Institutes of Christian religion - Calvin - XLIII - Chapter 12 & 13 of Book 3

Required reading
Institutes of Christian religion by John Calvin (Available from Amazon or free here) - Read Chapters 12 and 13 of Book 3.

My summary
This week we read two chapters that flow on from Calvin's teaching on justification by faith.

Firstly, in Chapter 12, Calvin discusses how completely hopeless it is to try and establish righteousness with God through our own works.  Thus we must be completely humble before God if we wish to be saved: 'there is no access to salvation unless all pride is laid aside and true humility embraced.'  Calvin cites Scripture, Augustine and Bernard to prove his point.

Secondly, in Chapter 13 Calvin tells us that two ends must be kept specifically in view when we consider that our justification is through faith alone.  The ends are:
(i) the glory of God;
(ii) peace of conscience.

What grabbed me
Great chapters.

I loved this sentence: 'we never truly glory in him until we have utterly discarded our own glory'.

If you want to glorify God you must stop making much of yourself.

Next week's reading
Read Chapter 14 of Book 3.

Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.