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Holiness:
…that all things were ordained for the use of man, that he, being
under deeper obligation, might devote and dedicate himself
entirely to obedience towards God.
If nothing less, the above should amplify the crucial role
trust and obedience play in a life that would glorify God. Too
often misunderstood, Calvin‘s stress on God‘s Sovereignty and
predestination was not an abdication of holiness but its necessary
foundation. Emphasis on grace was not a way of getting around
obedience, but the action of God‘ to conform us to his will. Only as
man lifts his gaze up to Christ does man finds his proper
orientation and place before God. In turn, as we focus on Christ
and his sovereignty we find comfort and rest for our souls. What
Calvin saw in his day and we need to recognize in our own is that
holiness and trust in God‘s sovereignty are flip sides of the same
coin. Trust and obedience in the Word of God flows from a life
resting in God‘s ultimate sovereignty and it is out of that rest and
trust that we glorify God by reflecting his holiness.
Engaging the Mind by Applying the Word
…that he was endued with understanding and reason, that
being distinguished from brute animals he might meditate on a
better life, and might even tend directly towards God, whose image
he bore engraved on his own person.
Calvin‘s Reforming work emphasized the importance of the
Word of God to true reason and wisdom. Unlike Catholicism,
Lutheranism, and even Anabaptism, Calvinism has been uneasy
with any dichotomy that would too sharply partition rationality into
sacred and secular realms. It is no surprise that it was Karl Barth
and Reinhold Niebuhr, two Reformed theologians who shattered
the naïve secularism of Protestant Liberalism by appeal to the
command of God and the truth of God. Their powerful influence
both in the church and society derived largely from their showing
the relevance of revelation to the modern age. Like them, we must