Ascribe what good is left in us to God's kindness

Institutes of the Christian Religion (1559)

Book 2 - God the Redeemer

Chapter 2 - Man deprived of freedom of choice

Section 12-17 - Man's natural gifts not wholly extinguished:

the understanding

Section 12 - Supernatural gifts destroyed, natural gifts corrupted;

enough of reason remains to distinguish man from beast

Our reason is partly corrupted: able to function, but not to complete its search for truth, because of "dullness."

Section 13 - Reason, regarding earthly things

"Some seed of political order, household management, all mechanical ability, and the liberal arts has been implanted in all men."

Section 14 - Understanding as regards art and science

Knowledge of various arts is so universal, without regard to the piety of each, it must be "the peculiar grace of God."

[Common grace]

Section 15 - Science as God's gift

All truth comes from God: rhetoric, medicine, math, etc.

Section 16 - Human competence in art and science from God's Spirit

Exodus 31:2-11; 35:30-35.

The Spirit only dwells in believers (Rom 8:9) but also moves men to excel in science and art for our benefit, too.

Section 17 - Summary

Only God's grace sustains our reason , and makes it excel.

What do you have of your own but sin?

Institutes of the Christian Religion (1559)

Book 2 - God the Redeemer

Chapter 2 - Man deprived of freedom of choice

Sections 10-11 - Abandon all self-approval

Section 10 - Free will is always in danger of robbing God of His honor

We are impoverished and unable to do good.

Gen 3:5; Jer 17:5; Ps 147:10-11.

It is Satan who teaches us otherwise - Gen 3:5.

We need God to give strength and goodness.

Isa 40:29-31; Jas 4:6; 1 Pet 5:5; Isa 44:3; 55:1; 60:19.

Section 11 - True humility gives God alone the honor

We have only sin; God alone has righteousness to grant us.

We need not deny natural abilities or skills we have,

but must see ourselves rightly. Gal 6:3; Jas 1:22-25.

What God's grace has not freed will not be free

Calvin's Institutes

Book Two - The Knowledge of God the Redeemer in Christ

Chapter Two - Man deprived of freedom of choice & bound in servitude

Sections 4-5 - Free will in the church fathers

Section 4 - They aren't clear, but tend to give men more credit than his will deserves.

Free will is the power to choose good with grace - to choose evil without grace

Section 5 - Different kinds of "will" and of "freedom" in the fathers

We are free from necessity, but not from sin and misery

Section 6 - Operating and co-operating grace?

Scholastics try to insert a cooperating grace, to give some merit to our desire for good - but we have no such desire or merit.

Section 7 - Man is necessarily, but without compulsion, a sinner.

This does not establish free will.

We don't have to choose evil; we just always want to.

Call it freedom if you like!

Section 8 - Augustine's doctrine of "free will"

Our will is overcome by sinful desires.

Without God's grace we are not free - 2 Cor 3.17; John 15:5.

Section 9 - Voices of truth among the church fathers

They spoke variously, but consistently downplayed our will and magnified God's grace.

Free to choose?

Calvin's Institutes

Book Two - The Knowledge of God the Redeemer in Christ

Chapter Two - Man deprived of freedom of choice & bound in servitude

Section 1 - Perils of this topic: point of view established

If we have no good in ourselves, we get apathetic about holiness.

If we credit ourselves with any good, we take glory from God.

We must aspire to a good we don't have, to a freedom beyond us.

Sections 2-3 - The philosophers on free will

They trust in the power of reason to control the will over desire.

The will follows either the rational or sensual.

Thus, they assert freedom of will over all. We obtain our own virtue.

Original sin

Calvin's Institutes

Book Two - The Knowledge of God the Redeemer in Christ

Chapter 1 - By the Fall of Adam the whole human race was delivered to the curse, and degenerated from its original condition; the doctrine of original sin

Sections 8-11 - Original sin as depravity of nature deserving punishment, but not created by nature

Section 8 - The nature of original sin

A corruption of our nature in all parts of us which God justly may punish, even before this nature brings forth sin - Gal 5:19-21.

We are not guilty for Adam's sin: the offense is our own - Rom 5:12.

This nature is "fertile and fruitful of every evil" and "cannot be idle."

Section 9 - Sin overturns the whole man

Not only our flesh, but our minds are overwhelmed with sin.

Rom 3:1-20; Eph 4:23; Rom 12:2; Rom 8:6-7.

Section 10 - Sin is not our nature, but its derangement

If it were in our nature we could accuse God for making us this way.

Ecc 7:29 - "God made man upright, but they have sought out many devices."

Section 11 - Natural corruption of the nature created by God

It isn't part of our essential being, which God made good.

Yet we are by nature children of wrath - Eph 2:3.

God naturally abhors us in this "natural" state.

Rotten fruit from rotten branches

Calvin's Institutes

Book Two - The Knowledge of God the Redeemer in Christ

Chapter 1 - By the Fall of Adam the whole human race was delivered to the curse, and degenerated from its original condition; the doctrine of original sin

Sections 4-7 - Adam's sin entailed loss of man's original endowment and ruin of the whole human race

Section 4 - The history of the Fall shows us what sin is: unfaithfulness

Not just desire for the fruit, but first not believing God's word, assenting to Satan's slander against God, and thus disobeying God's clear test of love. Rom 5:19

Section 5 - The first sin as original sin

Adam cut himself off from union with God, forfeiting life and perverting all things - Rom 8:20, 22. Pelagius tried to say we only imitate Adam, not that we are actually sinful because of Adam. But this was Satan trying to "cover up the disease and thus to render it incurable." Rom 5:12; Ps 51:5; Job 14:4.

Section 6 - Original sin does not rest upon imitation

Adam plunged all his race into his destruction.

Rom 5:12, 17, 19; 1 Cor 15:22; Eph 2:3; John 3:5-6.

Section 7 - The transmission of sin from one generation to another...

...doesn't come "from the substance of the soul or flesh," ultimately.

"Rotten branches come forth from a rotten root."

Though children partially partake of their parents' holiness -1 Cor 7:14,

they were sinful by nature even before that, from conception.

No self-confidence

Calvin's Institutes

Book Two - The Knowledge of God the Redeemer in Christ,

First Disclosed to the Fathers under the Law,

and then to us in the Gospel

Chapter 1 - By the Fall of revolt of Adam the whole human race was delivered to the curse, and degenerated from its original condition; the doctrine of original sin

Sections 1-3 - A true knowledge of ourselves destroys self-confidence

Section 1 - Wrong and right knowledge of self

Gen 1:27 - we are made in God's image.

Section 2 - Man by nature inclines to deluded self-admiration

We don't want to believe ourselves inherently sinful.

Section 3 - The two chief problems of self-knowledge

We think we're just fine, compared with our own standard.

But our original design and purpose by God shows us lacking.