Luther & Calvin's Understanding of Justifying Faith

Luther's Understanding of Justifying Faith: Personal Appropriation and Good Works

0:00 All right, we are on page 243, for those of you who like to know such things. And we have come to Luther's understanding of the instrument or instrumental cause of justification, faith. And I was just about to tell you the nature of faith for Luther, and this is preeminently that it has the nature of personal appropriation. It is saving faith's element of personal appropriation which makes it different from historical faith.

0:33 Historical faith simply just sees something as true out there. Luther understands faith as appropriating truth to its personal good. It was thinking about this that finally helped me understand what in the world eating Christ and drinking his blood in John 6 had to do with faith. But it's...

0:56 But those acts of eating and drinking are acts of personal appropriation. And it is that aspect of faith which Christ is talking about there, and which Luther emphasizes above all others. And it's because he sees faith as engaging in an act of personal appropriation that it's very easy to read Luther as including assurance of salvation in saving faith sometimes, because there is this element of personal appropriation, which I think seemed to Luther to be almost indistinguishable from a sense of assurance of salvation. I am saved because I have grasped Christ.

1:38 But that's a different issue. Its origin, faith is a divine gift for Luther. He's a strict Augustinian and knows this. Justification, I like this language, is received with faith.

1:51 That is, in the form of faith. Faith is the work and gift of God. God justifies a man by giving him faith. We are righteous in this form, by faith.

2:02 That is to say, we have righteousness and justification given to us when faith in Christ is given to us. Its function, oh well, it is possessing Christ. Faith is powerful only because it grasps the power of God's mercy in Christ. Not powerful in itself.

2:26 That is the point. The accompaniment of justification. Now, Luther is really clear about this. No one ought ever to have thought that that easy believism in any way, shape, or form owed anything to the Reformation doctrine of justification.

2:42 Faith and forgiveness are the source of good works. Good works are integral to justification. They are not its ground, but there is no justification without them. Good works are, for Luther, a partial basis.

2:55 Good works are a partial basis. Good works are not only the fruit, but the essential hallmark of faith. Good works do not contradict Luther's doctrine of justification. They are not necessary for us as the ground of our salvation or justification, but in another way.

3:13 Luther believed that the expression, works are necessary for salvation, was equivocal, and to be a void in theology is improper. But this was not to say that he did not believe that all true faith was not necessary. It was not marked in its consequences by good works.

Overview of Calvin's Systematic Presentation of Justification

3:31 All of this brings us, however, to Calvin's presentation of the subject. Now, Calvin is, and I think viewed himself as, as the systematizer of Luther's views. He was Luther's disciple. We've already seen that he thought so highly of him that he said that if Luther would call him the devil, he would still love him.

3:54 Well, let me give you an overview. Let me give you an overview of Calvin's presentation. And we're going to be spending a lot of the rest of this evening on Calvin because he was the systematizer of the Reformed doctrine, the Protestant doctrine of justification. And that Protestant doctrine of justification occupied an absolutely central place in his theology and his theology of the application of salvation.

4:19 And it is a centrality that we do well to consider in our day and age. So, an overview. An overview of Book 3 of the Institutes. First of all, this book is entitled, On the Manner in Which We Receive the Grace of Christ.

4:33 Or, in other words, the application of salvation, right? Here we find Calvin's definitive and epically important treatment of the application of salvation. There are seven parts to this book. Part 1 is Chapter 1, the foundation of faith and life on the operation of the Holy Spirit.

4:54 Chapter 2 is the description of faith. Chapter 3 is the description of faith. Chapter 3 is the description of faith. Chapter 3 is the description of faith.

4:57 Chapter 3-10 is the doctrine of repentance. Chapter 11-19 is justification by faith in Christian liberty. Prayer is then dealt with as the principal exercise of faith. A prayerless faith would have been an impossibility for Calvin.

5:16 Then, in Chapters 21-24, surprisingly, the doctrine of election comes up for exposition. And then Chapter 25 deals with the final resurrection. And, of course, you know that that placement of the doctrine of election has been the subject of frequent comment by theologians since Calvin. Some comments proper, some not so proper or insightful.

