Institutes I.II.II

Knowledge of God involves trust and reverence. It is not mere idle speculation on great questions such as “What is God?”

Institutes I.II.I

Piety is requisite for the knowledge of God. In man’s ruin he does not experience God as Father or Saviour. It is one thing to experience him as Maker, another to experience reconcilliation through Christ. Further, we cannot apprehend him without giving honour to him.

Institutes I.I.III

Before God’s majesty, therefore, scripture shows many examples of men who are bowed down under a weight of their own sinfulness.

Institutes I.I.I

Nearly all wisdom is found in two parts: knowledge of God and knowledge of self.  Contemplation of man and his miserable condition inevitably leads to contemplation of God.

comment: it seems to me that Calvin would argue that the reason that man’s mind does not turn to God is that he has not truly considered himself. It is a universal truth that people do not know themselves!

Discipline

Therefore, discipline is like a bridle to tame and restrain those who rage against the doctrine of Christ; or like a spur to arouse those of little inclination; and also sometimes like a father’s rod to chastise mildly and with the gentleness of Christ’s Spirit those who have more seriously lapsed.

Calvin, Institutes, 4.7.2

1.11.8

“From this we may gather that a man’s nature, so to speak, is a perpetual factory of idols.”
Vol 1, p. 108.

4.1.8 The limitaton of our judgement

Only God knows who are his (2 Tim 2:19). But he accommodates himself to our capacities. So he substituted a certain charitable judgment by which we recognise those who profess faith, live exemplary lives, take the sacraments.

4.1.7 Invisible and visible church

The Bible speaks of the church in two ways. First there are the elect from the beginning of time, children by adoption, members of Christ by sanctification. Then there is the the church of those who profess faith, are baptised, take the Lord’s supper. This church is contains hypocrites. These remain because of lack of discipline.

The invisible church is visible to God. The visible church we are to keep communion with. This “is called the ‘church’ with respect to men.”

4.1.5 Education through the church, its value and its obligation

Paul says that Christ will fill all things. The route to that is through the appointment of pastors and teachers to build up the body. This is the source of spiritual food to the Body.

In the OT the place of meeting God was the temple. But the means was through the teaching of the priest. Thereby God made us aware of the treasure in earthen vessels.

The Lord has always provided prophets (Dt. 18:15). This human means proves our obedience as we receive the teaching as from God, and allows for our human weakness.

There are those who would rather look to private means:

Many are led either by pride, dislike, or rivalry to the conviction that they can profit enough from private reading and meditation; hence they despise public assemblies and deem preaching superfluous. But, since they do their utmost to sever or break the sacred bond of unity, no one escapes the just penalty of this unholy separation without bewitching himself with pestilent errors and foulest delusions.

All believers were commanded to assemble. Barring from the assembly was seen as a great cruelty (Ps. 84:2,3).

Of course God did not literall dwell in the temple (Acts 7:48), but by his word.

4.1.4 The visible church as the mother of believers

The visible church is our mother. It is the place of conception, birth, nourishment and salvation. Outside of the church there is no hope of forgiveness or salvation.