In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Isa. 6:1-5.
We may ask how Isaiah could see God who is spirit and is therefore not visible to bodily eyes. Since the minds of men are incapable of mounting to the infinite height of God, how can man apprehend God under any visible form? But we must realize that whenever God revealed himself to be seen by the fathers, he never appeared as he is in himself but as he could be understood by human minds. Since men crawl on the ground, or at least dwell far below the heavens, there is no absurdity in the statement that God descends to them in order to turn upon them, as though he used a mirror, some reflected rays of his glory. Therefore Isaiah was shown a form of a kind which enabled him with his own understanding to taste the inconceivable majesty of God. This is the reason that he attributes a throne, a robe, and a bodily appearance to God.
From this passage we may derive the valuable assurance that whenever God gives
any sign whatever of his presence he is in truth present with us. He does not
play a game with such meaningless shapes as men use when they impiously distort
him with their inventions. Since the vision was in no way a false
In the second place we may ask, Who was that Lord? John (ch. 12:41) teaches
that he was Christ; and this is true because God never revealed himself to the
fathers except in his eternal Word, his only-begotten Son. Yet, in my judgment,
it is wrong to restrict this vision to the person of Christ, since the prophecy
refers rather to God without any differentiation. Nor does the use of the name
'adonai (Lord), which may seem more appropriate to Christ, support the
restriction, for it is often used simply for God. Here then God is meant. Yet
it is correct to say that Isaiah saw the glory of Christ, because Christ was
the image of the invisible God.
Sitting upon a throne the prophet could have found no better image than
that of a judge to impress the Jews with the majesty of God. And later we shall
hear the severe sentence which the Lord pronounces from his judgment seat. But
we should not suppose that the prophet deliberated about the way in which he
should depict God. He described faithfully the form which was disclosed and
exhibited to him.
We may wonder whether the prophet was led into the Temple, or whether the whole
vision appeared to him in his sleep. Many arguments are offered on both sides,
but they leave us uncertain. If he was not in the Temple, the revelation could
have been given him at home or in a field, where other prophets received their
visions.
His extreme parts (extrema) filled the temple. Almost all
interpret as "the fringes of his garments," although the word may equally well
refer to the edges of the throne, to emphasize its great size, which was as
large as the whole Temple. The purpose of the statement in any case is to
attribute to God a grandeur beyond any human form.
The vision had the more authority because it appeared in the Temple. God had
promised that he would meet his people there, and the people expected his voice
to come from there, as Solomon had said at the dedication. Therefore, in order
that the people might know that this vision came from the God whom they daily
invoked, in whom they were boasting without
Seraphim. After the statement that God had appeared to him, full of
majesty and glory, he adds that angels were standing near God; and he calls
them seraphim because of their fiery zeal. Although the derivation of
this word [from saraph, burn] is known, various explanations of
it are offered. Some say they are called seraphim because they burn with
the love of God; others, because they are swift like fire; others, because they
shine. Whatever may be the reason, the description shows us the radiant
splendor and the boundless majesty of God, so that we learn to understand and
hold in reverence his matchless and immeasurable glory.
Many think there were two seraphim, corresponding to the two cherubim above the
Ark of the Covenant. I like this idea, but I do not dare to affirm what is not
stated in the text. However, in general, descriptions like this one use symbols
which were familiar and well known to religious people; and this may well be
the case with this prophecy. So I accept the guess of two as probable, leaving
open the possibility of more; for Daniel saw not two angels but myriads.
Six wings. This figure has a meaning: the wings so placed represent a
mystery which God did not wish left wholly hidden.
The two wings with which the angels fly represent simply the swiftness and
readiness with which they carry out God's commands. Since this analogy is very
obvious, only contentious men will raise objections.
The two wings with which they covered their faces show clearly enough that not
even angels can endure the full glory of God, and so they shade their eyes as
we do when we wish to look at the sun. But if angels cannot endure God's
majesty, how great is the rashness of men who try to penetrate it! Let us learn
then that we ought to limit our inquiries to what is within our capacity and
fitting for us, so that our understanding may soberly and modestly taste what
is beyond our powers. The angels do not cover their faces so completely that
they have no joy in the sight of God (and they can still see to fly without
It is more difficult to interpret the two lower wings. Some think the feet of
the angels were covered so as not to touch the earth and become unclean as
human feet do. For whenever we walk we pick up dirt and filth, and so long as
we wander on earth we are always contracting some contagion or other. The
believing are then warned that they will have no dealings with angels until
they have risen and are no longer tied to earth. Some give this explanation,
but I agree more with others who think that the purpose of these wings is the
opposite of the upper ones. As with the upper wings the angels cover their
faces lest they be annihilated by the splendor of God, so also they have the
lower wings by which they themselves are hidden from our sight. But if it is
true that the faint beams of divine glory shining out from the angels cannot be
seen by us without destroying us, how can we behold God's most glorious and
splendid majesty which overwhelms all sense? Let men learn that since they
cannot even look at the angels, they are very far from the perfect knowledge of
God. This seems to me the better interpretation, but I do not exclude the
others.
