Sean Lucas

Even though Calvin’s principle that God’s good pleasure is the determining factor in human destiny seems well established in Romans 9-11 and the words of Jesus, he also dealt with…

Calvin moves to establish his argument that election is rooted in God’s sovereign determination and not in human merit by turning to Romans 9-11. There he finds in the case…

The second part of repentance for medieval theologians was confession. Calvin starts by dismantling the Roman practice of “auricular confession,” that is, the practice of annual confession of one’s sins…

After discussing what the biblical doctrine of repentance is, Calvin moves to show how medieval theologians failed to understand repentance correctly. He structures the section around the medieval division of…

Repentance is “a singular gift of God,” Calvin notes (3.3.21). Such makes the problem of apostasy, sham repentance, and continued hypocrisy explainable. Those who wander away from the faith, who…

3.3.19-20Calvin returns to the points with which he opened the chapter: how do repentance and forgiveness of sins relate? And how does repentance connect with faith? Behind these questions is…

Having unpacked the nature of repentance as a lifelong process of mortification of the flesh and vivification of the spirit, Calvin makes a distinction that would be important to his…

What makes grace gracious? For Calvin, behind all grace is God’s own decision: “The apostle does not teach that the grace of a good will is bestowed upon us if…

In this section, Calvin unpacks this statement: “God beings his good work in us, therefore, by arousing love and desire and zeal for righteousness in our hearts; or, to speak…