Golden Book Mature Christian

Calvin’s Little Book, Week #5

Here we will begin this week’s session on D&P p. 28, beginning with “In another place…” which was identified by Calvin as Sec. 3.

Key Verses from the Bible

The Biblical texts that are cited in D&P Sec.s 3 and 4 are attached below, together with the key texts from Ch 1, and Ch 2, Sec.s 1 and2:

Image of God

As discussed below, we continue to update the separate page on the “Image” / “Imitation” of God, located here:

Titus 2:11-14

Given below is the text Calvin uses to begin this section, Titus 2:11-14 (shown here in the ESV) below:

11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

Titus 2:11-14 (ESV)

Calvin makes reference of two “obstacles” to our expressing the model of the Christian life, that being the image of God: (1) “our natural inclination toward ungodliness,” and (2) our “worldly desires that see to ensure us all the more.”

Ungodliness

Calvin here uses two key words translated by D&P as “superstition” and “contends” with respect to our natural response against godliness.

Superstition

Calvin’s Latin original has indeed the word superstition, specifically: “superstitiones.” Clearly our English word is a transliteration of such Latin original; however, it does not mean in English what it meant in Latin at the time of Calvin. So let’s dig a little with Calvin on this.

The Latin word comes from its root of “superstare,” made up from two further roots “super” and “stare,” both of which look familiar to our English reading eyes but, alas, these roots mean something different than we expect, and the difference is important. “Super” in Latin means “over” in the sense of “on top of” or “above.” So this is close to how we use the term in cases like “Superman,” but not in the sense of “superior” or something really great as in high value. “Stare” in Latin means “to stand,” deriving almost directly from the ancient language word (Proto Indo-European PIE) root. So “superstition” at the time of Calvin’s writing was holding to (standing on) a position (perspective, worldview) superior (over) “the fear of God.” Such “superstition” is fundamentally in opposition to any such fear of God, or “fear of the Lord” which phrase occurs 28 times in the NKJV, in addition to “fear of God” occurring 10 times.

So, we have two big ideas that stand in opposition: “superstition” and “fear of” God or the Lord. Which one is primary? And, so what? From the above deeper dive on “superstition” we should be able to recognize that as Calvin used the term it is about a person’s claim of personal sovereignty above the alternative which is a person’s utter humility, “fear,” confronted by the realization of a Holy, Sovereign, Creator-God and my rebellion by nature and will in violation of my Creator’s Will, and to Whom I am presently and eternally accountable. Calvin is observing, what the Scriptures clearly teach in many places, that all us, by nature, choose self-sovereignty under which God is (by our deranged judgment) in subjection to us. To cohere such an perverted view (and it is literally “perverted” as the word means to “turn away”) requires all manner of mental gymnastics and fabrication such as: “this is how I feel about X, and since God made me, and God is basically love love love, what I feel must be morally right and even praiseworthy in God’s eyes,” or “if God even exists, He, or She, or It, relinquished any rightful claim on me, as I am a sovereign after all, so if it feels right to me, it is right for me, and it is not the business of anyone else, even God…if there is such a thing…and even if there is, such a thing then on Judgment Day I will tell God exactly this and God will have to agree with me.” “Superstition” as Calvin uses the term, is about me ruling the universe of God’s Creation by whatever powers and opinions I may have about whatever I am thinking or feeling.