They were crying. When we read that the angels are busy proclaiming the
glory of God, we know that their example is presented for our imitation. For
the holiest service of all that we can offer God is to occupy ourselves in
praising his name. Such adoration links us with the angels, so that even while
we sojourn on the earth we are yet joined to the citizens of heaven and
somewhat resemble them. But if there is to be true harmony between all the
chords of the angels and our own, we must strive earnestly that there may be a
correspondence between the praise of God with our tongues and all the actions
of our lives. This aim will be achieved at the last if we keep our eyes fixed
as steadily as possible on the glory of God.
Holy, holy, holy. The ancients used this passage when they wished to
prove against the Arians that there are three persons in the one divine
essence. I do not reject this interpretation, although if I were dealing with
heretics I should prefer to use clearer evidence. . . . And although I do not
doubt that the one God in three Persons is here meant by the angels (for
certainly God cannot be praised without honoring Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
together), yet I think clearer passages should be used in defending our faith,
lest we incur the ridicule of heretics. Surely the repetition proves rather the
unwearied zeal of the seraphim;
The whole earth is full. The fullness could refer to the fruits and the
living creatures with which God so abundantly fills the earth, and the meaning
would then be that the glory of God shines out in the enticing variety of the
beauty of the earth, which is evidence of his Fatherly love. But a simpler and
truer interpretation is that the glory of God fills the whole world or extends
to all the quarters of the earth. Here, in my judgment, is an implied
contradiction to the foolish self-conceit of the Jews who thought that the
glory of God did not exist apart from them, and wished to confine it to the
Temple. This latter meaning is consistent with the prophecy of the destruction
of the Jews which follows. For access to the church of God was open to the
Gentiles who were to take the place left empty by the Jews.
And the posts shook. This tremor is a sign that it was not a human voice
which the prophet heard. For no human voice can shake foundations and pillars.
God did not intend that the authority of his words should have been recognized
by the prophet alone; he meant it to be sanctified to all posterity, for all
generations, and without ceasing. By this trembling we are led to realize that
this voice of God is valid for us today; when he speaks we tremble. For if
inanimate objects and dumb creatures are shaken by it, what must we do, who
have feeling, smell, taste, and understanding, in order to obey his word
devoutly and reverently?
Woe is me: for mine eyes have seen. The prophet's reaction is not
surprising. The whole carnal man must be reduced to nothingness that he may be
renewed by God. For how does it happen that men live, or rather think they
live, and are puffed up with vain confidence in their shrewdness and power?
Only because they do not know God. Before he reveals himself to us we think
ourselves to be not men, but rather gods. But when the Lord appears to us, then
we begin to sense and realize what sort of beings we are. Humility arises from
and consists in this: that man claim nothing more for himself and depend wholly
on God.
This passage and others like it must be carefully considered. It was customary
for the ancients, whenever they saw God, to speak in this way: "I am undone.
It's all up with me." Before our minds seriously approach God, our life is an
empty sham. We walk in shadows in which it is hard to distinguish true from
false. But when we come into light, the difference is clear and
Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let
the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches.
But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me,
that I am the Lord which exercise loving-kindness, judgment and righteousness,
in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord. Jer.
9:23-24.
From the second part of this passage we learn that men are stripped of all
their glory, not to leave them groveling in their own shame, but to clothe them
with another that is better. For God does not take pleasure in men's shame. But
since men claim for themselves more than is good for them, and even intoxicate
themselves with self-flattery, God takes away from them their false glory.
After they have learned that whatever they think they possess, either by
nature, or their own efforts, or through other creatures, is a mere phantom,
then they may seek true glory.
In understanding and knowing me. Although the prophet means the same
thing by both verbs, he does not use the two without a reason. When men
belittle the knowledge of God, they must be warned that to know God is the sum
of perfect wisdom. Jeremiah wishes to correct a perverse error under which the
whole world suffers. Today all sorts of subjects are eagerly pursued; but the
knowledge of God is neglected. We see with what zeal everyone follows his own
interests, while scarcely one man in a hundred deigns to devote half an hour a
day to the knowledge of God. And from pride arises men's second mistake: they
think the knowledge of God to be a common possession. So we see why the prophet
used two verbs to name the same thing: he wanted to arouse greater zeal in men,
since he saw that all were so lazy in the pursuit of this knowledge. Yet to
know God is man's chief end, and justifies his existence. Even if a hundred
lives were ours, this one aim would be sufficient for them all. But, as I said,
men despise the thing which should be preferred above all else.
