Institutes, Book 1, Chapter 15: (I)

Discussion of Human Nature as Created, of the Faculties of the Soul, of the Image of God, of Free Will, and of the Original Integrity of Man's Nature.

Section 1: Man Proceeded Spotless From God's Hand; Therefore He May Not Shift the Blame for His Sins to the Creator.

Calvin now turns to the doctrine of the creation of man, for as he said earlier in the first sections, "we cannot have a clear and complete knowledge of God unless it is accompanied by a corresponding knowledge of ourselves." We must know how we were created, and what became of us after the fall into sin.

When we consider our sin, we must be careful not to single out, he says, our 'natural evils' "lest we seem to attribute them to the Author of nature." Impious people think that they have a defense against their sinfulness when they say that this is how they were created or this is how we have become and God doesn't do anything about it.

We must remember that God created us out of clay, thus giving us great reason for humility, but he also created in us an immortal soul so that we can glory in the generosity of our Creator.

Section 2: Diversity of Body and Soul.

Calvin understands 'soul' as an "immortal yet created essence," which is man's "nobler part." Often it is called 'spirit' as well (Eccl. 12:7, Luke 23:46, Acts 7:59). Evidence for the possession of a soul exists, he argues, in our consciences. How could something which has no real essence (if we are just the sum of our material parts) penetrate to the throne of God, responding to his judgment? In the soul, something divine has been granted to us. Unlike the brute beasts, human beings can rise above their nature, we can look around us past the mere material existence. We can search out the secrets of nature, we can look to the past, we can predict and plan for the future. This "clearly shoes that there lies hidden in man something separate from the body."

But this soul is not necessarily tied to the body, for on death it separates and goes to its eternal reward (Job 4:19, 2 Cor. 7:1, 1 Peter 2:25, 1 Peter 1:9, etc.). Thus it is something not material (it is spiritual), but that does not mean that it does not have its own existence, for it lives on after our bodies have breathed their last.

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I do not have much time this morning for reflection nor to continue this reading, so I will hopefully finish what I started today tomorrow.

Sorry.