Our apologies but the recording was started about 5-7 minutes after the lesson began. 

Note: Calvin now begins to discuss topics of the Christian faith under the heading of “The Knowledge of God the Redeemer.”  “Book Two begins with the story of treachery – man’s rebellion against God and its wretched aftermath.” –J. Mark Beach

1. Chapter 1 – By the Fall and Revolt of Adam the Whole Human Race Was Delivered to the Curse, and Degenerated from Its Original Condition. The Doctrine of Original Sin.
   1. True Knowledge of Self Destroys Self-Assurance
      1. Knowledge of ourselves involves 2 aspects:  (1) what we were given at creation and how generously God continues His favor toward us, and (2) to call to mind our miserable condition after Adam’s fall; the awareness of which should truly humble us and overwhelm us with shame
      2.  “It is of importance to know that we were endued with reason and intelligence, in order that we might cultivate a holy and honorable life, and regard a blessed immortality as our destined aim. At the same time, it is impossible to think of our primeval dignity without being immediately reminded of the sad spectacle of our ignominy [humiliation/shame/disgrace] and corruption, ever since we fell from our original in the person of our first parent.”
      3. “Here, then, is what God’s truth requires us to seek in examining ourselves: it requires the kind of knowledge that will strip us of all confidence in our own ability, deprive us of all occasion for boasting, and lead us to submission.”
      4.  “While revealed truth concurs with the general consent of mankind in teaching that the second part of wisdom consists in self-knowledge, they differ greatly as to the method by which this knowledge is to be acquired. In the judgment of the flesh man deems his self-knowledge complete, when, with overweening confidence in his own intelligence and integrity, he takes courage, and spurs himself on to virtuous deeds, and when, declaring war upon vice, he uses his utmost endeavor to attain to the honorable and the fair. But he who tries himself by the standard of divine justice, finds nothing to inspire him with confidence; and hence, the more thorough his self-examination, the greater his despondency. Abandoning all dependence on himself, he feels that he is utterly incapable of duly regulating his conduct.”
      5.  “Under divine scrutiny we find nothing about which to boast.” –J. Mark Beach
   2. Adam’s Fall & Its Consequences
      1. A Monstrous Revolt
         1. “The prohibition to touch the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was a trial of obedience, that Adam, by observing it, might prove his willing submission to the command of God.”
         2. Adam deserted God’s Word and authority when he ignored God’s command regarding the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
         3.  “Assuredly, when the word of God is despised, all reverence for Him is gone. His majesty cannot be duly honored among us, nor his worship maintained in its integrity, unless we hang as it were upon his lips.”
      2. The Spread of Adam’s Sin to His Posterity
         1. “As Adam’s spiritual life would have consisted in remaining united and bound to his Maker, so estrangement from him was the death of his soul. Nor is it strange that he who perverted the whole order of nature in heaven and earth deteriorated his race by his revolt.”
         2. Romans 8:20-22 –  “ For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.”
         3. Romans 5:12 – “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned”
         4. “This is the hereditary corruption to which early Christian writers gave the name of Original Sin, meaning by the term the depravation of a nature formerly good and pure.”
         5. “All of us, therefore, descending from an impure seed, come into the world tainted with the contagion of sin.”
         6. Psalm 51:5 – “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.”
         7. “We thus see that the impurity of parents is transmitted to their children, so that all, without exception, are originally depraved.”
      3. Original Sin
         1. “Thus, from a corrupt root corrupt branches proceeding, transmit their corruption to the saplings which spring from them.”
         2. Definition: “Original sin, then, may be defined [as] a hereditary corruption and depravity of our nature, extending to all the parts of the soul, which first makes us obnoxious to the wrath of God, and then produces in us works which in Scripture are termed works of the flesh.”
         3. No part of us is exempt from sin. The whole human nature is affected by original sin.  This is what “Total Depravity” means. It’s not that we’re as bad as we possibly can be. It’s that no part of our nature is exempt from the corruption of original sin.
         4. Eph. 4:17-18 – “Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.”
         5. “The whole man, from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot, is so deluged, as it were, that no part remains exempt from sin, and, therefore, everything which proceeds from him is imputed as sin.”
         6. “Our nature is not only destitute and empty of good, but so fertile and fruitful of every evil that it cannot be idle.”
         7. “The blame of our ruin rests with our own carnality, not with God, its only cause being our degeneracy from our original condition.”
         8. “Since man, by the kindness of God, was made upright, but by his own infatuation fell away unto vanity, his destruction is obviously attributable only to himself” –Calvin quoting Athanasius
            

 

1. Chapter 14 – In the Creation of the World, and All Things In It, the True God Distinguished by Certain Marks from Fictitious Gods
   1. The creation of the world considered generally
      1. God gives us a history of creation to keep His people from falling away to vain imaginations.
         