Afterwards he adds that I am the Lord doing mercy and judgment and
justice. God wishes to be so known. He alone is exalted; yet he comes down,
so to speak, within our sight. The words which follow must be carefully
considered. If God had said only, that I am the Lord, this would have
been a complete doctrine; but it would not have been sufficiently clear. . .
for men would think it enough to confess that there is one God. Therefore we
must carefully note these words: God does mercy, judgment, and justice.
We see today among the papists the name of God rashly flaunted aloft. There is
no one of them who will not reiterate again and again that he worships God. But
meanwhile they all profane the name of God. They rob God of his honor and
distribute the spoil to the dead. This passage shows that the name of God by
itself is of no importance when it is emptied of its true content.
The true knowledge of God is not only to know him as the maker of the world,
but also to be persuaded that the world is directed by him, and further to know
the nature of that direction. He does mercy and judgment and justice.
Moreover, the first thing to know about God is that he is kind and forbearing.
For without God's forbearance, what would become of us? It is true and right
that the knowledge of God should begin with the assurance that he is merciful
towards us. For what use would it be to us to know that God is just unless we
already know his mercy and his free kindness? But we know God by also knowing
ourselves, for these two things are bound together; and if anyone scrutinizes
himself, what will he find but reason for despair? As often as the thought of
God's justice comes into our minds, we should shudder and despair. Truly all
would flee from God unless he attract them by the sweetness of his grace.
Therefore it is with good reason that Jeremiah, when he ordered men to glory in
the knowledge of God, gave the highest place to God's compassion, and then
added judgment and justice.
The Lord God is truth (Those who translate God of truth do not
attend to the syntax of the Hebrew, for that would need to read 'elohe
'emeth); God himself is life and the king of the ages. Jer. 10:10 (Calvin's
wording).
Here the prophet exalts and triumphs in God's name, and speaks of him as having
overthrown and destroyed the falsehoods of the nations. He exposes their gross
errors and shows up the wisdom of the world as absolutely worthless,
He exalts the glory of God magnificently, by saying: For the Lord is
God; that is, the nations worship their gods by telling fables about their
powers and falsely inventing many miracles. For, when we examine everything
honestly, it becomes certain that there is only one God; and all the gods of
the nations vanish of themselves. This is what the prophet means: God is
sufficient to destroy all the falsehoods of the nations. When his majesty comes
forth, its splendor is such that all others which receive the admiration of the
world are reduced to nothingness. After this, he speaks of truth; then
he opposes truth with vanity. Before he had said that wood is vanity; now he
says, Eternal God is truth; which means that He has no need to take on
colors. The idols of the nations are painted, dressed up, decorated; but all
such images are empty show. Jehovah, on the other hand, is Lord; that
is, he does not in any way change; he desires nothing which he does not
possess, and his own perfection carries all authority.
God, then, is truth; and God is life. After the prophet
has declared that in the essence of the one God there is true and substantial
glory, he adds another certitude which he derives from the experience of men:
God is life. For although God is in himself incomprehensible to us, he
not only sets his glory before our eyes, but even offers himself to our touch,
as Paul says (Acts 14:17). For Paul knew that God can be found by touch, even
by men who are blind. Although the blind are deprived of sight, yet when they
walk around a hall, they find the way out by touch, or they locate by touch the
door out of a room, and when they wish to go in again they find the door. And
Paul says that we have no need to go outside of ourselves, for whoever searches
himself will find God within. For, in him we live, move, and exist (Acts
17:28). Hence if we raise the objection that God is beyond our comprehension,
and that we cannot rise to the height of his glory, yet certainly life
is in us. If life is in us, then so is evidence for God. Who is foolish enough
to say that he lives of himself? Since men do not create their own life but
obtain life precariously from another, it follows that God dwells in them.
Now the prophet, after he has spoken of the essence of God, comes down to his
activity. And surely this is the true knowledge of God -- not to speculate in
the air as the philosophers do when they argue, but to know by experience that
there is one God. How do we know? Because we exist; not, strictly,
exist,
God therefore is life and the king of the ages. First the earth
was founded, and since then the years follow one another; in this cycle, there
is great variation from one year to another yet there is regular and right
order in their procession. Who will not recognize the glory of God in this
ordering of the world? Therefore the prophet called God king of the
ages.
