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One might expect that in following the pattern of Matthew 16:24,
Calvin would at this point launch into a long presentation of
Christian ethics. ―Follow me‖ needs to be detailed for daily life.
But Calvin turns to meditation on the future life! Is this
obedience?
He acknowledges that the present life is to be ―hated‖ only
insofar as it subjects believers to sin and its effects. Meanwhile we
are to remain here as sentries posted by God. We must be faithful
in this life, until in his wisdom and timing he calls us into the next.
Obedience here seems to mean longing for the next, better world,
while being patiently faithful in this world. ―How are we to use the
present world?‖ he asks in chapter ten. We can use what God
gives us in this life both for necessity and for enjoyment. But we
must do so avoiding the extremes of severe abstinence and
licentious indulgence. Defining obedient use of this life‘s gifts is
left to the conscience of the believer, guided by the principle of
using them for the intent or purpose for which the Creator gave
them. Food, for example, God ―meant not only to provide for
necessity but also for delight and good cheer.‖ 96 Moderation and
gratitude are the marks of obedient use of the gifts of the present
life for Calvin. They are, moreover, to be employed in the pursuit
of the calling God assigns each of his children.
In comparing the two editions of The Institutes—the earliest
and the latest—one asks what has happened to the decalogue in the
intervening years. Why has Calvin disengaged it from the
Christian life? The answer is that he has not. But Calvin has
moved consideration of the law into book two, the book on God the
Son and his mediatorial work. The law was given, he argues in
chapter seven of book two to foster the hope of salvation in Christ.
And today its ―third and principal use‖ 97 is for believers, to confirm
in their hearts by the work of the Spirit the nature of God‘s will.
But it is Christ who has kept the law, not the believer. So Calvin
gives his long exposition of the requirements for obedience in the
96 Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, p.720.
97 Ibid., p.360.