January 7, 2014

Institutes of Christian religion - Calvin - LXXXI - Chapter 20 of Book 4 concluded

Required reading
Institutes of Christian religion by John Calvin (Available from Amazon or free here) - Conclude Chapter 20.

My summary
This week we finish this monumental work with a conclusion of the final chapter on the civil government.

Last week Calvin spoke about the first part of a civil government, the magistrate.

This week Calvin moved to the second part, the laws.  Calvin primarily explained the threefold division of the law of God:
(i) moral;
(ii) ceremonial;
(iii) judicial.

Then Calvin discussed the third part of the civil government, the people.  In particular what use the common society of Christians derive from laws, judicial proceedings and magistrates.  Christians were encouraged to:
(i) make use of the judicial system;
(ii) treat rulers with respect and obedience.

What grabbed me
Calvin was careful to explain why we should sometimes disobey rulers: 'But in that obedience which we hold to be due to the commands of rulers, we must always make the exception, nay, must be particularly careful that it is not incompatible with obedience to Him to whose will the wishes of all kings should be subject, to whose decrees their commands must yield, to whose majesty their sceptres must bow. And, indeed, how preposterous were it, in pleasing men, to incur the offence of Him for whose sake you obey men! The Lord, therefore, is King of kings. When he opens his sacred mouth, he alone is to be heard, instead of all and above all. We are subject to the men who rule over us, but subject only in the Lord. If they command anything against Him let us not pay the least regard to it, nor be moved by all the dignity which they possess as magistrates—a dignity to which no injury is done when it is subordinated to the special and truly supreme power of God.'

To disobey a heavenly authority in order to obey an earthly authority would be most foolish.

Next week's reading
Commence '
The Bondage of the Will' by Martin Luther (Available from Amazon or free here) by reading the 'Preface by the Translator', the 'Introduction' and 'Erasmus' Preface Reviewed'.

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

3 comments:

CJ said...

Finally finished reading the Institutes, it was a great blessing to me. The final portion on the honour due the magistrates was especially convicting in light of my propensity to speak poorly of those in governance over me. May the Lord give me grace to overcome such evil in me, and grace that I might always speak well of the magistrates.

Pastor Radford, as I seem to only have time these days for one book at a time, do you have a recommendation for the next book on the list I should start?

Joel Radford said...

Hi CJ, so pleased to hear that you made it through the Institutes. A marvelous accomplishment!

If you haven't read Burroughs' Rare jewel of Christian contentment, then that is a must. It was one of the first books I did for the club and is still one of my favourites.

CJ said...

Thank you! I actually have Burroughs in a Puritan paperback, so will put it on the next to read list, and contentment is something I always have to strive after! :)