Calvin's Ordo Salutis: Spirit, Faith, Union, and Double Blessing

5:49 An overview of Calvin's Ordo Salutis. This is very important. It begins in Chapter 1 by speaking of the gospel. It begins by speaking of the operation of the Holy Spirit producing faith.

6:01 Faith is the principal work of the Holy Spirit. Then there is the exercise of faith. The exercise of faith unites one with Jesus Christ, brings one into union with Christ. And this union with Christ imparts two blessings, forgiveness or justification, and the other blessing imparted by faith.

6:27 Faith, through union with Christ, is repentance, regeneration, or what we would call, and later Reformed theology liked to call, sanctification. Now, there's a whole mountain of explanation that needs to be done here, but just take my word for it. Repentance, regeneration, and progressive sanctification, for Luther, for Calvin, are synonymous. Reformation, regeneration, and progressive sanctification, for Luther, for Calvin, are synonymous.

7:00 Now, this treatment, as noted above, had an epical importance. It had a pervasive effect on the Westminster Shorter Catechism, and you can see that if you compare questions 29 to 36 with this treatment of the Ordo Salutis by Calvin, although I don't know that he used that terminology. An analysis of Calvin's presentation, and especially and specifically what we would call his Ordo Salutis. A, the operation of the Spirit producing faith.

7:31 The operation of the Spirit producing faith is described in two ways. First, there's the general purpose of the Spirit's operation. The great purpose of the work of the Spirit is to unite us with Christ. Union with Christ is central.

7:48 The whole work of the Holy Spirit is to unite us with Christ. Calvin writes in the Institutes, and the first thing to be attended to is that so long as we are without Christ and separated from the Holy Spirit, we are not going to be able to be separated from him. Nothing which he suffered and did for the salvation of the human race is of the least benefit to us. To communicate to us the blessings which he received from the Father, he must become ours and dwell in us.

8:11 Accordingly, he is called our head and the firstborn among many brethren. Well, on the other hand, we are said to be engrafted into him and clothed with him, all which he possesses being, as I have said, nothing to us until we become one with him. And although it is true that we obtain this by faith, yet since we see that all do not indiscriminately embrace the offer of Christ, which is made by the gospel, the very nature of the case teaches us to ascend higher and inquire into the secret efficacy of the Spirit, to which it is owing that we enjoy Christ and all his blessings. And so Calvin is once again on one of his favorite distinctions, the distinction between the observable and the objective and the secret. The secret efficacy of election and of the Spirit of God. Calvin goes on to say, By these words he reminds us that if the shedding of the sacred bud is not to be in vain, our souls must be washed in it by the secret cleansing of the Holy Spirit. For which reason also Paul, speaking of cleansing and purification, says, But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

9:25 1 Corinthians 6.11. The whole comes to this, that the Holy Spirit is the bond by which Christ effectually binds us to himself. Here we may refer to what was said in the last book concerning his anointing.

9:41 But second, Luther says that though the general purpose is to unite us with Christ, the principal work of the Spirit is then to impart to us faith, the faith which unites us to Christ. Calvin writes in the Institutes, But as faith is his principal work, All those passages which express his power and operations are in a great measure referred to it as it is only by faith that he brings us to the light of the gospel, as John teaches that to those who believe in Christ is given the privilege to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in his name, which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God, John 1.12. Therefore, as we have said, that salvation is perfected in the person of Christ, so in order to make us partakers of it, he bestows. He baptizes us with the Holy Spirit and with fire, Luke 3.16, enlightening us into the faith of his gospel, and so regenerating us to be new creatures, thus cleansed from all pollution, he declares us as holy temples to the Lord. This is really important, I think.

10:46 When we talk about the regenerating work of the Spirit, this must never be separated in our minds, and it must always be suffused in our minds by the fact that the great, great operation of the Holy Spirit in regenerating us is to give us faith in Christ. There is no regeneration apart from faith in Christ, and Calvin knew this. There is no salvation apart from union with Christ, and there is no union with Christ apart from faith, and there is no faith apart from the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, and this is his principal work. Now, Calvin gives us his definition of faith in Book 3.

