(Vespers) Calvin's Institutes - I.6-9

1. Chapter 6 – Scripture Is Needed as a Guide and Teacher for Anyone Who Would Come to God the Creator
   1. “For as the aged, or those whose sight is defective, when any book, however fair, is set before them, though they perceive that there is something written, are scarcely able to make out two consecutive words, but, when aided by glasses, begin to read distinctly, so Scripture, gathering together the impressions of Deity, which, till then, lay confused in our minds, dissipates the darkness, and shows us the true God clearly. God therefore bestows a gift of singular value, when, for the instruction of the Church, he employs not dumb teachers merely, but opens his own sacred mouth; when he not only proclaims that some God must be worshiped, but at the same time declares that He is the God to whom worship is due; when he not only teaches his elect to have respect to God, but manifests himself as the God to whom this respect should be paid.”
      
   2. God has had His special revelation written down so the special knowledge of Him may be known throughout the ages. God’s Word in whole or in part has been around for 2000 years and been distributed throughout the vast majority of the world and in a variety of languages.
      
   3. “For if we reflect how prone the human mind is to lapse into forgetfulness of God, how readily inclined to every kind of error, how bent every now and then on devising new and fictitious religions, it will be easy to understand how necessary it was to make such a depository of doctrine as would secure it from either perishing by the neglect, vanishing away amid the errors, or being corrupted by the presumptuous audacity of men. It being thus manifest that God, foreseeing the inefficiency of his image imprinted on the fair form of the universe, has given the assistance of his Word to all whom he has ever been pleased to instruct effectually, we, too, must pursue this straight path, if we aspire in earnest to a genuine contemplation of God;”
   4.  “Since the human mind, through its weakness, was altogether unable to come to God if not aided and upheld by his sacred word, it necessarily followed that all mankind, the Jews excepted, inasmuch as they sought God without the Word, were laboring under vanity and error”
2. Chapter 7 – Scripture Must Be Confirmed by the Witness of the Holy Spirit
   1. The authority of Scripture comes not from men but from the Spirit of God. The conviction that Scripture is God’s Word comes not from ourselves but also from the Spirit.
      1. Roman Catholic Church: Scripture depends on the decision of the Church
      2. Calvin’s refutations:
         1. This subjects Scripture to the will of man
         2. This insults the Holy Spirit
         3. It establishes tyranny in the Church
            
         4. It forms a clump of errors
         5. It subverts conscience
            
         6. It exposes the Christian faith to the scoffing of unbelievers
   2. “Paul testifies that the Church is “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets,” (Eph. 2:20.) If the doctrine of the apostles and prophets is the foundation of the Church, the former must have had its certainty before the latter began to exist.”
      
   3. “If, then, we would consult most effectually for our consciences, and save them from being driven about in a whirl of uncertainty, from wavering, and even stumbling at the smallest obstacle, our conviction of the truth of Scripture must be derived from a higher source than human conjectures, judgments, or reasons; namely, the secret testimony of the Spirit.”
      
   4. “Let it therefore be held as fixed, that those who are inwardly taught by the Holy Spirit acquiesce implicitly in Scripture; that Scripture carrying its own evidence along with it, deigns not to submit to proofs and arguments, but owes the full conviction with which we ought to receive it to the testimony of the Spirit. Enlightened by him, we no longer believe, either on our own judgment or that of others, that the Scriptures are from God; but, in a way superior to human judgment, feel perfectly assured—as much so as if we beheld the divine image visibly impressed on it—that it came to us, by the instrumentality of men, from the very mouth of God. We ask not for proofs or probabilities on which to rest our judgment, but we subject our intellect and judgment to it as too transcendent for us to estimate”
      
3. Chapter 8 – As Far As Human Reason Goes, There are Proofs to Establish the Credibility of Scripture
   1. “In vain were the authority of Scripture fortified by argument, or supported by the consent of the Church, or confirmed by any other helps, if unaccompanied by an assurance higher and stronger than human judgment can give. Till this better foundation has been laid, the authority of Scripture remains in suspense. On the other hand, when recognizing its exemption from the common rule, we receive it reverently, and according to its dignity, those proofs which were not so strong as to produce and rivet a full conviction in our minds, become most appropriate helps.”
      1. The arrangement of the divine wisdom
      2. Perfectly free from “everything that savours of earth”
      3. Beauty in its harmony in all parts
      4. Dignity of what is contained therein
      5. Its truth
      6. Its simplicity
      7. Its efficacy
   2. Calvin then proceeds in 13 sections to give various proofs
      1. The majesty in the writings of the OT Prophets
         
      2. The antiquity of Moses
         
      3. The miracles and prophecies of Moses
         
      4. The predictions of other OT prophets
         
      5. The providence of God in preserving His books over time.
      6. The harmony of the Gospels
      7. The majesty of  John, Paul, and Peter’s writings
      8. The conversion of Paul
      9. The witness of the Church over time.
         
      10. Testimony of Christian martyrs
4. Chapter 9 – Fanatics Substitute Revelations for Scripture and This is Ungodly
   1. The error of the Libertines: “Those who, rejecting Scripture, imagine that they have some peculiar way of penetrating to God, are to be deemed not so much under the influence of error as madness. For certain giddy men have lately appeared, who, while they make a great display of the superiority of the Spirit, reject all reading of the Scriptures themselves, and deride the simplicity of those who only delight in what they call the dead and deadly letter.”
      
   2. “Hence it is easy to understand that we must give diligent heed both to the reading and hearing of Scripture, if we would obtain any benefit from the Spirit of God,”
      
   3. “the Lord has so knit together the certainty of His Word and his Spirit, that our minds are duly imbued with reverence for the Word when the Spirit shining upon it enables us there to behold the face of God; and, on the other hand, we embrace the Spirit with no danger of delusion when we recognize him in his image, that is, in his Word. Thus, indeed, it is. God did not produce his word before men for the sake of sudden display, intending to abolish it the moment the Spirit should arrive; but he employed the same Spirit, by whose agency he had administered the Word, to complete his work by the efficacious confirmation of the Word.”
   4. In sum: The children of God “feel that without the Spirit of God they are utterly devoid of the light of truth, so they are not ignorant that the Word is the instrument by which the illumination of the Spirit is dispensed. They know of no other Spirit than the one who dwelt and spake in the apostles—the Spirit by whose oracles they are daily invited to the hearing of the word.”