By faith believers are reconciled to God and sanctified by the Spirit. In this section Calvin introduces his discussion on justification, explaining again the organisation of his third book. According to Calvin, justification is the principal ground on which religion must be supported. It is the foundation of our salvation from which flows a believers holiness.

This is part of my series on Calvin’s Institutes.

Quote

I trust I have now sufficiently shown how man’s only resource for escaping from the curse of the law, and recovering salvation, lies in faith; and also what the nature of faith is, what the benefits which it confers, and the fruits which it produces.

The whole may be thus summed up: Christ given to us by the kindness of God is apprehended and possessed by faith, by means of which we obtain in particular a twofold benefit;

first, being reconciled by the righteousness of Christ, God becomes, instead of a judge, an indulgent Father; and,

secondly, being sanctified by his Spirit, we aspire to integrity and purity of life.

This second benefit—viz. regeneration, appears to have been already sufficiently discussed. On the other hand, the subject of justification was discussed more cursorily, because it seemed of more consequence first to explain that the faith by which alone, through the mercy of God, we obtain free justification, is not destitute of good works; and also to show the true nature of these good works on which this question partly turns.

The doctrine of Justification is now to be fully discussed, and discussed under the conviction, that as it is the principal ground on which religion must be supported, so it requires greater care and attention. For unless you understand first of all what your position is before God, and what the judgment which he passes upon you, you have no foundation on which your salvation can be laid, or on which piety towards God can be reared. The necessity of thoroughly understanding this subject will become more apparent as we proceed with it. (Calvin, Instit. 3.11.1)

Comment

Calvin again refers to his organisation of book three. He says Justification (reconciliation) and Sanctification (regeneration) are both inseparable benefits of faith. We can see from his organisation how comfortable he is with discussing sanctification before justification. If we were to impose some sort of order of salvation, Calvin would say both justification and sanctification happen at the same time.

Having now finished his discussion on regeneration he moves to justification. According to Calvin, justification is the principal ground on which religion must be supported. It is the foundation of our salvation from which flows a believers holiness.

Calvin thereby implies the doctrine of justification is primary and the centre of Paul’s thought. Does this match scripture. NT Wright for example says, justification cannot be at the centre, for Paul Jesus has already filled that place.

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