      2. Why six days?  God is all-powerful and could have created everything in a moment.
         
   2. The subject of angels
      1. Although Moses does not discuss angels in the creation account, Scripture tells us that angels minister-to/serve God as their Creator.
      2. Angels are not eternal or self-existent. Only God is. So we need to be careful how we think about angels.
      3. Some bad theology has taught that (1) angels possess some sort of divinity or (2) the devil, as a fallen angel, is the creator of all things bad/evil.
      4. We should only go as far as Scripture goes when it comes to discussing angels. 
         
      5. Definition of “Angels”:  Angels are heavenly spirits, whose obedience and ministry God employs to execute all the purposes which He has decreed.
      6. When it comes to angels, Scripture particularly focuses on one thing: “angels are the ministers and dispensers of the divine bounty [beneficence/goodness/blessing] towards us.”
         
      7. What about “guardian angels”?
         
      8. Rather than worship angels, their ministry to us should testify to the nearness of God to us. Angels are not mediators through which we can commune with God.
      9. “We should remember that they are spirit-beings, having real existence. They are not mere phantoms or products of our minds.” –J. Mark Beach (summarizing Calvin)
   3. The subject of bad angels (devils)
      1. The purpose of Scripture in teaching us about demons is “to put us on our guard against their wiles and machinations, that we may provide ourselves with weapons strong enough to drive away the most formidable foes.”
      2. “Above all, fully conscious of our weakness and want [lack] of skill, let us invoke the help of God, and attempt nothing without trusting in Him, since it is His alone to supply counsel, and strength, and courage, and arms.”
      3. 1 Peter 5:8 – “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.  Resist him…”
      4. “We are taught that the number of enemies with whom we have to war is almost infinite, that we may not, from a contemptuous idea of the fewness of their numbers, be more remiss in the contest, or from imagining that an occasional truce is given us, indulge in sloth.”
      5. Satan is God’s adversary as much as ours and He attacks us to try to get at God.
      6. Calvin’s summary of demons: “They were when first created angels of God, but by degeneration they ruined themselves, and became the instruments of ruin for others.” (2 Peter 2:4, Jude 6, 1 Timothy 5:21)
      7. Lest we tremble, Calvin assures that Satan is impotent apart from God.
   4. The practical use of the history of the creation
      1. Creation calls us to faith in God.
      2. Creation is God’s “most beautiful theater” and we should “piously delight” in it
      3. Creation was created “out of nothing” and is upheld by God’s word.
      4. God displays His glorious perfections in Creation.
      5. God created all things for our good and salvation.
      6. Our reaction should be greater trust, praise, and love for God.
      7. “Let us study to love and serve Him with all our heart.”
         
2. Chapter 15 – Discussion of Human Nature as Created, of the Image of God, of Free Will, and of the Original Integrity of Man’s Nature
   1. Man considered before the Fall
      1. “A curb was laid on our pride from the outset” because God formed man from dust of the ground (Gen 2.7).
         
      2. God created man with a soul and a body, the immortal soul being the “nobler part.”
   2. Man’s soul is created immortal
      1. Scripture confirms the immortality of the soul: Job 4:19; 2 Cor. 5:4; 2 Pet. 1:13, 14; 2 Cor. 5:10; 7:1; 1 Pet. 2:25; 1:9; 2:11; Heb. 13:17; 2 Cor. 1:23; Matt. 10:28; Luke 12:5; Heb. 12:9; Luke 16:22; 2 Cor. 5:6, 8; Acts 23:8.
      2. The soul is a “thing”, that is, it has essence. It is not an energy or breath.
   3. The image of God (imago dei) is in man’s soul
      1. What consists of the “image of God”?
         1. Intelligence
         2. Affections
         3. Senses
         4. Understanding
      2. WCF 4.2: “After God had made all other creatures, He created man, male and female, with reasonable and immortal souls, endued with knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness, after His own image;”
      3. Colossians 3:10 – “and [we] have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.”
      4. Ephesians 4:24 – “and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”
      5. In the Fall, “the image of God was not utterly effaced [wiped out] and destroyed in him, it was, however, so corrupted, that anything which remains is fearful deformity.”
      6. In Christ, the image of God is being restored/renewed within us.
      7.  “God’s image is the perfect excellence of human nature which shone in Adam before his defection, but was subsequently so vitiated [spoiled] and almost blotted out that nothing remains after the ruin except what is confused, mutilated, and disease-ridden. Therefore in some part it now is manifest in the elect, in so far as they have been reborn in the Spirit; but it will attain its full splendor in heaven.”
   4. Refutations of errors concerning the nature of man’s soul
      1. Manicheans/Servetus:  The soul is a transmission of part of God’s substance/nature
      2. Osiander [Lutheran theologian]: The divine image consists of a transfusion of divine righteousness into man.
      3. “The renewal of the image in man is not a matter of participating in the divine substance, but in being transformed by the Holy Spirit.”  (see 2 Corinthians 3:18)
   5. The faculties of the soul
      1. 2 things: Understanding and Will
      2. Understanding helps us to distinguish good from evil, what we should do and not do.
      3. Will chooses and follows what the understanding pronounces as good.
      4. We must distinguish between 2 states of man
         1. Unfallen (man was able to sin or able not to sin)
         2. Fallen (man is unable not to sin)
      5. Before the Fall, man was excellently guided by the faculties of his soul and the image of God within him was perfect.
      6. Before the Fall, Adam possessed “free will” and if he had exercised his freedom rightly, he had the power to attain eternal life.
      7. These faculties have been marred by the Fall.
   6. Summation: “Man at his first creation, was very different from all his posterity; who, deriving their origin from him after he was corrupted, received a hereditary taint.”
      

