Calvin, Institutes
Class Notes
What is Calvin trying to accomplish?
- answering slander a/b his beliefs
- support those being persecuted
- create a Bible guide for the layman
- systematize doctrine (unlike Luther, who was polemical)
- maybe show that his doctrine is not so diff from established church (i.e. he's not starting a new religion)
Who is Calvin writing for?
- wrote epistle for king of France
- initially wrote in latin, translated to french (vernacular)
- both for leaders of people & for common otherwise ignorant people
What is Calvin saying in the sections we read?
- election (those God has chosen) vs. reprobation (those God has rejected)
- free will
- what if free will is ability to disobey God, not just the ability to make choices
- Calvin def believes in determinism
- but free will & determinism are not necessarily incompatible
- if I am predestined, why be good?
- we are elected for end of holiness
- culpable vs responsible
- Calvin: God is responsible for everything, but is not culpable for evil
Summary (of excerpt)
Calvin wrote to the King of France to explain his beliefs and plead his cause. Calvin had been slandered by his enemies and wished that the king would know the truth.
The two primary doctrines he argued in this passage were election and reprobation. He first explained the difference between foreknowledge and predestination, where God sees everything in time as though it were in the present, and also where God sets in motion every action he wishes man to do. Some men were created for eternal life (election), while others were created solely for destruction (reprobation). Calvin spent some significant time arguing that God is not unjust in planning out a man's evil and then punishing him for it. One of his main arguments was that since God is the all-powerful creator, it is not unjust for him to do as he pleases.