Calvin: separatism

Sunday, May 27, 2018
    Trinity Sunday
    Commemoration of John Calvin, renewer of the Church, 1564
Meditation:
    Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?
    —James 4:11-12 (NIV)
Quotation:
    But if the holy prophets had scruples against separating themselves from the church because of many great misdeeds, not of one man or another but of almost all the people, we claim too much for ourselves if we dare withdraw at once from the communion of the church just because the morals of all do not meet our standard, or even square with the profession of Christian faith.
    ... John Calvin (1509-1564), The Institutes of the Christian Religion, v. II, tr. John Allen, Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbath-School Work, 1921, IV.i.18, p. 240 (see the book)
    See also Jas. 4:11-12; Matt. 7:1; Rom. 2:1; 14:4,13; 1 Cor. 4:4-5; Eph. 4:3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, liberate me from the party spirit. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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