From the Genevan Doctor’s commentary on Romans 7–as a quick disclaimer, he was better at thinking than writing too sympathetically:
He now comes to a more particular case, that of a man already regenerated… But though the will of a faithful man is led to good by the Spirit of God, yet in him the corruption of nature appears conspicuously; for it obstinately resists and leads to what is contrary. Hence the case of a regenerated man is the most suitable; for by this you may know how much is the contrariety between our nature and the righteousness of the law…
The godly, on the other hand, in whom the regeneration of God is begun, are so divided, that with the chief desire of the heart they aspire to God, seek celestial righteousness, hate sin, and yet they are drawn down to the earth by the relics of their flesh: and thus, while pulled in two ways, they fight against their own nature, and nature fights against them; and they condemn their sins, not only as being constrained by the judgment of reason, but because they really in their hearts abominate them, and on their account loathe themselves. This is the Christian conflict between the flesh and the spirit of which Paul speaks in Galatians 5:17.
It has therefore been justly said, that the carnal man runs headlong into sin with the approbation and consent of the whole soul; but that a division then immediately begins for the first time, when he is called by the Lord and renewed by the Spirit. For regeneration only begins in this life; the relics of the flesh which remain, always follow their own corrupt propensities, and thus carry on a contest against the Spirit.
Regeneration, for Calvin, is strongly identified with remorse (the original meaning of our English “repentance”), and his self-loathing as the sign of a Christian veers even further from self-conscious virtue development and risks the danger of despair even more closely than some of Luther’s theology. For him, a high view of the Holy Spirit, especially an implicit idea of the Spirit’s ability to work deconstructively, to be present in the failures and compunctions and insurmountable limitations in willpower which we dread, which form us still.
The narrative of constant, visible spiritual progress is a non-starter – even according to the Reformer often (mis)credited with that idea. We don’t look at our behavior to see if we’re Christians; we look at our knowledge of ongoing sins. The Christian, for Calvin, will not feign obsequities, but actually, descriptively think that others are better (Phil 2:3), even (especially!) in ethical or spiritual stuff. Because the only way we truly learn low anthropology, and need for forgiveness, is firsthand; we read it in ourselves. The Reformation points of unity are the theology of the Cross, honesty about who we are, and a consequently high view of God’s grace specifically for sinners.
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5 responses to “John Calvin Does the Thing He Hates”
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An amazing post that points out what many miss completely (especially those who would be most ready to call themselves “Calvinists”). And that has to be my favorite description of Calvin ever: “he was better at thinking than writing too sympathetically.”
Love this post, thanks Will.
As a “Calvinist” in most of my theological affirmations, I commend you on this post. I appreciate all of your posts on those moments in Calvin’s writings that are not “Calvinistic.”
Calvin’s serious problem was not some grasp of the human oxymoron but rather his personal low self esteem and angs with guilt, which amazingly are the two struggles of 99.9 percent of pastors, ministers, rectors, priests and religious people……Jesus died for broken splendors, valuable to the extreme willingness to exchange the divine for the sake of the human. Calvin muddled the waters…..go to Luther.
I’ve read Calvin in English and Spanish and he got it, namely the gospel, mentally, but not existentially, in the guts, in the splagma……and then he got the law back into how a Christian ought to live.
“It follows that every good thing we could think or desire is to be found in this same Jesus Christ alone. For, he was sold, to buy us back; captive, to deliver us; condemned, to absolve us; he was made a curse for our blessing, sin offering for our righteousness; marred that we may be made fair; he died for our life; so that by him fury is made gentle, wrath appeased, darkness turned into light, fear reassured, despisal despised, debt canceled, labor lightened, sadness made merry… In short, mercy has swallowed up all misery, and goodness all misfortune. For all these things which were to be the weapons of the devil in his battle against us, and the sting of death to pierce us, are turned for us into exercises which we can turn to our profit. If we are able to boast with the apostle, saying, O hell, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting? it is because by the Spirit of Christ promised to the elect, we live no longer, but Christ lives in us; and we are by the same Spirit seated among those who are in heaven, so that for us the world is no more, even while our conversation [life] is in it; but we are content in all things, whether country, place, condition, clothing, meat, and all such things. And we are comforted in tribulation, joyful in sorrow, glorying under vituperation [verbal abuse], abounding in poverty, warmed in our nakedness, patient amongst evils, living in death. This is what we should in short seek in the whole of Scripture: truly to know Jesus Christ, and the infinite riches that are comprised in him and are offered to us by him from God the Father.”
From the preface John Calvin wrote for Pierre Robert Olivétan’s French translation of the New Testament (1534)