And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have wrought with you for my
name's sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt
doings, O ye house of Israel, saith the Lord God. Ezek. 20:44.
Here God declares that his glory will be especially manifest when, solely for
his name's sake, he has compassion freely upon the desperate and lost. And
Paul, in the first chapter of Ephesians, especially praises God's gracious
kindness when he calls the compassion with which God honors his elect, the
glory of God
Now the glory of God includes more than his compassion. As thy name, so is
thy praise through all the countries of the earth (Ps. 48:10). God deserves
no less to be glorified when he destroys the wicked than when he takes pity on
his people. But Paul calls God's especial glory the undeserved kindness with
which he embraces his chosen whom he has adopted. So God says here, You will
know that I am the Lord when I deal with you for my name's sake, and not
according to your crimes.
Moreover, since God wishes his glory to shine pre-eminently in his free mercy,
we must conclude that those who obscure his compassion or minimize it, or
attempt to reduce its greatness to nothing, are the most hardened and open
enemies of his glory.
And we know that the teaching of the papacy aims in that direction. For in it,
God's free kindness lies buried, or is hidden in a fog, or has wholly vanished.
For they set forth merits of various sorts which they oppose to God's
grace. And they
As for ourselves, let us learn that God cannot be known as Savior unless we
accept from him what is essential to our salvation. For if we wish to keep
accounts of what we give and what we receive, or to make any claim whatever, we
reduce his glory. And so far as in us lies, we throw away the inestimable
privilege which the prophet here extols.
Therefore let us strive to know God through this Word. He deals with us
according to his great mercy and compassion, that is, for his name's
sake, and not according to our wrongdoing. But if these words were spoken
to the ancient people because they had returned to the Land of Canaan, how much
more today, when the Kingdom of Heaven lies open, God's free kindness deserves
to be praised! Today, when he openly calls us to himself, to heaven, to the
hope of the blessed immortality which is given us through Christ!
[This was Calvin's last lecture. His closing prayer was:]
Grant, Almighty God, since we have already entered in hope upon the threshold
of our eternal inheritance, and know that there is a mansion for us in heaven
since Christ, our head and the first fruits of our salvation, has been received
there, grant that we may proceed more and more in the way of thy holy calling
until at length we reach the goal, and so enjoy that eternal glory of which
thou givest us a taste in this world by the same Christ, our Lord. Amen.
And he built there an altar, and he called the place El Beth-el. . . . And
God went up from him in the place where he talked with him. Gen. 35:7,13
Now we know why the holy fathers had to have their own altar, distinct from
those of other nations. It was to bear witness that they worshiped not the
various gods who were recognized everywhere in the world, but a God of their
own.
For although God is worshiped in the heart, yet external confession is the
inseparable accompaniment of faith. And there is no one who does not know how
helpful it is to us to be roused to the worship of God by external aids.
If anyone objects that this altar looked no different from the others, I answer
that the actual difference was very great. Others built altars, rashly and with
thoughtless zeal, to unknown gods. Jacob bound himself always to the Word of
God. No altar is legitimate unless it is consecrated by God's Word. Jacob's
worship excelled that of others simply because he did nothing without the
command of God.
In calling the place God of Bethel, he may seem to be too bold; and yet
the faith of the holy man is praiseworthy at this point also, and that rightly,
since he keeps himself within the limits set by God. The papists are stupid
when they claim to honor humility by exhibiting dull moderation. Humility
deserves praise truly when it does not seek to know more than the Lord permits.
But when he descends to us, adapting himself to us and prattling to us, he
wishes us also to prattle back to him. And true wisdom is to embrace God
exactly as he adapts himself to our little measure. Thus Jacob does not dispute
with learned arguments about God's essence, but according to the oracle he has
received he brings God near and makes him accessible to himself. Because he
opens his mind to the revelation his prattling and his simplicity are, as I
said, pleasing to God.
Today, when the knowledge of God shines clearer, and when God in the gospel has
undertaken the role of nurse, let us learn to yield our minds to him. Let us
remember that he came down to us to raise us up to him. He does not adopt an
earthly fashion of speech to keep us at a distance from heaven, but rather as a
means of raising us up to heaven.
Meanwhile we must keep to this rule of interpreting [Jacob's action]: since the
altar was commanded by a heavenly oracle, the building of it was truly and duly
a work of faith. Where the living voice of God does not sound, pomp and
ceremony, however elaborately observed, are like empty phantoms. So, we should
see that papacy is so much wind.
God's ascent is like his descent. For God who fills heaven and earth
does not change location. He is said to come down to us when he shows us a sign
of his presence suited to our littleness. He ascended from Jacob when he
disappeared from his sight or when the vision ended.
