Top 411 Quotes & Sayings by John Calvin - Page 2

For what is idolatry if not this: to worship the gifts in place of the Giver himself?

men are undoubtedly more in danger from prosperity than from adversity. for when matters go smoothly, they flatter themselves, and are intoxicated by their success

Faith does not proceed from ourselves, but is the fruit of spiritual regeneration.

There is no place for faith if we expect God to fulfill immediately what he promises.

There is not one blade of grass, there is no color in this world that is not intended to make men rejoice.

It is therefore faith alone which justifies, and yet the faith which justifies is not alone.

Holiness is not a merit by which we can attain communion with God, but a gift of Christ, which enables us to cling to him, and to follow him.

We are nowhere forbidden to laugh, or be satisfied with food...or to be delighted with music or to drink wine.

Where God's Spirit does not reign, there is no humility, and men ever swell with inward pride.

We cannot rely on God's promises without obeying his commandments.

A man that extols himself is a fool and an idiot

Repentance is the true turning of our life to God, a turning that arises from a pure and earnest fear of Him; and it consists in the mortification of the flesh and the renewing of the Spirit.

The grace of God has no charms for men till the Holy Spirit gives them a taste for it.

All true knowledge of God is born out of obedience.

Human will does not by liberty obtain grace, but by grace obtains liberty.

Joy is a quiet gladness of heart as one contemplates the goodness of God's saving grace in Christ Jesus.

Sometimes it seems things go by too quickly. We are so busy watching out for what's just ahead of us that we don't take the time to enjoy where we are.

The majesty of God in itself goes beyond the capacity of human understanding and cannot be comprehended by it.. We must adore its loftiness rather than investigate it, so that we do not remain overwhelmed by so great a splendor.

We must make the invisible kingdom visible in our midst.

A man will be justified by faith when, excluded from righteousness of works, he by faith lays hold of the righteousness of Christ, and clothed in it, appears in the sight of God not as a sinner, but as righteous.

Unless God's Word illumine the way, the whole life of men is wrapped in darkness and mist, so that they cannot but miserably stray.

We are surrounded by God’s benefits. The best use of these benefits is an unceasing expression of gratitude.

Where riches hold the dominion of the heart, God has lost His authority.

That man is truly humble who neither claims any personal merit in the sight of God, nor proudly despises brethren, or aims at being thought superior to them, but reckons it enough that he is one of the members of Christ, and desires nothing more than that the Head alone should be exalted.

So great and boundless is God's wisdom that he knows right well how to use evil instruments to do good.

When God designs to forgive us he changes our hearts and turns us to obedience by His Spirit.

Let our chief goal, O God, be your glory, and to enjoy You forever.

Whomever the Lord has adopted and deemed worthy of His fellowship ought to prepare themselves for a hard, toilsome, and unquiet life, crammed with very many and various kinds of evil.

A perfect faith is nowhere to be found, so it follows that all of us are partly unbelievers.

Against the persecution of a tyrant the godly have no remedy but prayer.

The fire of affliction reveals the quality of our faith

No man can come to God but by an extraordinary revelation of the Spirit.

Hatred grows into insolence when we desire to excel the rest of mankind and imagine we do not belong to the common lot; we even severely and haughtily despise others as our inferiors.

Nothing, including human suffering, happens by chance.

Prayer unaccompanied by perseverance leads to no result.

Prosperity inebriates men, so that they take delights in their own merits.

There is no knowing that does not begin with knowing God.

We should never insult others on account of their faults, for it is our duty to show charity and respect to everyone.

Let it stand, therefore, as an indubitable truth, which no engines can shake, that the mind of man is so entirely alienated from the righteousness of God that he cannot conceive, desire, or design any thing but what is wicked, distorted, foul, impure, and iniquitous; that his heart is so thoroughly envenomed by sin that it can breathe out nothing but corruption and rottenness; that if some men occasionally make a show of goodness, their mind is ever interwoven with hypocrisy and deceit, their soul inwardly bound with the fetters of wickedness.

But those who wish to prove to unbelievers that Scripture is the Word of God are acting foolishly, for only by faith can this be known.

It is a most blessed thing to be subject to the sovereignty of God.

The first part of a good work is the will, the second is vigorous effort in the doing of it. God is the author of both. It is, therefore, robbery from God to arrogate anything to ourselves, either in the will or the act.

When our faith is tested by suffering "as gold is tried in a furnace" and we depend with confidence on God and rely entirely on his help, we will be granted the most excellent gift of patience and through faith we may victoriously persevere to the end.

We can experience joy in adverse circumstances by holding God's benefits in such esteem that the recognition of them and meditation upon them shall overcome all sorrow.

For we are not all equally afflicted with the same disease or all in need of the same severe cure. This is the reason why we see different persons disciplined with different crosses. The heavenly Physician takes care of the well-being of all his patients; he gives some a milder medicine and purifies others by more shocking treatments, but he omits no one; for the whole world, without exception, is ill (Deut 32:15).

The Angels are the dispensers and administrators of the Divine beneficence toward us. They regard our safety, undertake our defense, direct our ways, and exercise a constant solicitude that no evil befall us.

Free will does not enable any man to perform good works, unless he is assisted by grace; indeed, the special grace which the elect alone receive through regeneration. For I stay not to consider the extravagance of those who say that grace is offered equally and promiscuously to all

Our physical illnesses serve us for medicines to purge us from worldly affections and retrench what is superfluous in us, and since they are to us the messengers of death, we ought to learn to have one foot raised to take our departure when it shall please God.

Those who fall away have never been thoroughly imbued with the knowledge of Christ but only had a slight and passing taste of it.

Our assurance, our glory, and the sole anchor of our salvation are that Christ the Son of God is ours, and we in turn are in him sons of God and heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven, called to the hope of eternal blessedness by God's grace, not by our worth.

To make intercession for men is the most powerful and practical way in which we can express our love for them.

When the Bible speaks, God speaks.

Free-will cannot will good and of necessity serves sin.

Prayer is the chief exercise of faith.

My heart I give you, Lord, eagerly and entirely.

Christ is much more powerful to save, than Adam was to destroy.

Let us be peaceable as near as we can: let us relent of our own right: let us not strive for these worldly goods, honour and reputation: let us bear all wrongs and outrages, rather than be moved to any debate through our own fault. But in the meanwhile, let us fight for God's truth with tooth and nail.

We may rest assured that God would never have suffered any infants to be slain except those who were already damned and predestined for eternal death.

On the contrary, therefore, Christ declares that the doctrine of the Gospel, though it is preached to all without exception, cannot be embraced by all, but that a new understanding and a new perception are requisite; and, therefore, that faith does not depend on the will of men, but that it is God who gives it.

By predestination we mean the eternal decree of God, by which He determined with Himself whatever He wished to happen with regard to every man