Blogging The Institutes

Romans 14:14 is an initially perplexing but important verse. First, no external things are unclean/unholy in and of themselves. Second, if your conscience (even incorrectly) deems something unclean/unholy, then to violate one's conscience is a sin. Therefore, even if we have weak or ill-informed...

Calvin regards the doctrine of Christian liberty as a teaching of primary importance. Without a proper understanding of it, we cannot truly know Christ, the truth of the gospel, or peace within. But people have strong, strange reactions to this teaching, thinking that it is a license to sin or that...

Calvin continues to address objections to the doctrine of justification by faith alone. I want to focus on two points of interest in Calvin's teaching here: first, the relationship between God's promises and his righteousness; second, Jesus' answer to the rich young ruler. God's promises are...

If we are justified by faith alone apart from works, how are we to understand the Scriptural (including Pauline) teaching that we are judged and rewarded according to deeds? It's important to note at the outset that Calvin believes (rightly in my view) that these passages are referring to eternal...

As Rick noted at the close of last week, it is amazing how relevant Calvin's arguments remain today. Unfortunately, the same errors that he addressed continue in our time. Hence we may profitably learn from Calvin as we seek to contend for the apostolic faith. Calvin addresses the perplexing issue...

Happy birthday, John Calvin! It is my privilege to post the Institutes blog on this glad occasion, giving thanks to God for the enduring legacy of this great Christian. As I have noted before, Calvin's greatness is seen in part by his enduring relevance. We see this as he continues to pound away on...

In these sections, Calvin is clearly wearied by the ceaseless attacks on justification through faith alone, although he manly perseveres: "come, let us keep beating them back!" he exhorts. In his responses, we encounter a series of classic and very helpful statements of what the Reformed position...

My how time flies, we like to say. But, reading Calvin, we realize that while time flies, challenges to the gospel seldom change. Chapter 16 of Book 3 takes up challenges and accusations to the doctrine of justification through faith alone. These arguments never seem to die (in part because they...

Reading Calvin is always instructive not merely for what he says about the topic at hand, but also for the way he approaches the discussion. In his rebukes against those who say that works give us merit before God, Calvin explores their misuse of Scripture, seeing the errors of his own day as a...

During recent debates over justification, it has occasionally been said that a tendency to works righteousness is merely a local problem. It was Luther's problem, and probably Augustine's too, and unfortunately the Reformation has assumed that it is everyone's problem and that our doctrine of...