77. It is said that even St. Peter, if he were now Pope, could not bestow greater graces; this is blasphemy against St. Peter and against the pope.
78. We say, on the contrary, that even the present pope, and any pope at all, has greater graces at his disposal; specifically, the Gospel, powers, gifts of healing, etc., as it is written in 1 Corinthians 12:28.
79. To say that the cross emblazoned with the papal arms, which is set up by the preachers of indulgences, is of equal worth with the Cross of Christ, is blasphemy.
80. The bishops, curates, and theologians who permit such assertions to be spread among the people will be held accountable for it.
81. This unbridled preaching of indulgences makes it difficult even for learned men to defend the respect due the pope from false accusations, or even from the astute criticisms of the laity;
82. For example: -- "Why does not the pope empty purgatory, for the sake of holy love and of the dire need of the souls that are there, if he can redeem an infinite number of souls for the sake of miserable money with which to build a Church? The former reasons would be most just; the latter is most trivial."
83. Again: -- "Why do funeral and anniversary masses for the dead continue to be said? Why does the pope not return or permit the repayment of the endowments founded on their behalf, since it is wrong to pray for those now redeemed?"
84. Again: -- "What is this new piety of God and the pope, that for money they allow an impious man who is their enemy to buy out of purgatory the devout soul of a friend of God, when they do not allow that pious and beloved soul to be redeemed without payment for pure love's sake or because of its need of redemption?"
85. Again: -- "Why are the penitential canon laws, which in actual fact and practice are long obsolete and dead, now satisfied by the granting of indulgences, as though they were still alive and in effect?"
86. Again: -- "Why does not the pope, whose wealth is today greater than the wealthiest of the wealthy, build just this one church of St. Peter with his own money, rather than with the money of poor believers?"
87. Again: -- "What does the pope remit [give] or grant to those who by perfect contrition already have a right to full remission and blessings?”
88. Again: -- "What greater blessing could come to the Church than if the pope were to do a hundred times a day what he now does only once, and bestow on every believer these remissions and participations?"
89. "Since the pope seeks the salvation of souls rather than money by his indulgences, why does he suspend the indulgences and pardons granted before now, since these have equal efficacy?"
90. To repress these arguments and scruples of the laity by force alone, and not to resolve them by giving reasons, is to expose the Church and the pope to the ridicule of their enemies, and to make Christians unhappy.
91. If, therefore, pardons were preached according to the spirit and mind of the pope, all these doubts would be readily resolved; indeed, they would cease to exist.
92. Away, then, with all those prophets who say to the people of Christ, "Peace, peace," where there is no peace!
93. Blessed be all those prophets who say to the people of Christ, "the cross, the cross," where there is no cross!
94. Christians are to be exhorted that they be diligent in following Christ, their Head, through penalties, deaths, and hell;
95. And thus be confident of entering into heaven rather through many tribulations, than through the assurance of peace.

