Sunday, October 4, 2009

The Institutes of the Christian Religion pt1

I have recently decided to finally buckle down and read through Calvin's institutes and see what Calvin really said. I will be doing a series of responses to each section here, with Gods help, as the book is quite large.

1 comment:

Christian Apologist said...

Letter to the king of france.

My book starts with a letter to the king of France. The following points I found to be interesting.

1. Calvin says that Romans 12:6 is the surest rule for hermeneutics, i.e. that we must rely on the power of the Holy Spirit for true insight to come.

2. In testing whether a miracle is of God or of Satan is whether or not the miracle causes God to be glorified through it. (In response to the Catholic church saying that its testimony is supported by miracles.)

3. In response to the Catholic churches claim on tradition Calvin goes through a brilliant litany of all the ways that the Church had been hypocritical in following its own councils.

4. He provides a wonderful rebuttal of the idea that Popes and priests are innerent. Some examples include; Aaron and his failures as a High Priest; and Peter with his denial of Christ.

5. Calvin also notices the historical event that false prophets always seem to attract large audiences while true prophets seem to attract persecution.