Section 1: The Fanatics Wrongly Appeal to the Holy Spirit.
Calvin here warns against the errors of the Libertines who reject "the dead and killing letter" for "the teaching office of the Spirit." Calvin simply asks them what spirit they are inspired by that they reject the word? If it is the Spirit which inspired the prophets and apostles, namely the Spirit of Christ, then "such assurance is utterly ridiculous." If this is the Spirit that illumined by the apostles, then why would it lead these Libertines away from the Scriptures? For the apostles, illumined by the Spirit of Christ, did not despise the word, but rather they held it in greater reverence. For the Spirit "does not bind the ancient folk to outward doctrine as if they were learning their ABC's; rather, he teaches that under the reign of Christ the new church will have this true and complete happiness: to be ruled no less by the voice of God than by the Spirit." Thus the Libertines violently tear apart the unity of Word and Spirit in their emphasis on the leading of the Spirit alone. Rather Spirit has the task "of sealing our minds with that very doctrine which is commended by the gospel."
Section 2: The Holy Spirit is Recognized in His Agreement with Scripture.
"From this we readily understand that we ought zealously to apply ourselves both to read and to hearken to Scripture if indeed we want to receive any gain and benefit from the Spirit of God." For the Spirit cannot lead us to believe anything other than what God has revealed in his Word. This is how we know we are following the Spirit. But if what we consider to be the leading of the Holy Spirit takes us away from God's Word, or makes anything in addition to it, then we know that we are being led astray by the devil masquerading as an angel of light.
It is no affront to the Spirit to be tested in this way, for he himself inspired Scripture--it was at his prompting that the sacred authors wrote what they did. Thus God himself has established this test of scripture so that we may rightly discern what is his will and what is not. God cannot contradict himself, so how could the leading of the Spirit be different than the doctrines of Scripture?
Section 3: Word and Spirit Belong Inseparably Together.
While these Libertines argue that the letter is dead, they are in one way correct. Without the Spirit, as we saw in the previous chapter, the Word of God indeed has no impact on the hearts of men. It is only through the Spirit that the Word becomes alive in our hearts, and that we see it for the truth of God. "For by a kind of mutual bond the Lord has joined together the certainty of his Word and of his Spirit so that the perfect religion of the Word may abide in our minds when the Spirit, who causes us to contemplate God's face, shines; and that we in turn may embrace the Spirit with no fear of being deceived when we recognize him in his own image, namely, in the Word." Thus Christ himself pointed to the Scriptures about himself and what was to happen. To reject the Word is to be filled with pride, elevating ourselves about God's revelation in Scripture. We know no other Spirit than he who inspired sacred Scripture--how could we then reject the Word?
___________________________________
Reflection: In this short chapter, Calvin says a lot. Continuing on with his theme of the Spirit being necessary to see the truth and credibility of Scripture, he argues against those who separate the two.
It is interesting reading this chapter right now, as I am also in the middle of a book on the will of God by J.I. Packer and Carolyn Nystrom called Guard Us, Guide Us: Divine Leading in Life's Decisions. This book has a similar theme to another I've read, Finding the Will of God: A Pagan Notion? by Bruce Waltke. Both of these books deal with how we are to find the will of God for our lives, and whether or not we can. Waltke's book is shorter and more to the point, saying that we already know the will of God--his revealed will concerning how we are to live before him. When it comes to the secret will of God, well, it's just that: secret. We cannot attempt to divine in some way where God wants us to be, who he wants us to be with, etc. We have to judge these things using what God has revealed to us: his Word.
Both of these books were written recently (Packer's in 2008 and Waltke's in 1995), suggesting that this idea of trying to find God's will for our lives has become a bit of an issue. Listening every so often to Christian radio, I think I can see this. There are people who pray over everything (which in itself is not a bad thing!), trying to hear the Lord's prompting in their heart about it. Basically, in my estimation, also by reading Calvin this morning on this topic, it seems that they are trying to get the benefit without doing any of the work. Packer says it best when he says that such revelations from God were always given in situations in which the people were new to the faith or did not have his full revealed Word. With spiritual maturity such revelations are given less and less. To rely on such revelation then means that we are deciding to remain spiritually immature. To grow in faith and knowledge means that we become more and more responsible that our decisions and actions line up with God's revealed will by becoming knowledgeable about his will as contained in his revealed Word.
But this Word is only open to us through the working of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.
The more I study these things, the more I ponder over Scripture, the richer I feel.
2 comments:
Good insights, Stu. The issue of trying to "divine" the will of God by personal feelings, or by misusing Scripture, is huge, and I've seen its impact here in my work.
Keep up the great study!
Thanks Jim. That is why I got those books--I think such 'divination' is more prevalent than we'd like to think, and I wanted to read up about it.
Post a Comment