53. They are enemies of Christ and of the pope, who forbid altogether the preaching of the Word of God, in order that indulgences may be preached in others.
54. Injury is done the word of God when, in the same sermon, an equal or a longer time is spent on indulgences than on this word.
55. It must be the intention of the pope that if indulgences, which are a very small thing, are celebrated with one bell, with single processions and ceremonies, then the Gospel, which is the very greatest thing, should be preached with a hundred bells, a hundred processions, a hundred ceremonies.
56. The "treasures of the Church," out of which the pope grants indulgences, are not sufficiently discussed or known among Christians.
57. That indulgences are not temporal treasures is certainly clear, for many of the indulgence sellers do not grant such treasures freely, but only collect them.
58. Nor are they the merits of Christ and the Saints, for even without the pope, these always work grace for the inner man, and the cross, death, and hell for the outward man.
59. St. Lawrence said that the treasures of the Church were the Church's poor, but he used the term in accordance with the custom of his own time.
60. Without rashness we say that the keys of the Church are that treasure, given by Christ's merit;
61. For it is clear that the power of the pope is of itself sufficient for the remission of penalties and cases reserved by himself.
62. The true treasure of the Church is the Most Holy Gospel of the glory and the grace of God.
63. But this treasure is naturally most odious, for it makes the first to be last.
64. On the other hand, the treasure of indulgences is naturally most acceptable, for it makes the last to be first.
65. Therefore the treasures of the Gospel are nets with which they formerly desired to fish for men of wealth.
66. Now, the treasures of the indulgences are nets with which they fish for the wealth of men.
67. The indulgences which the preachers cry as the "greatest graces" are in fact truly such only when they promote financial gain.
68. Yet they are in truth the very smallest graces compared with the grace of God and the piety of the Cross.
69. Bishops and curates [assistants] are bound to receive the commissaries [deputies] of papal indulgences, with all reverence.
70. But they are under greater obligation to watch closely and listen carefully lest these men preach their own imaginings instead of the commission of the pope.
71. He who speaks against the truth concerning papal indulgences, let him be anathema and accursed!
72. But he who guards against the lust and license of the indulgence-preachers, let him be blessed!
73. Just as the pope justly thunders against those who, by any means, contrive harm to the sale of indulgences.
74. But much more does he intend to thunder against those who use indulgences as a pretext to contrive harm to holy love and truth.
75. It is folly to think that the papal indulgences are so powerful that they could absolve a man even if he had committed an impossible sin and violated the Mother of God.
76. We say, on the contrary, that the papal pardons are not able to remove the very least of venial sins, so far as its guilt is concerned.

30. No one is sure that his own contrition is sincere; much less that he has attained full remission.
31. The man who sincerely buys indulgences is as rare as the man that is truly penitent; that is, such men are most rare.
32. They will be condemned eternally, together with their teachers, who believe themselves sure of their salvation because they have letters of pardon.
33. Men must be on their guard against those who say that the pope's pardons are that inestimable gift of God by which man is reconciled to Him;
34. For these "graces of pardon" concern only the penalties of sacramental satisfaction, and these are appointed by man.
35. It is not according to Christian doctrine to preach and teach that contrition is not necessary for those who intend to buy souls out of purgatory or to buy confessional licenses.
36. Every truly repentant Christian has a right to full remission of penalty and guilt, even without letters of pardon.
37. Every true Christian, whether living or dead, has part in all the blessings of Christ and the Church; and this is granted him by God, even without letters of pardon.
38. Nevertheless, the remission and participation [in the blessings of the Church] which are granted by the pope are in no way to be despised, for as I have said, they are the declaration of divine remission.
39. It is most difficult, even for the very best theologians, to commend to the people the abundance of indulgences while at the same time encouraging the need of true contrition.
40. True contrition seeks and loves penalties, but generous pardons only relax penalties and cause them to be hated, or at least, furnish an occasion [for hating them].
41. Papal pardons should be preached with caution, lest people falsely think they are preferable to other good works of love.
42. Christians should be taught that the pope does not intend the purchase of pardons to be compared in any way to works of mercy.
43. Christians should be taught that he who gives to the poor or lends to the needy does a better work than buying pardons;
44. Because love grows by works of love, and a man becomes a better man; but by pardons he does not grow better, only escapes penalty.
45. Christians should be taught that he who sees a person in need, and passes him by, and then purchases pardons, purchases not the indulgences of the pope, but the indignation of God.
46. Christians should be taught that unless they have more than they need, they are bound to keep what is necessary for their own families, and should by no means squander it on pardons.
47. Christians are to be taught that the buying of pardons is a voluntary matter, and not a legal requirement.
48. Christians should be taught that in granting indulgences the pope needs and desires their devout prayer for him more than the money they bring.
49. Christians are to be taught that the pope's indulgences are useful only if they do not put their trust in them; but altogether harmful, if they lose their fear of God because of them.
50. Christians should be taught that if the pope knew the exactions of the indulgence-preachers, he would rather that St. Peter's church be reduced to ashes than be built up with the skin, flesh and bones of his sheep.
51. Christians should be taught that it would be the pope's wish, as it is his duty, to give of his own money, even though the church of St. Peter might have to be sold, to many of those from whom certain hawkers of indulgences cajole money.
52. The assurance of salvation by letters of indulgence is useless, even though the commissary, or indeed even though the pope himself, were to stake his soul upon it.