Section 1: God's Nature is Immeasurable and Spiritual.
We cannot say, Calvin writes, that God is the world and the world is God because we are taught that God is both immeasurable and spiritual. How can we measure what is immeasurable, and how can we see what is spiritual? But God uses certain images and figures of speech about himself in scripture so that we who are sluggish and finite are thus drawn up to him by his revelation. "Such forms of speaking do not so much express clearly what God is like as accommodate the knowledge of him to our slight capacity. To do this he must descend far beneath his loftiness."
Section 2: The Three "Persons" in God.
God distinguishes himself further from idols by "proclaiming himself the sole God as to offer himself to be contemplated clearly in three persons." If we do not grasp these persons, then we do not have in mind true knowledge of God.
This, however, is a difficult teaching, and needs to be understood properly. The Persons are not to be identified with each other, as if they were all the same, nor are they so separate as to form three 'gods.' But they are together God, but also distinguished from each other in person (or as Calvin says: hypostasis).
Section 3: The Expressions "Trinity" and "Person" Aid the Interpretation of Scripture and Are Therefore Admissible.
There are those, Calvin writes, who argue against using such 'unscriptural' language to speak of God. These words are not used in God's revelation, therefore we ought not to use them when speaking of God. But these people, Calvin argues, miss the point. These words, even though of human origin, repeat the truths which God has revealed to us in a clear manner. If these words imposed our understanding on God, then they would have a valid point. But because these words simply make clearer for us what God teaches in his word, then we can use such words with profit.
"We ought to seek from Scripture a sure rule for both thinking and speaking, to which both the thoughts of our minds and the words of our mouths should be conformed. But what prevents us from explaining in clearer words those matters in Scripture which perplex and hinder our understanding, yet which conscientiously and faithfully serve the truth of Scripture itself, and are made use of sparingly and modestly and on due occasion?"
Section 4: The Church Has Regarded Expressions Like "Trinity," "Person," etc., as Necessary to Unmask False Teachers.
Here Calvin points to one use of such words: they make the doctrines of Scripture so clear so that heretics who try to evade censure by their "verbiage" are shown for what they are. Calvin points to Arius, who said that Christ was God and the Son of God, but who did not say that they were God in the same way, instead teaching that Christ was made the Son of God. But when the Church Fathers used the term homoousios (of the same essence), then Arius' heresy was brought to light. Calvin also does the same with the error of the Sabellians, who said that the words Father, Son and Spirit were simply ways of designating different attributes of God, not persons. Thus such theological words, although not used in scripture, are useful for the church.
Section 5: Limits and Necessity of Theological Terms.
However, Calvin urges, we must beware not to put too much weight on such terms. They are useful for us, but cannot be thought to contain the essence of God or the whole truth of him. Such words ought not to be a cause for dissension and division in the church, but we must be able to look past the words used to see the truth being expressed. So what if we use different words to speak the same truth--it is the truth of God that matters for Christian unity, not the words of men.
Section 6: The Meaning of the Most Important Conception.
Here Calvin gets into a discussion of the Trinity. "'Person,' therefore, I call a 'subsistence' in God's essence, which, while related to the others, is distinguished by an incommunicable quality." Thus where "simple and indefinite mention is made of God, this name pertains no less to the Son and the Spirit than to the Father." But each is also distinguished since they have attributes which are proper only to that Person, and thus incommunicable to the other Persons of the Trinity--but without breaking the unity of God.
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Reflection: Here we get into some issues of semantics: thinking about definitions of words and how they are used. It is important in any discussion to make sure that we are using words in the same way. As Calvin points out when he discusses the prevarications of the Arians and the Sabellians, among others, we could seem like we are saying the same thing, but mean something totally different by it. So we need to have some clarity about the content of our thoughts, and there are theological terms that are useful for this.
However, we cannot then 'idolize' such terms so that if people do not use them they are wrong. Such terms, although expressing Scriptural truth, are still human constructions, and so are not perfectly thorough. We can use different words to say the same things, so we cannot make simple terms the judge of heresy or orthodoxy.
If only it were that easy, however. To do this demands that we delve deeper into our ideas and thoughts about God and his revelation in our discussions with others than we generally want to. It's not easy to do this, but is it absolutely necessary. It is easier, it seems, for us to do this when people use a different language, but when we deal with other Christians who use the same language, but different words it often becomes an issue. Then we are not discussing God's truth, but our own expressions of it.
We must always get back to the truth of God, and not be slavishly tied to the wording that we use to express it.
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