Contends

The second word translated by D&P on p. 28 is “contends,” as “anything that contends seriously with the fear of God.” This word “contends” translates Calvin’s Latin “pugnat.” As one can almost guess, “pugnat” comes from the Latin root that means “to fight” particularly by hand to hand combat. (We do get the English word “pugilist” which means a person who fights with their fists, i.e. a boxer, and comes from a PIE root that means “five” as in reference to five digits of the hand). So the image being conveyed by Calvin, which again captures the essence of many places in Scripture, of all of us actively fighting even down to our last ‘weapon,’ our fists, against God, something like the raised fist of a political or social protestor or the expression of road rage against another driver. It captures that propitious night on the boundary of the Promised Land, when Jacob was returning from a 14-year exile and meeting up with his brother Esau who he had cheated and fled. We learn from Scripture that on that last night, an angel of the Lord appeared to Jacob, in a parallel situation to his 14-year earlier experience of “Jacob’s Ladder” when he was leaving the Promised Land in flight. That appearance and direct apprehension of a pre-incarnate Christ was not a lovely fireside chat, as part of a “welcome home” from God Himself. On the contrary, it was an all night warfare whereby Jacob fought against God, as was his nature from birth, and ours too. At the morning, God did two things: He permanently disabled Jacob’s hip creating a lifelong limp as a sign, and, as another sign, He gave Jacob a new name: Israel, which means one who contends with God (“-el”). It is interesting that when the nation of Jacob’s descendants was ‘re-born’ in the Promised Land in May 1948, their first President (David Ben-Gurion) chose the name “Israel” for that nation we know by that name today; until the Tribulation when many then will become Messianic Jews, that nation continues to contend against their Messiah.

Self-Denial

So, putting “contends” with “superstition” we get the essence of a very important realization: we, by nature, put ourself above God as self-sovereign and from such position engage in direct combat with God about everything: God’s justice (the doctrine of Theodicy), God’s (rightful) claim to Sovereignty, His judgment on our thoughts and acts of sin by our nature and choice, the inadequacy of His provision and even what we may perceived is His proper / unjust management of the universe.

This total inversion of rightful perspective brings us all face-to-face with what must be our proper response, namely: self-denial. This has been recognized by believers as the most-difficult and most-necessary of first steps, again derived from ‘digging’ into the Scriptures. A more elegant term, and the basis of much ancient writing, is self-abnegation, often just “abnegation.”

Hence, in Calvin’s Little Book, he immediately follows his opening chapter of “the call” (summarized previously by the five-finger charts presented in Week #3), by two chapters on self-denial, Ch 2 and 3, subsequently comprising the major portion of the Little Book. No work is more difficult, nor does it ever end (in this life). Hence, Jacob, now Israel, had his “cross” to bear which would bless him as an ever present reminder of the price of life in the Promised Land, and God’s Sovereign control of same.

Greek Annotated Interlinear of Titus 2:11-14

A pdf personally annotated for deeper thinking about this important text used by Calvin is given below:

Our studies in Week #6 are here:

Calvin’s Little Book Week #4

Calvin Chapter 2, Sec.s 1-2: Self-Denial

In Calvin’s archaeology, what follows The Call of Chapter 1 is “self-denial.” In the below text we will examine the first two sections of Chapter 2. In the D&P translation, Sec. 1 begins on p. 21, and Sec. 2 on p. 24 extending to the bottom of p. 27. So we will cover pp 21-27 of Chapter 2.

Significance of Self-Denial

Why is self-denial so essential, or essential at all, to our response to The Call? In short, the vandalized fallen man within us has not been eradicated, nor will he be entirely in this life. Calvin makes that point explicitly in the closing sentence of Ch 1. So we have within us a force of no legitimate power but, apparently, still enabled deceptive force, that must be set aside, as part of our day-to-day walk.

There is a further key point, namely: that to be the “image” / “imitator” of God it cannot be the old, fallen life, now doomed to death, and who is utterly incapable of doing so; it must be the regenerated life of God which, in some way can be obscured by the activity of the vandalized old one. Perhaps this metaphor helps. Consider a painting being constructed on a huge wall. It is incomplete both as to content but also as to time in that it is expressing a storyline in time along with an in-depth perspective of a state of being along the way of time. But some evil actor has an array of huge panels of his own ‘art’ that he seeks to slide in front of the wall painting as an obscurant. Some of these panels obscure only parts of the wall, some obscure all of the wall but they are semi-translucent so they create two images, the fuzzy panel and the painted wall behind it. Self-denial is about making such obscuring panel translucent, literally translucent so that what is visible is the wall with the Artist’s work, so far as it has been done. Further, the wall painting of the Artist is not a solitary thing. The wall is infinite in scope that portrays God’s work everywhere in space-time and outside of space-time throughout all of God’s Creation, not just the “me,” though in some way and place, the “me” is only the tiniest part of that infinite painting, but is in some way relevant to God’s revelation. And so, de-obscuration is an important part of the response to The Call.

