Calvin has taught as a main point of his theology a point that Paul makes in 1 Timothy 1:3-5.<\/p>\n
Whereas the teaching of the false prophets leads only to mere speculation, here is what is always the goal of the charge that God has given to me in my teaching: I want to see the truth issue forth in love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.<\/p>\n
Paul\u2019s aim in his teaching is the practical fruits of godliness working out from the inmost being and in every aspect of life. Not interested in just filling people\u2019s heads up with ideas. He\u2019s interested in the truth being worked deep down into our hearts and bones so that from the very deepest parts of who we are their issues forth love: love for God, love for neighbor, love for the gospel.<\/p>\n
The goal is that the truth be radically life transforming. That\u2019s Paul\u2019s vision. That\u2019s Calvin\u2019s vision.<\/p>\n
The Importance of the Idea of Piety in the Life of John Calvin<\/strong><\/p>\n Piety from the Latin Pietas, is almost untranslatable in one word in English, was for Calvin a shorthand for the whole understanding of the practice of the Christian life.<\/p>\n What does Calvin mean by piety? An experiential love of God as Father and a fear and reverence of God as Lord. He used lots of words in conjunction with piety:<\/p>\n 1.\tReligia or Religion: the word did not connote for Calvin what it connotes for us as being contrary to the gospel. For Calvin, religion was faith joined with the fear of God. Reverence joined with the love of God which the knowledge of God\u2019s benefits induces.<\/p>\n a.\tIt has two parts. One part is honor and obedience to God as Father. On the other hand, he fears or reverences God as Lord.<\/p>\n b.\tThe knowledge of God itself is the beginning of this kind of piety. This knowledge arrests us and shows us what we are \u2013 sinners deserving God\u2019s wrath \u2013 and shows us what God is and displays the mercy of God in the Gospel and impresses that truth on our hearts by the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n 2.\tThis piety produces charatis \u2013 love. The Romans thought that piety could be used to describe the kind of love that children had toward their parents. They applied this to the relationship between the citizen and the state, as well. The Romans often called early Christian impious and atheist because their loyalty was directed not at the leader of Rome but at the One living and true God.<\/p>\n 3.\tPiety is a term which comes out of the Greek translation of the OT. In the NT it typically manifests itself in the word \u201cgodliness.\u201d<\/p>\n The Roots (Origins) of and Reflection on the Idea of Piety in the Life of John Calvin <\/strong><\/p>\n Calvin knew the literature on piety from the Classical authors, but it is the influence of the word of God that led to his conversion.<\/p>\n Romans 13:13-14 and Augustine\u2019s Conversion. Augustine read those words, which led him to a pastor named Ambrose.<\/p>\n We do not know what verses may have influenced Calvin\u2019s conversion, but it may be (according to Ford Lewis Battles) Romans 1:18-25. The central themes of Calvin\u2019s piety are honoring God and being thankful to him (Romans 1:21). Calvin was convicted by his own lack of honoring God and being thankful and God used this to bring him to faith, and this is interwoven into his own account of his conversion, and in the introduction to his French translation of the NT.<\/p>\n We see this not only in his conversion, but in the work of God in him over a lifetime. He was not on his way to Geneva to work for God. He wanted to enter a contemplative life as a scholar. But William Farrel challenged him with the wrath of God: God will punish you for seeking your own interests rather than His. Calvin relinquished himself to the Lord, giving up his own desires.<\/p>\n After three years Calvin is so hated that he is driven from Geneva and he ends up in Strasbourg, thinking he will take up the contemplative life, but ends up being a pastor.<\/p>\n Three years later he receives a letter from Farrel saying that the citizens of Geneva want him back. He says, \u201cI would have rather died than go back to Geneva. But I am not my own. I belong to God. Therefore, I will live for him and die for him. I will return to Geneva.\u201d<\/p>\n John Calvin\u2019s Teaching on Piety from The Institutes<\/strong><\/p>\n Chapter 3, verse 6 of The Institutes: The object of the work that God is doing in us to sanctify us, to conform us to Christ, is to manifest in the life of believers a harmony and a an agreement between God\u2019s righteousness and their obedience, and thus to confirm the adoption they have received as sons.<\/p>\n Calvin\u2019s teaching on the Christian Life is rooted in two grand realities: what God made us in the Garden to be, and what he has made us in our union with Christ. By God\u2019s spirit He is working in us so that more and more we look like our heavenly Father, and this in turn confirms our adoption as sons.<\/p>\n For Calvin this piety maniftests itself in the life of the believer in coming more and more into agreement with God\u2019s righteousness.<\/p>\n Two aspects of these grand realities:<\/strong><\/p>\n What is the motivation for living the Christian life. Most of us talk about grace as a motive for living the Christian life, but it is interesting that that is not how Calvin talks about living the Christian life. Two things motive the Christian life:<\/p>\n \u201cTo wake us more effectively that God the Father as he has reconciled himself through Christ has stamped in us the image which he would have us conform. The scripture finds occasion for exhortation in all the benefits of God that it lists for us.”<\/p>\n God revealed himself to us as father to us, we would prove ourselves ungrateful to him as we did not show ourselves to be his sons.<\/p>\n Christ cleansed us with the washing of his blood, it would be unfitting for us to foul ourselves with new pollutions. Ever since Christ engrafted us into his body, we must take care not to disfigure ourselves.<\/p>\n Christ has ascended and we will follow him.<\/p>\n The Holy Spirit is making us to be the Temple of God.<\/p>\n Our souls and bodies are destined for heavenly incorruption.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u201cGod is working in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure\u201d Phil 2<\/p>\n This is a matter of the heart, not the tongue.<\/p>\n This Christian life is not characterized by perfection. It is characterized by growth. If it were not for that doctrine of progression in the Christian life, I would personally dispair. Because of this is as good as I am ever going to get, I\u2019d rather end it all. I\u2019m tired of hurting the people I love. There is going to be a day when I will no longer sin against God and the ones I love.<\/p>\n Four Parts to Calvin\u2019s Teaching on the Christian Life: From The Institutes<\/strong> Book Three, Chapters 6-10<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. \u00a0Self-Denial: The living of the Christian life begins with the denial of self. The Christian life is in large measure, because it is the living out of our union with Christ, it is going the way of our Savior. By taking up our cross and denying ourselves. It is not only that objectively that the Lord Jesus has saved us and received us to himself, but so too what jesus has done is an example and model and a prefiguring of the course we will walk on the way to glory.<\/p>\n 2. \u00a0Cross-Bearing:<\/p>\n a. God calls us to pass our whole lives under a continuous cross 3. \u00a0Meditation on the Future life so that we are animated by a vital hope so that we can live now for God\u2019s glory, not that we escape.<\/p>\n 4. \u00a0The Christian\u2019s Use of the Present Life, for industry, not indolence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Calvin has taught as a main point of his theology a point that Paul makes in 1 Timothy 1:3-5. Whereas the teaching of the false prophets leads only to mere speculation, here is what is always the goal of the … Continue reading \n
\n\u00a0<\/li>\n\n
\n\u00a0<\/li>\n
\nb.\tIt is in our extremity that we experience God\u2019s provision for us when we bear the cross
\nc. Bearing the cross teaches us to grow in patience and obedience
\nd.\tRestrains our flesh with the remedy of his cross
\ne.\tIt corrects our sins.<\/p>\n