Calvin: Scripture and Spirit

Sunday, September 4, 2016
    Commemoration of Birinus, Bishop of Dorchester (Oxon), Apostle of Wessex, 650
Meditation:
    But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
    —1 Corinthians 2:9-11 (ESV)
Quotation:
    As God alone is a fit witness of himself in his Word, so also the Word will not find any acceptance in men’s hearts before it is sealed by the inward testimony of the Spirit. The same Spirit, therefore, who has spoken by the mouth of the prophets must penetrate into our hearts, to persuade us that they faithfully proclaimed what has been divinely commanded.
    ... John Calvin (1509-1564), The Institutes of the Christian Religion, v. I [1559], tr. John Allen, Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbath-School Work, 1921, I.vii.4, p. 79 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 2:9-11; John 5:39-40; 8:13-19; 15:26; Rom. 8:16; Heb. 10:15-17; Jude 1:3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, send Your Spirit that I may be persuaded of the truth of Your word. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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