The Image of God

As linked in previous week’s studies, we have been considering the scope of what the “image” of God should be understood to be. The enumerated section at the end of the attached is here:

Key Verses Cited in these Sections of Ch 2

A passage list of the key verses covered in previous weeks and the verses cited in Chapter 2, Sec.s 1-2 to be reviewed this week is given below:

Romans 12 Renewing Your Mind

An interlinear of the important opening verses of Romans 12 is shown below. Each word is shown by six rows:

  1. The top row is the ESV translation of the Koine Greek mss, in the so-called “reverse interlinear” format, meaning that the word order follows the ESV translation, not the word order of the Koine mss.
  2. The second row is the Koine “lemma” from which the ESV word shown has been translated. The “lemma” is the Koine uninflected form of the mss word, commonly known as the “dictionary form,” as one would look up the English word “running” by searching for “run” (the lemma of its inflected counterpart, running).
  3. The third row is the English transliteration of the Koine lemma, making the word more readily pronounceable by someone unfamiliar with the Greek alphabet.
  4. The fourth row is the “CODE” provide by Logos Bible Software that enables an understanding of what is, in the original mss, the morphology (form) the lemma shown, giving it’s role / purpose in the respective verse. So, for example, the ESV word “appeal” translates “parakaleo” (literally, called or standing alongside) which in the mss its form told a Koine reader that it was a verb (V), in the present tense (P), active voice (A), in the indicative mood (I), and first person singular (1S). A fuller explanation of such CODE is given elsewhere on this website and by Logos Software.
  5. The fifth line is the Strong’s G number (G because it is a Greek word). This can be used in a search engine like Google to obtain a full definition and a concordance of all the other occurrences of such word.
  6. The sixth and final line is the Louw Nida number (LN). LN is a special kind of Greek lexicon in which words that do a common job are grouped into families. Here, “parakaleo” is part of Group 33, and subgroup 168. Again, doing an internet search reveals that such grouping collects similar Greek words relating to asking for something, earnestly, with propriety.

Of particular note with respect to the above portrayal of Romans 12:1-2 are the two verbs in verse 2: [not to be] conformed and [but to be] transformed. From the CODE we see that both verbs have an “M” in the fourth letter position. This designates that the respective verb is in the imperative mood, that of a command / reasonable expectation. In contrast, the verb “appeal” discussed above from verse 1, which is in the indicative mood, the ordinary expression of a fact, or existing condition. So the contrast given for us is that Paul toward the Roman letter recipients, and us, is indeed standing alongside us with an appeal, which such appeal is for us to do two, related acts: be un-conformed [to this world] and transformed [by the renewal of the mind].

Further, these two commands are introduced by an important little Koine Greek word, kai, which the ESV translators elected to ignore, and connected by another Greek word alla commonly translated “but” as shown. The contrast conveyed by the word alla is straightforward, namely: the two commands of being that follow are opposites, on the one hand away from the world and on the other hand of, or in a sense toward, one’s mind. The word kai is commonly translated “and,” though it often (in my view) means “and” not in the sense of “plus” (as one would say peanut butter and jelly) but “and” in the sense of “unto.” In that sense, this makes better sense of the point of verse 2 following the last phrase of verse 1, namely that our spiritual worship is unto something, namely the twin imperative verbs shown above.

One other point, is the Koine word translated “world.” It is not the expected Koine word “kosmos” which commonly is translated “world,” or even the Koine word “gay” or “gayce” (for earth). Here it is the word “aion,” from which we get the English word “eon,” and more typically is translated “age” or “time” or even “era.” So the command not to be conformed is with reference to whatever is the spirit of the time and place in which God’s child finds himself.