By this way of speaking, God shows us the value of his Word
And the light shineth in darkness: and the darkness comprehended it not.
John 1:5.
It may be objected that Scripture in many places calls men blind, and that the
blindness to which they are condemned is a matter of common knowledge -- that
all men's reasoning is a miserable business and comes to nothing. Where do all
the labyrinths of error in the world come from [the objector will continue], if
not from the fact that when men follow their own minds they land in vanity and
lies? So long as men are without the light, the knowledge of Christ's divinity,
mentioned above by the Evangelist, is extinct among them.
The Evangelist anticipates this objection, and cautions us first that we must
not judge the light given to man in the beginning by his present condition,
because in man's present corrupted and degenerate nature, light has been turned
into darkness. Nevertheless, he denies emphatically that the light of
intelligence is entirely extinct, because some sparkling bits of light keep
darting out of the deep and heavy darkness of the human mind.
And the darkness comprehended it not. Even though, through the feeble
bit of light left in men, the Son of God has always invited them to himself,
the Evangelist tells us that this has not done any good, because "they saw but
did not see." After man was alienated from God, his mind was oppressed by such
ignorance that any light left in him was quenched and useless. This is proven
daily by our experience. Still, even those who are not regenerated by the
Spirit of God enjoy some rationality; which shows that man was made not only to
breathe but also to understand. But it is none the less true that men do not
come to God by way of their own reason; neither do they in this way get near to
him, because all their intelligence is but vanity. Whence it follows that the
salvation of men is hopeless unless God come to their aid with a new help. For
even while the Son of God pours out his light upon them, they are so dull that
they do not know the source of it; on the contrary, carried away by their own
sickly and depraved imaginations, they only become insane.
The chief parts of the light which remain in our corrupt natures are two:
first, everyone has a certain seed of religion implanted in him; and secondly,
every man's conscience is capable of distinguishing good from evil. But then,
what happens except that religion degenerates into a thousand chimeras of
superstition; and consciences pervert every act of judgment, so that one cannot
tell vice from virtue? In short, natural reason can never guide men to Christ.
Even though prudence teaches men to regulate their lives, and though they are
born capable of the arts and sciences, the whole thing vanishes and leaves
nothing behind.
Further, it ought to be clear that the Evangelist is speaking only of man's
natural endowments, and does not touch upon regenerating grace. The Son of God
possesses two distinct powers: the first is known from the structure of the
world and the order of nature; the second is the power by which he renews and
restores our fallen nature. Since he is the eternal Word of God, the world was
created by him and it is by his power that all retain the life they have
received. By him also, man was adorned with the gift of the singular imprint of
intelligence; and although by his defection he lost the light of intelligence,
he still sees and understands, so that what he has naturally by the grace of
the Son of God is not completely abolished. But since he has darkened the light
which he retains by his stupidity and wickedness, it is necessary that the Son
of God take on a new office, that of mediator, and restore the ruined man by
the Spirit of regeneration. Therefore, those who confuse the light of which the
Evangelist speaks with the gospel and the doctrine which deals with our
salvation, philosophize absurdly and in an irrelevant manner.
That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the
world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew
him not. John 1:9-10.
The true light here is not opposed to the false. The Evangelist meant to
distinguish Christ from all others, so that no one would think He has the light
in common with men and angels. The distinction is made to point out that
whatever is bright in heaven and on earth derives its splendor from another;
Christ on the other hand is himself light, and his brightness is his own,
filling the whole world with his radiance; and there is no other source or
cause of light. He is called the true light because it is his nature to
illumine.
Which lighteth every man. The Evangelist insists on this chiefly because
he wants to base his teaching that Christ is the light upon the effects which
he produces in us and in our experience. He might have argued more subtly by
saying that since Christ is the eternal light, his radiance is inborn and not
derived from another. But he turns our attention to our common experience. The
argument is that since Christ makes all of us to share in his light, we should
honor him alone as the Light.
Now this passage is usually explained in two ways. Some restrict every
man to those who, having been regenerated by the Spirit, partake of the
life-giving light. Augustine gives the example of a schoolmaster who, if he has
the only school in a town, is said to be everybody's teacher, even though many
may not go to his school. Some people understand the statement that Christ
enlightens everyone in the sense that no one can boast of having received the
grace of the light of life otherwise than from him. But since the Evangelist
speaks in general of all those who have come into the world, the next
explanation pleases me better: namely, that rays from this light are diffused
in all of mankind, as I have already said. We know that men, above all other
living beings, have the singular superiority of having been endowed with reason
and intelligence, and that they have engraved in their consciences the ability
to discriminate between right and wrong. There is therefore no one who is
without some intuition of the eternal light. But there are fanatics who are
somehow insane enough to twist and torture this passage, and to infer from it
that the grace of illumination is offered equally to all. But let us remember
that this statement has to do with the common light of nature which is far
inferior to faith. For no man will ever, with all the sharpness and
perspicacity of his mind, penetrate to the Kingdom of God. It is the Spirit of
God alone who opens the gate of heaven to the elect. Further, let us remember
that the light of reason which God gave men is obscured by sin; so that in the
deep darkness of dreadful ignorance and the abyss of errors there are hardly
any sparks which are not utterly put out.
