Calvin's Institutes (1559)
Book 3 of 4 - How We Receive the Grace of Christ
Book 3 of 4 - How We Receive the Grace of Christ
Sections 1-3 - Reproaching reprobation
1. You can't deny reprobation. If God passed over giving grace to some, He willed to exclude them. The cause is in God, not them. He hardens hearts - Matt 15:13; Rom 9:17-8, 22 show this.
2-3 - Objection: this makes God capricious
2. God's will is the first cause. To ask why He wills something is to seek some higher cause to which His will is bound - wrong! God's will is "free of all fault," and He doesn't have to render an account to us.
3. God is just to the reprobate, for all sin. Objectors to this try to blame their own guilt on God.
Sections 4-5 - Questioning God's justice
4. Objection: Isn't our guilt predestined, which causes our condemnation? How is this fair? Rom 9:20-21 is our answer. This is not evasion, but admission that God's ways are above our standards.
5. His judgments are a great deep - Ps 36:6 - not for us to search out, as Job learned.
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