Doctrine & Piety: Balance and Priority

A common Christian tension is between getting “doctrine” (Bible truths) well understood, to some point of maturity, though it is never a final, completed state, and, on the other hand, living uprightly in the eyes of God, commonly termed piety.

The obvious error is to claim one, or the other, doctrine or piety, as all that matters. However, obvious such error, it has been a regular form of error over the ages and in our own lives depending in part on our inclinations.

It may not be totally clear in Calvin’s Little Book the importance he gives to doctrine because, as discussed previously, the five chapters of such Little Book are taken from chapters 6 through 10 of his Book 3 of his 80-chapter Institutes (systematic theology). So, the Little Book is primarily about Christian Living, which one can think of as piety. But it comes after a significant overview of doctrine and continues after the final chapter from which the Little Book was taken out of Institutes Book 3. So Calvin indeed held to the view that doctrine was not optional, and, further, I think it fair to say that he understood doctrine at a fundamental level as primary, though not the end all (hence the Little Book itself).

An excellent lecture by Richard Reeves on the Puritans observes this same balance and order, as was clearly present at the time of the Reformation and the century after as reflected by numerous writings of the Puritans. His introductory lecture on the Puritans was part of a Ligonier program and is available here (and highly recommended). In a second lecture on the Puritans he introduces one notable individual, Richard Sibbes, and two of his books: Bruised Reed, and The Tender Heart (links shown to freely available texts). This second Richard Reeves lecture is available here and is also highly recommended.

A large collection of Sibbes’s inspirational observations is given here:

Our Week #5 studies are here:

Calvin’s Little Book Week #3

Reviewing the Five Key Words (Themes) from p. 3ff

As discussed in Weeks #1 & 2, Calvin introduces five key ideas that will be essential for us to put the whole book together:

  1. The Holiness of God
  2. A Model for living the Christian Life
  3. Life (Spiritual Life that we have by virtue of God’s Work of Regeneration)
  4. Image (that we are to be the image of God)
  5. The Philosophers

An Illustrative Graphic of the Five Key Words

Below are a series of graphics that are given as a potential aid in thinking about the significance and interaction of the above five key words.

Graphic 1: The Hand Where The Mind Meets the World

Shown below is the hand representing the expression of life, where the mind, the inner being (soul), encounters the world, expresses life. Each of the five key words is used to designate each digit of one’s hand. The digit known as the thumb (which we’ll also term a finger) represents the “Holiness of God” which Calvin refers to by his word “righteousness.” Calvin’s claim, from the very first sentence of the Little Book is that God has called us to a life in agreement with His “righteousness.” I understand that to mean something much deeper than merely than God’s character is without unrighteousness, that is He is absent any flaw or even sin, hence the use below of the “Holiness of God,” as discussed in Week #2.

The index finger is used to represent Calvin’s idea of a “model” for the mature Christian life. As described in previous weeks by “model,” Calvin means a framework, an always-oriented heading, even one’s fundamental purpose of being. The Latin word from which we get “index” (indicare) means a discloser or discoverer, which is appropriate for a life-model. As will be discussed, such model is discovery not (self-) design. (When we get to Ch 5, the D&P translation will express the idea of a “model” as a “rule” of life).

The middle and ring finders are as shown “life” and “image” where life in D&P was expressed as “God’s work” translating Calvin’s Latin word for “regeneration,” and “image” is the key word “imitators” of Ephesians 5:1 cited by Calvin as what one’s life should reflect. The most important reality of a Christian’s life is that he or she has God’s very “life” itself, regenerated from one’s fallen condition of death. Such is the work of God, not of ourselves. “Image” captures better the idea than “imitators” which tends to convey the idea of fakery. The idea of “image” is that we reflect God in some way into space-time, genuinely but not as to His unique God-attributes such as omniscience and omnipotence. “Image” goes back to the very beginning of God’s Creation pre-Fall in Genesis 1:25-26 wherein man was made in such form, and the Great Vandal of Genesis Ch 3 drew Eve, then Adam, away toward the lure of their own self image by the great lie…”you shall be as gods” (Gen. 3).

