Top 411 Quotes & Sayings by John Calvin - Page 4

It would be the height of absurdity to label ignorance tempered by humility "faith"! (Institutio III.2.3)

If it seems more horrible to kill a man in his own house, then in a field,...it ought surely to be deemed more atrocious to destroy a fetus in the womb before it has come to light.

To will is human, to will the bad is of fallen nature, but to will the good is of Grace.

God does not bestow his spirit on his people in order to set aside the use of his word, but rather to render it fruitful.

Tears that are shed in time of affliction are rarely tears of penitence, but more likely they are shed out of self pity and pain or sorrow.

There is nothing in afflictions which ought to disturb our joy.

The Lord has given us a table at which to feast, not an altar on which a victim is to be offered; He has not consecrated priests to make sacrifice, but servants to distribute the sacred feast.

Whenever our sins press hard against us, whenever Satan would drive us to despair, we must hold up this shield, that God does not want us to be overwhelmed in everlasting destruction, for He has ordained His Son to be the salvation of the world.

I exhort all, who reverence the Word of the Lord, to read it, and diligently imprint it on their memory.

The Fanaticism which discards the Scripture, under the pretense of resorting to immediate revelations is subversive of every principle of Christianity. For when they boast extravagantly of the Spirit, the tendency is always to bury the Word of God so they may make room for their own falsehoods.

The sufferings of Christ are the means of forgiveness of sin and eternal glory

Nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves.

Lawful worship consists in obedience alone.

After 50 years, is it not clear that God has raised up new illnesses connected with fornication? From where do these things come if not from the hand of God? [In response to these diseases] The world was astounded, and people were terrified for a time, but they have not, to this day, observed the hand of God.

Without knowledge of self there is no knowledge of God.

A soul, therefore, when deprived of the Word of God, is given up unarmed to the devil for destruction

If everything proceeded according to their wishes, they would not understand what it means to follow God.

Pagan philosophers set up reason as the sole guide of life, of wisdom and conduct; but Christian philosophy demands of us that we surrender our reason to the Holy Spirit; and this means that we no longer live for ourselves, but that Christ lives and reigns within us (Rom 12:1; Eph 4:23; Gal 2:20).

Where is our acknowledgement of God if our thoughts are fixed on the glamour of our garments?

Their [the Jews] rotten and unbending stiffneckedness deserves that they be oppressed unendingly and without measure or end and that they die in their misery without the pity of anyone.

God orders what we cannot do, that we may know what we ought to ask him.

Faith and patience are exceptional virtues in those that suffer. Patience is the fruit and evidence of faith.

We shall never be fit for the service of God, if we look not beyond this fleeting life.

The blood of Christ is necessary to purge the faults clinging to our best works.

The only right stewardship is that which is tested by the rule of love.

For until men recognize that they owe everything to God, that they are nourished by His fatherly care, that He is the Author of their every good, that they should seek nothing beyond Him - they will never yield Him willing service. Nay, unless they establish their complete happiness in Him, they will never give themselves truly and sincerely to Him.

If the gospel be not preached, Jesus Christ is, as it were, buried.

Scripture urges and warns us that whatever favors we may have obtained from the Lord, we have received them as a trust on condition that they should be applied to the common benefit of the church.

Then let every one of us, being warned by this sentence of the angel, acknowledge that he as yet cleaves to first principles, or, at least, does not comprehend all those things which are necessary to be known; and that therefore progress is to be made to the very end of life: for this is our wisdom, to be learners to the end.

The sum is, that the worship of God must be spiritual, in order that it may correspond with His nature. For although Moses only speaks of idolatry, yet there is no doubt but that by synecdoche, as in all the rest of the law, he condemns all fictitious services which men in their ingenuity have invented.

The glory of God shines, indeed, in all creatures on high and below, but never more brightly than in the cross.

All men were created to busy themselves with the labor for the common good.

Hypocrisy can plunge the mind of a man into a dark abyss, when he believes his own self-flattery instead of God's verdict.

All things being at God's disposal, and the decision of salvation or death belonging to him, he orders all things by his counsel and decree in such a manner, that some men are born devoted from the womb to certain death, that his name may be glorified in their destruction.

If people mean that man has in himself the power to work in partnership with God's grace they are most wretchedly deluding themselves.

Now among the other things proper to recreate man and give him pleasure, music is either the first or one of the principal;and we must think that it is a gift of God deputed for that purpose'.

All the arts come from God and are to be respected as divine inventions

It is faith alone that justifies, but faith that justifies can never be alone.

Faith is tossed about by various doubts, so that the minds of the godly are rarely at peace.

The human heart has so many crannies where vanity hides, so many holes where falsehood works, is so decked out with deceiving hypocrisy, that it often dupes itself.

Without the fear of God, men do not even observe justice and charity among themselves.

It is a very important consideration that we are consecrated and dedicated to God; it means that we may think, speak, meditate, or do anything only with a view to his glory.

To search for wisdom apart from Christ means not simply foolhardiness but utter insanity.

But we have nothing of the Spirit except through regeneration. Everything, therefore, which we have from nature is flesh.

We must resist wandering thoughts in prayer. Raising our hands reminds us that we need to raise up our minds to God, setting aside all irrelevant thoughts.

Man is never sufficiently touched and affected by the awareness of his lowly state until he has compared himself with God's majesty.

When pain and suffering strike, our faith is well founded if it is standing on the promises of God. For all of God's promises have strong confirmation in Christ.

Since we are all naturally prone to hypocrisy, any empty semblance of righteousness is quite enough to satisfy us instead of righteousness itself.

If we believe heaven to be our country, it is better for us to transmit our wealth thither, than to retain it here, where we may lose it by a sudden removal.

We are nowhere forbidden to laugh.

For astronomy is not only pleasant, but also very useful to be known: it cannot be denied that this art unfolds the admirable wisdom of God.

Joy and thanksgiving expressed in prayer and praise according to the Word of God are the heart of the Church's worship.

They who prematurely put themselves forward to root out whatever is displeasing to them overthrow the judgment of God and rashly intrude upon the office of angels.

It is certain that not one drop of rain falls without God's sure command.

To be pure in heart is to take no delight in cunning, but converse sincerely with men, and express nothing, by word or look, which is not felt in the heart.

Were the judgments of mankind correct, custom would be regulated by the good. But it is often far otherwise in point of fact; for, whatever the many are seen to do, forthwith obtains the force of custom. But human affairs have scarcely ever been so happily constituted as that the better course pleased the greater number. Hence the private vices of the multitude have generally resulted in public error, or rather that common consent in vice which these worthy men would have to be law.

We ought always to beware of making the smallest claim for ourselves.

There are sons of God who do not yet appear so to us, but now do so to God; and there are those who, on account of some arrogated or temporal grace, are called so by us, but are not so to God.

To have a proper understanding of the gospel, we must recognise that we need to lean entirely upon the Lord Jesus Christ and his mercy alone as our only hope of salvation. ... No one can be justified by the law; justification is through faith alone.

We are promised abundance of all good things--yet we are rich only in hunger and thirst. What would become of us if we did not take our stand on hope, and if our heart did not hasten beyond this world!