Calvin's Definition of Faith: Knowledge, Benevolence, Promise, Affection, Assurance

11:27 Chapter 2, paragraph 7, and I've included six numbers here. They're my additions. They should be superscript, but I didn't take the time to do that. Notice that the first one is a six, and then we go to one, two, three, four, five, and there's a reason for that.

11:44 Faith, says Calvin, is a study in certain knowledge of the divine benevolence towards us, which, being founded on the truth of the gratuitous promise in Christ, is both revealed and not revealed. Faith is a study in certain knowledge of the divine benevolence towards us, which, being founded on the truth of the gratuitous promise in Christ, is both revealed and not revealed. Faith is a study in certain knowledge of the divine benevolence towards us, which, being founded on the truth of the gratuitous promise in Christ, is both revealed and not revealed. There are six things here in this very dense definition that Calvin's going to unpack as he lays out what he means by it.

12:11 First one is the character of true faith. It is knowledge. True faith is knowledge. It is not ignorance, and that is not implicit faith in the church.

12:24 It is knowledge, okay? It's not believing whatever the church might say. No, true faith is knowledge of truth. Then secondly, its object.

12:39 Its object is God's benevolence. True faith is not believing in God in general. It is believing in God's benevolence toward us, the fact that he has a purpose of grace towards us. And then there is its ground.

12:58 The ground of faith is the word of promise. It is not the word of God in general, although faith does believe the word of God in general. It is the word of promise. And so it is gospel, not law, for instance, that is the proper and central ground of faith.

13:19 This is the word of promise, not the word of God in general. That is the ground of true faith and its quality. True faith is an affection. It is not a mere assent.

13:35 Okay? True faith is not historical faith. It's not assenting to something being in the abstract true. No, true faith has the character of an affection.

13:47 It is a quality. It is confirmed to our hearts. The language is deliberate. The language is deliberate by Calvin.

13:58 And it has an author. Its author is the Holy Spirit. It is a product of divine grace, not free will. And then you notice that Calvin says in the sixth point that it is a study and certain knowledge.

14:16 Faith is assurance, not doubt. Are you saying that Calvin thought that true faith involved assurance of salvation? That is not true. That is something we're going to have to talk about.

14:31 Okay? But when Calvin talked about faith, he said he wanted you to know that if you have faith, you have a certain knowledge. You don't have multiple doubts only. You have a certain knowledge.

Calvin's Doctrine of Repentance: Fruit of Faith, Inseparable from Christ

14:47 Okay? Now, that brings us to C. The third thing that Calvin deals with is repentance. He takes up repentance or salvation, sanctification or regeneration as the first fruit of union with Christ, even though there are two fruits of union with Christ.

15:08 And the more pivotal one, he's going to say that it's more pivotal, is forgiveness or justification that flows out of union with Christ. But instead of taking up the more pivotal thing first, I think he probably has apologetic reasons for making the point that if a person is really in union with Christ, the fruit of that will be repentance, regeneration, or sanctification. Calvin asserts both the proper doctrine in this section and refutes the Romish doctrine of repentance. We have already glanced at his rebuttal of the Romish doctrine.

15:40 For that reason, we're going to concentrate on the statement of the proper doctrine. First of all, it's relations. Repentance is not conviction of sin merely, which the unregenerate also possess. Calvin writes in the Institutes, others seeing that the term is used in Scripture in different senses, have said, set down two forms of repentance in order to distinguish them of called the one legal repentance or that by which the sinner stung with a sense of a sin and overwhelmed with fear of the divine anger remains in that state of perturbation, unable to escape from it.

16:11 The other they term evangelical repentance or that by which the sinner, though grievously downcast in himself, yet looks up and sees in Christ the cure of his womb, the solace of his terror, the haven of rest from his misery. Though all this is true, yet the term repentance, insofar as I can ascertain from Scripture, must be differently taken. Calvin does not accept the idea that in Scripture, that scripturally there is a distinction between legal repentance and evangelical repentance. What he's saying here is that in Scripture, true repentance is always evangelical.

16:45 Okay? That's what I believe he's saying. Now, the second thing that you have to understand by way of its relations is that it is one of the twin benefits of the union with Christ affected by faith. There are two benefits, two great benefits flowing out of being in union with Christ, and this is one of them.

17:06 That repentance not only follows faith, but is produced by it, ought to be without controversy. For since pardon and forgiveness are offered by the preaching of the gospel in order that the sinner, delivered from the tyranny of sin, the yoke of sin, and the miserable bondage of iniquity, may pass into the kingdom of God, it is certain that no man can embrace the grace of the gospel without retaking himself from the errors of his former life into the right path and making it his whole study to practice repentance. Notice that language, to practice repentance. Calvin is talking about a lifestyle here, the practice of repentance.

17:46 Those who think that repentance precedes faith instead of flowing from or being produced by it, as the fruit by the tree, have never understood its nature and are moved to adopt that view on very insufficient grounds. Well, that statement will be enormously controversial in the Reformed tradition. There are not a few in the Reformed tradition after Luther that actually thought that repentance did precede faith. But you see what Luther's concern, what Calvin's concern is here.

18:18 Calvin's concern is to keep faith, justification by faith, central in the Ordo Salutis. And therefore, it's crucial for him defining repentance as he is to make us know that it is produced by faith and union with Christ and not vice versa. It is thus, says Calvin, inseparable from faith and accompanies remission of sins. It is the fruit of faith and thus does not precede faith.

18:49 It is logically, therefore, although not temporally, subsequent to faith. It is logically subsequent but not temporally subsequent. In other words, there is no faith without repentance. There is no true faith without the practice of repentance.

19:08 The two things cannot be separated. Although faith, being justified by faith in Christ and union with Christ, gives birth to repentance. Calvin says in 3.3.2, Still, when we attribute the origin of repentance to faith, we do not dream of some period of time in which faith is to give birth to it. What he wished to show that a man cannot see and not seriously engage in repentance unless he knows that he is of God. But no man is truly persuaded that he is of God until he hath embraced his offered favor. You cannot repent until you know God has accepted you.

19:40 That's Calvin's point.

19:42 You may have questions about that. I think you should have questions about that, but that's what Calvin is saying here. Definition. Calvin provides a definition of repentance at 3.3.5 of the Institutes, a true conversion of our life to God. Proceeding from a sincere and serious fear of God, consisting in the mortification of our flesh and of the old man and in the vivification of the spirit. You note that repentance, though distinct from faith, is inseparable from it. Repentance and faith must be connected but not confounded.

20:16 Note also, again, that we're talking about a lifestyle, aren't we? We're talking about a lifestyle. Repentance is equivalent to regeneration and is progressive. It is thus equivalent to what we normally call progressive sanctification.

20:35 But Calvin's terminology is repentance as well as regeneration as well as sanctification. Notice also that mortification and vivification, putting to death sin and enlivening virtues are effects of union with Christ. Mortification is a result of union with Christ and his death. Vivification is a result of union with Christ and his resurrection.

21:02 And again, see the Institutes 339 for all of the above. So, the sanctification involves putting on and putting off or putting off mortification and putting on vivification. Know finally that Calvin insists on remaining indwelling sin and distinguishes it from reigning sin. 3.3.10-11 By regeneration, the children of God are born again. The children of God are delivered from the bondage of sin but not as if they had already obtained full possession of freedom and no longer felt any annoyance from the flesh. Materials for an unremitting contest remain that they may be exercised not only exercised but may better understand their weakness. All writers of sound judgment agree in this that in the regenerate man there is still a spring of evil which is perpetually sending forth desires that allure and stimulate him to sin.

21:58 So again, clear on that fact that there are two principles in the regenerate man. Reigning sin and remaining reigning righteousness and remaining sin. The duration of repentance and I've already implied this but Calvin makes very clear that repentance being what it is a lifestyle is lifelong. Moreover, as hatred of sin which is the beginning of repentance first gives us access to the knowledge of Christ who manifests himself to none but miserable and afflicted sinners groaning, laboring, burdened, hungry, and thirsty pining away the grief and wretchedness so if we would stand in Christ we must aim at repentance cultivated during our whole lives and continue it to the last. What's the origin of it? It's divine grace. Institutes 3-3-21 Moreover, that repentance is a special gift of God I trust is too well understood from the above doctrine to require it to be a gift of God.

22:59 I've said that the Holy Spirit gives people faith and that unites them to Christ and then there's repentance and so it's ought to be clear that it's a gift of God. Hence the church extols the goodness of God and looks on in wonder saying then has God also the Gentiles granted repentance unto life? Acts 11-18 And Paul enjoining Timothy to deal meekly and patiently with unbelievers says if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil 2 Timothy 2-25-26 God indeed declares the will of all men to repent and addresses exhortations in common to all their efficacy however depends on the spirit of regeneration see the outward call and the inward efficacy again that distinction crucial for Calvin were easier to create at first than for us by our own strength to acquire a more excellent nature wherefore in regard to the whole process of regeneration it is not without cause we are called God's workman created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God has before ordained that we should walk in them and Calvin's obviously taking that phrase unto good works to refer to repentance those whom God has pleased to rescue from death he quickens by the spirit of regeneration not that repentance is properly the cause of salvation but because as already seen it is inseparable from the faith and mercy of God and then all of this then leads us having talked about

Calvin's Doctrine of Justification: Remission and Imputation

24:28 the first fruit of union with Christ to the second and pivotal fruit of union with Christ justification Calvin has had apologetic reasons for dealing with repentance first but in fact he thinks that properly justification should be first its relations in apprehending Christ by faith we receive two benefits repentance and justification logically justification seems to precede repentance 311.1 moreover if it's true and nothing can be more true than that a complete summary of the gospels included under these two heads repentance and the remission of sins do we not see that the Lord justifies the people freely and at the same time renews them to true holiness by the sanctification of his spirit though both graces are obtained by faith as has been shown elsewhere yet as the goodness of God by which sins are forgiven is the proper object of faith it was proper carefully to distinguish it from repentance the meaning of justification careful definition thus we simply extend justification to be an acceptance by which God receives us into his favor and esteems us as a righteous person we say that it consists in the remission of sins and the imputation of the righteousness of Christ which though not a lengthy elaboration does seem to be a statement of double imputation doesn't it its general character it is acceptance reception

25:55 estimation reputation consideration and all those words tell us that justification deals with our status before God its specific essence it has a dual essence remission of sins and imputation of righteousness Calvin explicitly repudiates every deviation from this some taught that only works done in our strength and by our own free will are condemned Calvin taught that even works done through love by the spirit cannot justify some taught that only ceremonial works can't justify Calvin said that even our moral works can't justify us and at this point he explicitly repudiates Augustine and is self-consciously aware that in his doctrine of justification he has moved beyond Augustine listen to what he says you see here that the chief office of divine grace and our justification he considers to be its directing us to good works by the agency of the Holy Spirit he intended no doubt to follow the opinion of Augustine he intended no doubt to follow the opinion of Augustine he intended no doubt to follow the opinion of Augustine but he follows it at a distance and even wanders far from a true imitation of him both obscuring what was clearly stated by Augustine making what in him was less pure more corrupt he's talking about a scholastic theologian here the schools have always gone from worse to worse until at length in their downward path they have degenerated into a kind of Pelagianism

27:22 even the sentiment of Augustine or at least his mode of expressing it cannot be entirely approved of that's a crucial statement because along with Luther then Calvin is saying that our doctrine of justification is in some sense a refinement of Augustine's for although he is admirable and stripping man of all merit of righteousness and transferring the whole praise of it to God yet he classes the grace by which we are regenerated to newness of life under the head of sanctification well that's pretty clear isn't it okay what are the controlling powers of God what are the controlling motifs of Calvin's presentation in other words Calvin is saying yeah this is the way God saves us but there's a reason why God saves us this way and it's important to understand that God saves us this way and there are at least two good reasons why this is important to know because first of all the motif is the priority of grace over works compare 3-3-2 where it is taught that faith precedes repentance justification precedes sanctification and faith is assurance of God's love for us leading us to love him and then there's the inseparability of grace and works how does Calvin maintain the delicate tension between justification by faith alone and the necessity of good works he does this by his doctrine of union with Christ by faith alone we have Christ

Controlling Motifs: Priority of Grace, Inseparability of Grace and Works

28:51 but in Christ we have a two-fold benefit imputation of righteousness and commencement of sanctification so that justification and sanctification are different from each other's but they always are connected because both are benefits of union with Christ right now there are some guiding principles of Calvin's presentation and I was talking about this before when I was saying that there are some reasons why this must be understood practically Calvin says in the institutes 3-4-27 and here too two things demand our consideration that the honor which belongs to Christ should be preserved to him entire and undiminished and that consciences assured of the pardon of their sins should have peace with God so there are two things that are important that the honor that belongs to Christ should be preserved and that sinners should have peace with God now Calvin's whole problem with Rome is summed up in these two guiding principles the whole problem with Rome is that their view of salvation doesn't give all the honor to Christ and doesn't give sinners peace of conscience that's the problem that sums it all up for Calvin the honor of Christ first of all maintaining the glory of the Lord involves entirely renouncing

30:20 all glory of our own this renunciation is in order to giving all praise for righteousness to the Lord compare the institution to the glory of God and the glory of the Lord and the glory of the Lord and the glory of the Lord and the glory of the Lord and the glory of the Lord for both these thoughts thus indeed it is we never truly glory in him until we have utterly discarded our own glory it must therefore be regarded as a universal proposition that whoso glories in himself glories against God let no man here allege that he does not glory when without arrogance he recognizes his own righteousness such a recognition cannot take place without generating confidence nor such confidence without begetting boasting let us remember therefore that in the whole discussion concerning justification the great thing to be attended to is that God's glory be maintained entire and unimpaired the sum is that men cannot claim a single particle of righteousness to himself without at the same time detracting from the glory of the divine righteousness now understand what Calvin is saying here he's not saying that we can never say to ourselves in that situation outwardly at least and with some measure of heart I did what was right no what he's saying is we can never we can never say that our righteousness is any part of our standing before God without taking glory to ourselves and if we do that then

31:49 we have detracted from God's glory inevitably the peace of conscience this involves the same two things the destruction of all hope and our own righteousness and the destruction of all hope and our own righteousness and the destruction of all hope and the setting of all hope on Christ's righteousness the institutes 313.3 if we now inquire in what way the conscience can be quieted as in the view of God we shall find that the only way is by having righteousness bestowed upon us freely by the gift of God he first infers that faith is made void if the promise of righteousness has respect to the merit of works or depends on the observance of the law never could anyone rest securely in it for now Never could he feel fully assured that he had fully satisfied the law. The conclusion must be this. Both the honor of Christ and the peace of our consciences demand a righteousness wholly apart from our works, grounded in Christ's work alone. Now, all of this, however, leads us to several questions that, if you have been thinking, embracing, analyzing what's being said, you ought to have about now.

Excursus: Calvin, Faith, and Assurance of Salvation

33:11 And so I want to here give you an excursus on Calvin's view of faith at the conclusion of this lecture. In the next lecture, I'm going to give you an excursus on Calvin's understanding of faith alone for justification. All right?

33:30 The preceding lectures raise a number of questions, which deserve more careful answers than could be given in the previous context. This excursus is intended to answer three such questions.

33:44 And I've combined the second two under the second heading here. So the first one has to do with Calvin faith and the assurance of salvation. And the second one has to do with Calvin faith and repentance and regeneration. First of all, Calvin faith and assurance.

34:02 By way of introduction, R.T. Kendall in Calvin and English Calvinism to 1649 claims on pages 5 to 9 that faith is equivalent to assurance, that is, assurance of salvation for Calvin. He asserts the Puritans radically altered the gospel by separating faith and assurance and connecting assurance with the so-called evidences or marks of grace manifested in human will, acts, and deeds.

34:32 This is connected with his view that Calvin held universal atonement, that faith is simply believing this, that Christ died for you. So Kendall holds an intellectualist view of faith. He says as long as you can conceive in your mind that Christ died for you, this is true faith. And, of course, it's assurance of salvation at the same time.

34:55 Believing that Christ died for you and you are saved is what it means to have faith. Now, Paul Helm replied, to Kendall in a book entitled Calvin and the Calvinist. There are also other replies to Kendall as well, published by Banner of Truth, one entitled No Holiness, No Heaven.

35:16 But Helm replied to Kendall in a book entitled Calvin and the Calvinist, in which he argued, pages 23 to 30, that Calvin did not believe that assurance was of the essence of faith. According to Helm, Calvin only meant that all faith should ideally include, I respect Paul Helm a lot. I actually, many years ago, wrote him a letter about this, though, because I think he's actually wrong about Kelvin. But he's certainly not wrong in his critique of Kendall, but he's wrong in his understanding of Kelvin.

35:49 So let me just deal with this. First of all, Kelvin and Kendall. Kelvin's view is not hospitable to that of Kendall. You know who R.T. Kendall was, right?

35:59 He was the successor of Martin Lloyd-Jones at Westminster Chapel. Okay?

36:05 Sadly enough, because he departed from Lloyd-Jones' theology in several respects, including what we're talking about here. Leaving aside the very problematic thesis that Kelvin actually believed in universal atonement,

36:21 there are clear signs that Kelvin would have vigorously disagreed with Kendall. He taught first the reality of struggles with assurance in the believer.

36:31 You can note the following quotations. From the Institutes, 3215. The certainty which it requires must be full and decisive, as is usual in regard to matters ascertained and proved. So deeply rooted in our hearts is unbelief, so prone are we to it, that while all confess with lips that God is faithful, no man ever believes it without arduous struggle.

36:55 Especially when brought to the test, we by our wavering betray the vice which lurked within. Nor is it without cause that the Holy Spirit bears, for such distinguished testimony to the authority of God, in order that it may cure the disease of which I have spoken, and induce us to give full credit to the divine promises. So, I mean, first of all, the problem with Kendall's thesis is that Kelvin believed that Christians could struggle with faith, and with their assurance they could struggle with doubt. No man ever believes it without an arduous struggle, he says.

37:29 3217. When we inculcate that faith ought to be certain and secure, we conceive not of a certainty attended with no doubt. Are you saying, Kelvin, that faith is certain knowledge, and therefore believers never have doubts? No, Kelvin says, I'm not saying that.

37:44 We don't conceive of a certainty attended with no doubt, or of a security interrupted by no anxiety, but we rather affirm that believers have a perpetual conflict with their own diffidence, and are far from placing their consciences in a placid calm, never disturbed by any storms. Yet, on the other hand, we deny, however, that, however they may be afflicted, that they ever fall and depart from that certain confidence which they have conceived in the divine mercy. So, yes, that certain confidence is disturbed by doubts and fears, surrounded by them. But it exists, says Kelvin, and it is in that certain confidence, that certain knowledge of the gospel, that our faith consists, though it is a tender with many doubts and struggles. 3218. To render this intelligible is necessary to recur to that division of the flesh and spirit, which we noticed in another place, in which most clearly discovers itself in this case. The pious heart perceives the division in itself, being partly affected with delight through a knowledge of the divine goodness, partly distressed with sorrow through a sense of its own calamity, partly relying on the promise of the gospel, partly trembling at the evidence of its own iniquity, partly exalting in the apprehension of life, partly alarmed by the fear of death.

38:59 This variation happens through the imperfection of faith, since we are never so happy during the present life as to be cured of all diffidence and entirely filled and possessed by faith. But if in the mind of a believer assurance be mixed with doubt, do we not always come to this point that faith consists not in a certain and clear, but only in an obscure or perplexed knowledge of the divine will respecting us? Not at all, says Kelvin, because though it's a tender by all these doubts, what it is, is certain knowledge of God's benevolence, and the benevolence toward us. Kelvin also taught in the second place the importance of evidences and assurance for the believers.

39:41 Evidences and assurance for the believers, 324.4. Therefore, as those are in error who make the power of election dependent on the faith by which we perceive that we are elected, so we shall follow the best order if, in seeking the certainty of our election, we can get cleave to those posterior signs which are sure attestations to, Let our method of inquiry, then, be to begin with the calling of God and to end with it. What Kelvin means by calling is the fruits of that calling manifest in our lives.

40:15 Kelvin then proceeds to discuss this special calling of God as the sign of election. He makes clear in a lengthy passage that embracing Christ by faith is the first clear sign of this calling. But he proceeds in 324.8 to note a second sign of this special call.

