Calvin: Institutes Chapters 3.2.22. to 3.2.27.

INSTITUTES
OF
THE CHRISTIAN
RELIGION

By
John Calvin

BOOK THIRD.
THE MODE OF OBTAINING THE GRACE OF CHRIST. THE
BENEFITS IT CONFERS, AND THE
EFFECTS RESULTING FROM IT.

CHAPTER 2.
OF FAITH. THE DEFINITION OF IT. ITS PECULIAR PROPERTIES.


3.2.22.

There is a fear of God that rather than erode our true faith brings us strength. "When believers, reflecting that the examples of the divine vengeance on the ungodly are a kind of beacons warning them not to provoke the wrath of God by similar wickedness keep anxious watch, or, taking a view of their own inherent wretchedness, learn their entire dependence on God, without whom they feel themselves to be fleeting and evanescent as the wind." Warnings in Scripture are intended to remove arrogance and increase dependence upon God.

3.2.23.

"For nothing stimulates us so strongly to place all our confidence and assurance on the Lord as self diffidence [self-confidence], and the anxiety produced by a consciousness of our calamitous condition." Thus it makes sense to read:

Psalm 5:7 (NASB95)
7 But as for me, by Your abundant lovingkindness I will enter Your house, At Your holy temple I will bow in reverence for You.
Proverbs 28:14 (NASB95)
14 How blessed is the man who fears always, But he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity.

Thus we have a tremendouse definition from Calvin on the "fear of the Lord":

"The fear he speaks of is that which renders us more cautious, not that which produces despondency, the fear which is felt when the mind confounded in itself resumes its equanimity in God, downcast in itself, takes courage in God, distrusting itself, breathes confidence in God. Hence there is nothing inconsistent in believers being afraid, and at the same time possessing secure consolation as they alternately behold their own vanity, and direct their thoughts to the truth of God."

3.2.24.

Calvin addresses a teaching that seem to promote a wrong sense of unworthiness. "If you look to yourself damnation is certain: but since Christ has been communicated to you with all his benefits, so that all which is his is made yours, you become a member of him, and hence one with him. His righteousness covers your sins-his salvation extinguishes your condemnation; he interposes with his worthiness, and so prevents your unworthiness from coming into the view of God."

3.2.25.

Calvin quotes Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) who said, "If, in both views [our unworthiness and our salvation], we diligently consider what we are,-in the one view our nothingness, in the other our greatness,-I presume our glorying will seem restrained; but perhaps it is rather increased and confirmed, because we glory not in ourselves, but in the Lord."

3.2.26.

The fear of the Lord proceeds from a two-fold cause:

1. "God is entitled to the reverence of a Father; and
2. a Lord."

The obedience paid to God as a Father he by his prophet terms honor; the service performed to him as a master he terms fear. "A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master. If then I be a father, where is mine honor? and if I be a master, where is my fear?"

3.2.27.

Calvin dismisses the the objection raised by 1 John 4:18. "He is speaking of the fear of unbelief, between which and the fear of believers there is a wide difference." Calvin then makes this great summary: "But believers, as has been said, dread the offense even more than the punishment. They are not alarmed by the fear of punishment, as if it were impending over them, but are rendered the more cautious of doing anything to provoke it . . . This fear the sacred writers term servile, and oppose to the free and voluntary fear which becomes sons."

Questions to Consider

1. What are the two kinds of fear?

2. What is the basis for our assurance in Christ at all?