Finally, the pinky finger represents Calvin’s repeated reference to “philosophers.” Calvin’s century (the 16th) was rife and riddled during a period of time referred to by historians as “the Renaissance” (ca. 1350 – 1700). Among the many features of such period was the rebirth of interest and passions of ancient Greek philosophy and ethics (Aristotle, the Stoics, etc.) and other historic texts. So Calvin lived between two worlds: the strong, centralized Roman Catholic religious and political system on the one hand, and the “philosophers” make independent claims of ultimate reality and meaning of life, metaphorically surrounded as it were by both the forces of Rome and Athens.

Graphic 2: The Life of the Hand of Life Comes from Outside the Hand

Graphic 1 above would be inoffensive in almost every part of our present culture, primarily because it suggests that the hand is merely the agent of self-determined, self-measured life which, may, as it chooses, take note of various deeper realities as shown by the identification on the digits. That graphic suggests that the pen writes one’s own story, as in the song “I did it [or am doing it] my way” or Walt Whitman’s famous poem, “Song of Myself,” either of which could be the theme song of our culture. But Graphic 1 is not the picture given to us by the Scriptures, nor by Calvin.

Below, in Graphic 2, shows passages of Scripture from the Upper Room Discourse where the Lord is in communion with His Apostles, that give advance notice that His physical absence will be transitioned to the inner being of our regenerated life through the ministry of “The Helper” (also translated “Comforter” or “Advocate”), clearly referencing the Holy Spirit God (not a force, but a Being of the Trinity).

Graphic 3: Using “TULIP” as a Summary of the Five Key Words

As shown below, we can remember this imagery by the use of TULIP, though a different form and context than the well-known TULIP derived from the answers from the Council of Dort (1620) to the false claims (so called “remonstrances”) of the followers of Jacob Arminius (1609).

Graphic 4: The Call of the Philosophers is Always with Us

Scriptures give us many examples of “philosophers’ giving messages opposite to the revelation of God. (Recall that “philosopher” does not mean “professor” or some ivory tower type, but, literally from the meaning of the word, a lover of wisdom, and in the context of Calvin’s Little Book a form of ‘wisdom’ that is independent of, and actually contrary to, the Wisdom of God).

Walk in the Spirit

A common word used in the New Testament to describe our life is “walk,” and a particular form of “walk” as in “walk around” or more literally “a circumscribed walk,” that is a looping walk whereby one returns after some journey of a day back to home. The word so translated is shown below in the Epistle to the Ephesians:

Image of God

What is the pen (shown in the graphic above) writing and who is doing the writing? The “who” is easiest to answer though complex to experience, namely: it is God Who is at work in us both to will and to do, though it seldom feels that way, and in practical terms is primarily obscured by “us” and our agendas of life. The “what” is even more difficult to discern. We like to think that such is our prosperity, flourishing, including health, wealth, happiness, etc.. But God is painting a much bigger picture that has a deeper version of flourishing in mind.

Our thoughts on being the “image” of God, the picture being portrayed, is here:

Verses Cited by Calvin in Chapter 1, Sec. 1-2

The below chart includes the verse cited by Calvin in the Beveridge translation (1845) and in the D&P translation we have been following:

Verses from Calvin Ch 1, Sec 3

Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones (MLJ)

Martyn Lloyd Jones (MLJ) taught the Epistle to the Romans over a period of some 13 years, ending in 1968, at the church in London where he was senior minister. There are many wonderful messages, all available at no cost at the website established to preserve such teaching. Of particular relevance here is his message on the consequences of sin from Romans Ch 7 as to making us utterly powerless not only to self-save (as to regeneration) but also as to self-sanctification. A link to that message is here:

Week #4 of our study resources for Calvin’s Little Book is available here: