A quick reminder: My intention for this series is simply to share a few thoughts as I journey through Calvin’s Institutes. There are plenty of theologians out there who can wow you with profundity. That is not my goal! Reading Calvin’s Institutes cover to cover is challenging enough. My wish is to simply share some thoughts as I do just that…read it cover-to-cover.

Grasping Calvin’s thoughts and contemplating the scriptural basis for them is a profound enough tasks for anyone. God bless.

- Joel

Book 1, Chapter 1

The Aphorism:

1. The true wisdom of man consists in the knowledge of God the Creator and Redeemer.

The Quote:

“It is evident that man never attains to a true self-knowledge until he have previously contemplated the face of God, and come down after such contemplation to look unto himself. For (such is our innate pride) we always seems to ourselves just, and upright, and wise, and holy, until we are convinced, by clear evidence, of our injustice, vileness, folly, and impurity. (1.2)*

…And A Few Thoughts:

Book 1, Chapter 1 of Calvin’s Institutes (CI) is a short one, comprised of just three headings. It concerns the connection that exist between the knowledge of God and that of ourselves. It’s no surprise that when you read Calvin, regardless of subject, it is not shallow water, and this beginning point of CI is certainly no exception. I think it was Augustine who said we only needed to know two things, God and ourselves. I can’t find the quote, but it certainly sounds like something he would have said.

This particular quote of Calvin jumped out at me, and the first thing I thought of was Augustine. Here was a man who spent years doing what we all do prior to regeneration; seeking our own pleasure in everything and almost anything, trying desperately to find happiness where we can, and ultimately to no avail. Augustine eventually found himself, and God, and happiness, but not in the things he chased, but in Him who created what he chased, and by being led to Himself by Himself.

It is no surprise to see Calvin begin his institutes at the knowledge of God and ourselves, particularly, the knowledge of God. We’re talking about theocentric – God-centered – thought here. It’s one of the first things you’ll be taught in a seminary course on systematic theology. After all, “knowing God” is salvation itself, isn’t it? (John 17:3). Of course, the passage in John just cited has to do with knowing God in the biblical sense, i.e., that intimate, relational knowledge which is a result of regeneration by the work of the Spirit; but that’s not what Calvin is discussing at this point. He deals with a knowledge of God in a broader sense here.

The first heading alone deals with man’s natural, unregenerate tendency to ‘rest’ in himself, his own morality and perception of his own righteousness. Man, according to Calvin, is steered toward God by his own misery in life, which reminds me of all the times we’ve asked that common question: ‘Why me, why is this happening?” in response to some unforeseen event which, in our own minds, is cramping our current goals or happiness.

The second heading, which is where I get the quote above, concerns the obviousness that man can never really know himself, or as Calvin put it “never attain to a true self-knowledge” until we’ve contemplated the face of God.

Is it possible to contemplate the face of God while unregenerate? Absolutely. At the same time, I would point out Romans 3:11 which says: “no one understands; no one seeks for God.”

I would sum up the 3 headings this way:

1. Knowledge of God and of ourselves is connected in many ways.

2. One can never truly know themselves until they truly, biblically, know God by His gift of regeneration.

3. When you are brought, by God’s loving election, mercy, grace and gifts of regeneration, faith and repentance unto salvation – to know Him – you are overwhelmed with the glimpse of Him and His holiness. You are also overwhelmed with the glimpse of your true self regarding your vileness, wretchedness, etc. before God and there lies the beginning of true wisdom and knowledge.

Calvin gives his own examples of the effects of the knowledge of God from Scripture, but the first thing I thought of was Isaiah 6. It, for me at least, is a primary example of the entire chapter itself. The realization of God, and at the same time, a realization, by His grace and His revelation, to see yourself as you truly are. Apart from His grace, you are an enemy of God, without hope whatsoever, filthy beyond your own finite imagination, far more depraved than mama ever gave hint to. After being show His grace, we truly begin to attain a self-knowledge of ourselves. Still wretched before a holy God, One who is knowable, yet cannot be comprehended in His fullness, as long as we remain in these sinful bodies, but ever so thankful for His mercy towards us, the undeserving recipient of His grace. Wow.

Isaiah exclaimed, once having been given a glimpse of God and His holiness:

“Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”

To me, that passage alone sums up the first chapter of Calvin’s Institutes. There is much more I could dwell on, but don’t you think the above passage sums it up? Is that not enough to cause us to contemplate the knowledge of God, and of ourselves in light of such a great salvation?