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69
The law of God is written on every human heart, he
continues. It is our conscience, or
the witness within of what we owe God; it sets before us
good and evil, thus accusing and condemning us, conscious
as we are within ourselves that we have not discharged our
duty, as was fitting. Yet man is swollen with arrogance and
ambition and blinded by self-love. Consequently, he is
unable to see himself and, as it were, to descend into himself,
and confess his misery. Seeing our condition, the Lord has
provided us with a written law to teach us what perfect
righteousness is and how it is to be kept. 75
The written law of God clarifies and reinforces the obedience that
we sinners owe God. It also makes clear how incapable we are of
rendering God this obedience. Here already Calvin calls the
written law ―a mirror‖ in which we see ourselves, knowing
ourselves as religiously and morally scarred and blemished. In this
condition, we also know that we are totally dependent on the love
of our Heavenly Father and Creator shown to us in the sending of
his Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Calvin briefly sketches the
saving work of Christ in all its major dimensions. If we embrace
Christ in true faith, we share in his saving benefits. If we do not,
we remain in ruin, confusion, and under judgment.
At this point Calvin launches into an extended exposition of
the decalogue. The first four commandments, or the first table, is
given to ―instruct us in what we owe God,‖ the last six, or the
second table, to ―explain love and the duties of love to be
practiced, for God‘s sake, toward our neighbor.‖ 76 Calvin‘s
emphasis here is on the written law as disclosing our inadequacy to
meet God‘s expectations. Calvin‘s exposition of each
commandment indicates both what is forbidden and what is
75 John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion—1536 Edition, translated and
annotated by Ford Lewis Battles, Grand Rapids: The H.H. Meeter Center for
Calvin Studies and William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1986, pp.16-17.
76 Ibid. pp.18-19.