher of those who, formerly contemptible among the people,
all of a sudden began to discourse so magnificently of heavenly
mysteries.
*** Those who, rejecting Scripture, imagine that they
have some peculiar way of penetrating to God, are to be deemed not so
much under the influence of error as madness. For certain giddy men have
lately appeared, who, while they make a great display of the superiority
of the Spirit, reject all reading of the Scriptures themselves, and
deride the simplicity of those who only delight in what they call the
dead and deadly letter. But I wish they would tell me what spirit it is
whose inspiration raises them to such a sublime height that they dare
despise the doctrine of Scripture as mean and childish.
*** But what kind of Spirit did our Savior promise to
send? One who should not speak of himself, but suggest and instill the
truths which he himself had delivered through the Word. Hence the office
of the Spirit promised to us, is not to form new and unheard-of
revelations, or to coin a new form of doctrine, by which we may be led
away from the received doctrine of the gospel, but to seal on our minds
the very doctrine which the gospel recommends.
*** Hence it is easy to understand that we must give
diligent heed both to the reading and hearing of Scripture, if we would
obtain any benefit from the Spirit of God … and, on the contrary,
that any spirit which passes by the wisdom of God's Word, and suggests
any other doctrine, is deservedly suspected of vanity and falsehood.
Since Satan transforms himself into an angel of light, what authority
can the Spirit have with us if he be not ascertained by an infallible
mark?
*** These miserable men err as if bent on their own
destruction, while they seek the Spirit from themselves rather than from
Him.
*** Our minds are duly imbued with reverence for the
Word when the Spirit shining upon it enables us there to behold the face
of God; and, on the other hand, we embrace the Spirit with no danger of
delusion when we recognise him in his image, that is, in his Word.
*** When Paul says to the Thessalonians, "Quench
not the Spirit," he does not carry them aloft to empty speculation
apart from the word; he immediately adds, "Despise not prophesying."
By this, doubtless, he intimates that the light of the Spirit is
quenched the moment prophesying fall into contempt. How is this answered
by those swelling enthusiasts, in whose idea the only true illumination
consists, in carelessly laying aside, and bidding adieu to the Word of
God, while, with no less confidence than folly, they fasten upon any
dreaming notion which may have casually sprung up in their minds? Surely
a very different sobriety becomes the children of God.
*** Where names have not been invented rashly, we must
beware lest we become chargeable with arrogance and rashness in
rejecting them. I wish, indeed, that such names were buried, provided
all would concur in the belief that the Father, Son, and Spirit, are one
God, and yet that the Son is not the Father, nor the Spirit the Son, but
that each has his peculiar subsistence.
*** What, then, is our Savior's meaning in commanding
baptism to be administered in the name of the Father, and the Son, and
the Holy Spirit, if it be not that we are to believe with one faith in
the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit?
*** We conclude that the Word and Spirit are of the
very essence of God. Nothing could be more stupid than the trifling of
the Arians, who, while acknowledging the divinity of the Son, denied his
divine essence. Equally extravagant were the ravings of the Macedonians,
who insisted that by the Spirit were only meant the gifts of grace
poured out upon men.
*** The words Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, certainly
indicate a real distinction, not allowing us to suppose that they are
merely epithets by which God is variously designated from his works.
Still they indicate distinction only, not division.
*** But since Satan, in order to pluck up our faith by
the roots, has always provoked fierce disputes, partly concerning the
divine essence of the Son and Spirit, and partly concerning the
distinction of persons; since in almost every age he has stirred up
impious spirits to vex the orthodox doctors on this head, and is
attempting in the present day to kindle a new flame out of the old
embers, it will be proper here to dispose of some of these perverse
dreams.
*** If we hold, what has already been demonstrated
from Scripture, that the essence of the one God, pertaining to the
Father, Son, and Spirit, is simple and indivisible, and again, that the
Father differs in some special property from the Son, and the Son from
the Spirit, the door will be shut against … ancient authors of
error.
*** They will rather inquire and learn from Scripture
what is pleasing to God, and then, under the guidance of the Spirit,
endeavour to attain it. Prepared to follow whithersoever God may call,
they will show by their example that nothing is more useful than the
knowledge of this doctrine, which perverse men undeservedly assail,
because it is sometimes wickedly abused.
*** God works in his elect in two ways: inwardly, by
his Spirit; outwardly, by his Word. By his Spirit illuminating their
minds, and training their hearts to the practice of righteousness, he
makes them new creatures, while, by his Word, he stimulates them to long
and seek for this renovation. In both, he exerts the might of his hand
in proportion to the measure in which he dispenses them.
*** When God erects his kingdom in them, he, by means
of his Spirit, curbs their will, that it may not follow its natural
bent, and be carried hither and thither by vagrant lusts; bends, frames,
trains, and guides it according to the rule of his justice, so as to
incline it to righteousness and holiness …
*** Every thing good in the will is entirely derived
from the influence of the Spirit …
*** For where the Spirit of God rules not, the lusts
sometimes so burst forth, as to threaten to drown the soul subjected to
them in forgetfulness and contempt of God; and so they would, did not
God interpose with this remedy.