He was in the world. He accuses men of ingratitude because they had so
blinded themselves as not to know the cause of the light they enjoyed. This is
true of every age. For even before Christ appeared in the flesh, he displayed
his power everywhere. Therefore those daily effects he produces ought to shake
people out of their torpor. What is more absurd than to draw water from a
running river, and not to think of the fountain from
Let not your heart be troubled: Ye believe in God, believe also in me.
John 14:1.
This might be taken as imperative: "Believe in God, and also believe in me."
But the other reading is more exact, and has been more generally accepted, as I
have pointed out. Here we find that the way to stand fast is to let our faith
rest in Christ and to recognize that he is all ready to come to our help with
outstretched arms. One might wonder, however, why he puts faith in God first.
Maybe he should have told his disciples that having believed in him, they
should believe in God: for Christ is the very image of the Father, and we
should fix our eyes first on him. Besides, he descended to us so that our
faith, starting with him, might ascend to the Father. But Christ has something
else in mind. All confess that we ought to believe in God. This is a fixed
axiom to which all subscribe without controversy. Yet there is hardly one in a
hundred who really believes it; not so much because the sheer majesty of God is
too distant from us, but because Satan puts every kind of cloud between us and
God, so as to keep us from the vision of God. So it is that our faith vanishes
even while it seeks our God in his heavenly glory and inaccessible light. Our
own flesh comes up spontaneously with a thousand fancies which turn us away
from a right apprehension of God.
Christ therefore presents himself to us as the proper object of our faith. If
we direct our faith to him, it will immediately find certainty and rest. He is
Immanuel, who responds within us to our inquiring faith. It is a basic article
of our faith that if we do not wish to go around and around endlessly, we must
direct our faith to Christ alone. If our faith is not to waver in the midst of
temptations, it must be fixed on him. And this is the evidence of faith that we
never allow ourselves to be torn away from Christ and the promises we have in
him. The papal theologians dispute, or rather chatter a great deal, about the
object of faith; but they leave Christ out, and mention only God. Those whose
knowledge comes from their writings must needs waver with the
If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also; and hence forth ye
know him, and have seen him. John 14:7.
This confirms what we have already said; namely, that the curiosity by which
people, not content with Christ, seek God in devious byways is at once stupid
and harmful. They admit that there is nothing better than the knowledge of God.
But when he is near them and speaks to them as a friend, they wander around
looking high and low, and search for him beyond the clouds because they are too
proud to see him nearby. Christ therefore reproaches his disciples because they
do not know that God has been revealed to them fully in him. "I see," he says,
"that so far you have not known me rightly because you have not seen the living
image of God in me."
And henceforth. He adds this not only to tone down his reproach, but
also to accuse them of ingratitude and apathy because they have not done
justice to the Father's gift through him. He says it in praise of his teaching
rather than of their faith. What he means, therefore, is that they would even
now see God, if they would only open their eyes. But by "see," he means
the certainty of faith.
Then they said unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither
know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father
also. John 8:19.
Instead of doing them the honor of a direct reply, he reproaches them briefly
for their ignorance and their complacency. They asked about the Father; and
yet, here was the Son before their eyes, and they, seeing, did not see. It was,
therefore, the just punishment of their pride and impious in gratitude that
when they despised the Son of God who was there for everyone to see, they had
no access to the Father. How can any mortal being rise to the height of God
except he be raised there by the Son's own hand? Moreover, God has lowered
himself in Christ to the mean condition of man, so as to stretch out his hand
to him; and do not those who reject God's approach to them deserve to be
excluded of heaven?
Let us then know that it was said to us all: anyone who does
Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of
thee. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me, and they have
received them, and have known surely that I come out from thee, and they have
believed that thou didst send me. John 17:7-8.
Here we are told the chief thing about faith: which is, so to believe in Christ
that our belief rests not in an apprehension of the flesh, but rather in the
contemplation of his divine power. When he says, " They knew whatever thou
gavest me as from thee," he means that believers recognize all they have as
divine and from heaven. And certainly, unless we apprehend God in Christ, we
are bound to be always wavering.
