Tag: John Calvin
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Disinfecting Ourselves of Spiritual Malware
In his masterful work, Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin observed: “Man’s nature, so to speak, is a perpetual factory of idols.” That may seem to be a peculiar notion. Some will, no doubt, simply chalk it up to “O, that Calvin guy had a lot of strange ideas”. Some, being a bit more…
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The Original Missional Calvinist
John Calvin often gets a bad rap. But David Mathis offers us another perspective. In the Introduction to a book he co-edited with John Piper, With Calvin in the Theater of God, Mathis writes: “Calvin so believed in the importance of the everyday activities of Christian life and mission that he had a strange but…
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A Right Definition of Faith
How shall we distinguish a healthy faith from one that is built on more shaky ground? Consider this insight from John Calvin: “Now we shall possess a right definition of faith if we call it a firm and certain knowledge of God’s benevolence toward us, founded upon the truth of the freely given promise in…
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Idol Factory
John Calvin said: “The human heart is a factory of idols… Every one of us is, from his mother’s womb, expert in inventing idols.” This truth is difficult to convey. Few people think of themselves as idolators. And when I as a pastor, or a friend, suggest to people that they – like me –…