*** For all who have remained for some time in
ignorance of God will confess, as the result of their own experience,
that the law had the effect of keeping them in some degree in the fear
and reverence of God, till, being regenerated by his Spirit, they began
to love him from the heart.
*** The kingdom of Christ consists in the Spirit, and
not in earthly delights or pomp, and that hence, in order to be
partakers with him, we must renounce the world.
*** There is not a drop of vigor in us save what the
Holy Spirit instills …
*** The mode in which the Spirit usually speaks in
Scripture is, that God was the enemy of men until they were restored to
favor by the death of Christ; that they were cursed until their iniquity
was expiated by the sacrifice of Christ; that they were separated from
God, until by means of Christ's body they were received into union.
*** We think it not enough to possess the sure truth
of the Holy Spirit, without, at the same time, knowing by whose mouth it
was pronounced, or by whose hand it was written.
*** Hence the Spirit is called the Spirit of
sanctification, because he quickens and cherishes us, not merely by the
general energy which is seen in the human race, as well as other
animals, but because he is the seed and root of heavenly life in us.
*** The Spirit does not merely originate faith, but
gradually increases it, until by its means he conducts us into the
heavenly kingdom.
*** As we cannot possibly come to Christ unless drawn
by the Spirit, so when we are drawn we are both in mind and spirit
exalted far above our own understanding. For the soul, when illumined by
him, receives as it were a new eye, enabling it to contemplate heavenly
mysteries, by the splendor of which it was previously dazzled. And thus,
indeed, it is only when the human intellect is irradiated by the light
of the Holy Spirit that it begins to have a taste of those things which
pertain to the kingdom of God; previously it was too stupid and
senseless to have any relish for them.
*** But if the illumination of the Spirit is the true
source of understanding in the intellect, much more manifest is his
agency in the confirmation of the heart; inasmuch as there is more
distrust in the heart than blindness in the mind; and it is more
difficult to inspire the soul with security than to imbue it with
knowledge. Hence the Spirit performs the part of a seal, sealing upon
our hearts the very promises, the certainty of which was previously
impressed upon our minds.
*** We are so often enjoined to put off the old man,
to renounce the world and the flesh, to forsake our lusts, and be
renewed in the spirit of our mind. Moreover, the very name mortification
reminds us how difficult it is to forget our former nature, because we
hence infer that we cannot be trained to the fear of God, and learn the
first principles of piety, unless we are violently smitten with the
sword of the Spirit and annihilated, as if God were declaring, that to
be ranked among his sons there must be a destruction of our ordinary
nature.
*** Some Anabaptists in the present age mistake some
indescribable sort of frenzied excess for the regeneration of the
Spirit, holding that the children of God are restored to a state of
innocence, and, therefore, need give themselves no anxiety about curbing
the lust of the flesh; that they have the Spirit for their guide, and
under his agency never err. It would be incredible that the human mind
could proceed to such insanity, did they not openly and exultingly give
utterance to their dogma. It is indeed monstrous, and yet it is just,
that those who have resolved to turn the word of God into a lie, should
thus be punished for their blasphemous audacity.
*** That Spirit is not the patron of murder, adultery,
drunkenness, pride, contention, avarice, and fraud, but the author of
love, chastity, sobriety, modesty, peace, moderation, and truth. He is
not a Spirit of giddiness, rushing rashly and precipitately, without
regard to right and wrong, but full of wisdom and understanding, by
which he can duly distinguish between justice and injustice. He
instigates not to lawless and unrestrained licentiousness, but,
discriminating between lawful and unlawful, teaches temperance and
moderation.
*** To Christians the Spirit of the Lord is not a
turbulent phantom, which they themselves have produced by dreaming, or
received ready-made by others; but they religiously seek the knowledge
of him from Scripture, where two things are taught concerning him;
first, that he is given to us for sanctification, that he may purge us
from all iniquity and defilement, and bring us to the obedience of
divine righteousness, an obedience which cannot exist unless the lusts
to which these men would give loose reins are tamed and subdued;
secondly, that though purged by his sanctification, we are still beset
by many vices and much weakness, so long as we are enclosed in the
prison of the body. Thus it is, that placed at a great distance from
perfection, we must always be endeavoring to make some progress, and
daily struggling with the evil by which we are entangled. Hence, too, it
follows, that, shaking off sloth and security, we must be intently
vigilant, so as not to be taken unawares in the snares of our flesh …
*** As hay, wood, and stubble, when the fire is
applied to them, are suddenly consumed, so the inventions of man, not
founded on the Word of God, cannot stand the trial of the Holy Spirit,
but forthwith give way and perish. |