He now declares that men have this knowledge when they receive what he teaches
them. But anyone who thinks that his doctrine is from man, or that it is from
this earth, will not acknowledge that its author is God. Hence he says, The
words which thou gavest me, I gave them. And when he says that he taught as
he received from God, he speaks as the mediator or the servant of God. He
refers to God as his Father because he is in the lowly state of the flesh, and
has concealed his divine majesty under the form of a servant. At the same time,
we must hold on to John's initial testimony that, in so far as Christ was the
eternal Word of God, he had always been one God with the Father. The point
here, therefore, is that Christ was to his disciples a faithful witness to the
Father; that, since the Father himself had spoken in the Son, their faith had
its foundation in the sole truth of God. Moreover, he points out that if they
accepted his words, it is because he has given them an effective revelation of
the name of the Father by the power of the Spirit.
And have known surely. He repeats with other words what he has already
touched upon. The statement that Christ came from
But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works; that ye may know,
and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him. John 10:38.
He puts faith after knowledge, as though it were of a lower order, because he
has to do with unbelieving and wrong headed men, who will not yield unless they
are overcome and forced by experience. Such rebels insist that they must know
before they believe. And our God indulges us to the extent of preparing us for
faith through a knowledge of his works. However, true knowledge of God and of
the secret of his wisdom comes from faith, because the obedience of faith opens
to us the gate of the Kingdom of Heaven.
And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and
Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. John 17:3.
He now enlightens the elect in the true knowledge of God; and in so doing, he
declares the way in which we receive life. He does not here deal with the
ultimate enjoyment of life which is our hope, but rather with the way men
attain life. If we are to understand this statement rightly, we must first
realize that unless God, who alone is life, illumine us, we are all dead.
Where, therefore, he has shone, we possess him by faith; and at the same time
enter into the possession of life. This is why the knowledge of him is truly
and properly said to be saving. Almost every word of Christ in this place is
weighty. We are not concerned here with just any kind of knowledge of God, but
with the knowledge which transforms us into the image of God, and the beginning
and the end of it is faith; rather it is the same as that faith by which,
ingrafted into the body of Christ, we are made to partake of the divine
adoption and are made heirs of heaven.
And Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily I say unto
By this statement, he means, "So long as you lack what is first in God's
Kingdom, it does not impress me that you call me Master. For the first step
into the Kingdom of God is that you become a new man." This sentence is so
weighty that we must look into each part of it separately. To see the Kingdom
of God is to enter it, as we shall soon see from the context. But those who
identify the Kingdom of God with heaven are mistaken; the Kingdom means rather
the spiritual life, which begins in this life by faith, and in which we grow
daily as we progress in a constant faith. This statement means that no one
truly belongs to the church and is counted among God's children, unless he
first becomes a new man. This verse shows briefly how one begins the Christian
life. It also teaches us that we are born exiles and complete strangers to the
Kingdom of God and that we are perpetually at war with it, until he makes us
other than we are by a new birth. This verse therefore applies universally to
the whole human race. If Christ had said to one man or to a few that they could
not enter heaven except by being born again, we might imagine that he referred
only to certain people. But this is not the case. He was speaking of all men,
without excepting any. The wording conveys no impression of limitation. It is a
universal statement which means that all those who are not born again, cannot
enter the Kingdom of God.
Moreover, being born again means not the improvement of a part but the renewal
of the whole of one's nature. It follows that there is nothing in us that is
not corrupted. If we must be renewed part and whole, it follows that this
corruption is spread throughout our being. Of this we shall soon speak more
fully. Erasmus, following Cyril's[77] opinion,
has translated the adverb
For I desired mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than
burnt offerings. Hos. 6:6.
This passage is especially important because it was cited twice by the Son of
God (Matt. 9:13 and 12:17). . . . For a better understanding of the prophet's
meaning, we must first notice that under the terms sacrifice and
burnt offerings the outward worship of God and all formal ceremonies are
included. The part is put for the whole (synecdoche). The same is true of the
word chesed, mercy or kindness. There is no doubt that the
prophet is setting faith or devotion to God and love of neighbor in opposition
to all external ceremonies.
I desire mercy (or "compassion pleases me") more than sacrifice, and
the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. Here the knowledge of God
is certainly to be understood as faith or devotion to God. Since hypocrites
think that they worship God properly when they use many rites, both clauses
must be read together. It is faith with kindness that pleases God. Faith by
itself cannot please him, since without love of neighbor there is no faith. And
kindness alone would not be enough. If a man refrains from doing injury to
others and does not harm his brothers, but is blasphemous and despises God,
certainly his humanitarianism would be of no account.
So we see that these two clauses cannot be divided, for to give the right sense
to the prophet's words love of God must be joined with love of neighbor. . .
.
Further, it is important to notice that faith is called knowledge of God. This
makes it clear that faith is not some cold and empty formula. When God's will
is revealed to us and we so far accept it that we can honor and serve him as
Father -- that is faith. The knowledge of God is a necessity of faith.
Then spoke Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he
that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of
life. John 8:12.
It is a most beautiful praise of Christ that he is called the light of the
world. With this statement, we who are by nature blind are offered a remedy, by
which we are snatched and freed from darkness and made to share in the true
light. This blessing is not offered to this or that individual only; Christ
declares himself the light of the whole world. By this universal
But first we must inquire as to why it is needful to seek after this light. Men
will not turn to Christ for light until they know this world as darkness and
themselves so profoundly blind. Let us know, therefore, that when our minds see
the way we obtain this light in Christ, we are all condemned as blind, and
whatever light we have from elsewhere is judged as darkness and a deep night.
Christ here refers not to what he has in common with others, but to that which
is his own and his alone. Whence it follows that apart from him there is not a
spark of true light. Every other brilliance is like lightning which merely
dazzles the eye.
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Gen. 1:1.
In the beginning. To interpret the beginning as meaning Christ is
too frivolous. Moses meant simply to say that the world at its beginning was
not the finished product we see today, but was created an empty chaos of sky
and earth. . . .
By the word create, he shows that something was made which did not
before exist. For he does not use the verb yatsar which means shape or
form, but bara'. What he means is that the world was created from
nothing.
This refutes the futility of those who imagine that formless matter was always
in existence and who get nothing more from Moses' statement than that the world
was fitted with a new look, clothed with form which it had previously lacked.
This is the general opinion of unbelievers to whom only an obscure report of
God's truth has come. Men usually mix God's truth with alien inventions. But it
is absurd and most intolerable that Christians should labor to adopt this
stinking error (as Steuchus[78] does).
Therefore, the first article of the creed is: The world is not eternal, but was
created by God. . . .
God. The word Elohim, which Moses uses, is plural, and it is customary to
conclude that here the three Persons in the Godhead are specified. But this
does not seem a solid proof for so great a truth, and I do not agree with it.
Rather readers should be warned to be on their guard against false glosses of
this kind.
They think that here they have evidence to prove against the Arians[79] the divinity of the Son and Spirit. But
meanwhile they involve themselves in Sabellianism.[80] For immediately afterwards Moses adds that God
(Elohim) spoke, and that the Spirit of God brooded upon the waters. If
you would see three Persons [in this verse, you will not succeed, because] you
will find here no distinction between them. . . .
It seems to me sufficient to understand the plural as expressing the powers of
God which he exercised in creating the world. I recognize that although the
Scripture often recounts many divine powers, it always calls us back to the
Father, his Word, and the Spirit. But those who twist what Moses is saying of
God himself into a reference to the three Persons are presenting us with
absurdities. I set it down as indisputable from the context that this passage
names God and includes by implication the power of his eternal essence.
. Jesus Christ; III. Jesus Christ
76The phrase <foreign lang="gkc">kat) e)joxhn</greek>
occurs in the New Testament only once, Acts 25:23, but the sense agrees with
the emphasis in Eph., ch. 1. This is one example among many to prove that
Calvin relied largely on his prodigious memory to provide him with the material
needed for his Commentaries. The mistake here illustrates both the
extraordinary range of his memory and its occasional fallibility.
[77]Cyril of Jerusalem (ca. 315-386) tried
vainly to keep to a middle way in the Arian controversy. After a career of
conflicts, of exile and return, he enjoyed four years of peace until his death.
He is most famous for his Catechetical Lectures to the Illumined (The
Library of Christian Classics, The Westminster Press, Vol. IV). See Lecture II,
4 f.
[78]Augustinus Steuchus or Agostino Steucho
(1496-1549) was an influential Roman churchman and director of the Vatican
Library. He was a philosopher and a scholar. He wrote De perennia
philosophia and many works on Biblical antiquities and literary exegesis.
[79]Arius of Alexandria in the fourth century
denied that the Son was of the same essence as the Father. He made of Christ a
divine being of secondary rank. The term "Arian" was later used loosely to
include Unitarians who asserted that Jesus was man only.
[80]The Sabellians declared that Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit represent aspects or functions of God. They thus denied the
three Persons of the Trinity and consequently the reality of the humanity of
Jesus. Both Arianism and Sabellianism are recurrent under various labels in
Western Christianity.
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