40:31 I admit that this branch of the parable, is to be understood of those who, by a profession of faith, enter the church, but are not at all invested with the sanctification of Christ. Remember the man who came in without the wedding garment? That's what he's talking about. Such disgraces to his church, such cankers God will not always tolerate, but will cast them forth as their turpitude deserves.

40:52 Few, then, out of the great number of called, are chosen. The calling, however, not being of that kind which enables believers to judge of their election. The former call is common to the wicked. The latter brings with it the spirit of regeneration.

41:06 That is to say, repentance, the new life, which is the earnest and seal of the future inheritance by which our hearts are sealed unto the day of the Lord. That's Kelvin and Kendall. I've said two things. Kelvin certainly didn't teach that faith was assurance of salvation in the sense that it was never attended with doubts.

41:28 And he certainly didn't teach that evidences have nothing to do with assurance of salvation. He taught neither of those things, both of which Kendall taught. All right? But now we come to Kelvin and Helm.

41:42 At the same time, I am not persuaded that Helm fully understands Kelvin's view of faith and assurance. I am convinced that Kelvin actually taught, hold on to your hats, that assurance of salvation was involved in faith, i.e., was of the essence of faith.

42:02 And you can see that. And you see the places. 3-2-6. For the apprehension of faith is not confined to our knowing that there is a God, but chiefly consists in our understanding what is his disposition towards us.

42:18 3-2-7. Therefore, we need a promise of grace to assure us that he is our propitious Father. Since we cannot approach him without it, and is it upon that alone that the human heart can securely depend? 3-2-15.

42:34 But very different is the meaning of full assurance, which is always attributed to faith in the scriptures, and which places the goodness of God that is clearly revealed to us beyond all doubt. This boldness arises only from a certain confidence of the divine benevolence and our salvation, which is so true faith is frequently used for confidence. 3-2-16. In short, no man is truly a believer unless he be firmly persuaded that God is a propitious God.

43:02 He is a propitious and benevolent Father to him and promises himself everything from his goodness, unless he depends on the promises of the divine benevolence to him and feels an undoubted expectation of salvation. Well, that brings me, having talked about Calvin and Kendall and Calvin and Helm, to Calvin and Kelvin. The wrong assumption made by Helm is that a Christian cannot be assured of his salvation and have aHEBOLS.com, but theyTube.com.

43:33 have a lack of assurance at the same time. As Helm assumes that if you have a lack of assurance, you don't have assurance. But that assumption is actually not true. Kelvin did not make the assumption that assurance and lack of assurance were mutually exclusive.

43:53 In Kelvin's view of faith and assurance, paradoxical though it may seem to us, one might have, and yet struggle with assurance at the same time. But this paradox is reconciled by Kelvin himself.

44:11 And he does so in 3217, 18 and 19. When we inculcate that faith ought to be certain and secure, we conceive not of a certainty attended with no doubt, or of a certainty interrupted by no anxiety, but we rather from the believers have a perpetual conflict with their own diffidence, and are far from placing their consciences in a placid calm, never disturbed by any storms. Yet on the other hand, we deny however, that however they may be afflicted, that they ever fall and depart from that certain confidence which they have conceived in the divine mercy. 3218. To render this intelligible, it is necessary to recur to that division of the flesh and spirit, which we noticed in another place, and which most clearly discovers itself in this case. The pious heart proceeds of division in itself, being partly affected with delight, through a knowledge of the divine goodness, partly distressed with sorrow, through a sense of its own calamity, partly relying on the promise of the gospel, partly trembling at the evidence of its own iniquity, partly exalting in the apprehension of life, partly alarmed by the fear of death. This variation happens through the imperfection of faith, since we are never so happy during the present life as to be cured of all diffidence and entirely filled and possessed by faith. But if in the mind of a believer,

45:31 assurance be mixed with doubts, see, assurance be mixed with doubts, do we not always come to this point, that faith consists not in a certain and clear, but only in an obscure and perplexed knowledge of the divine will respecting us? Not at all. 3219. Let us sum it up thus. As soon as the smallest particle of grace is infused into our minds, we begin to contemplate the divine countenance as now placid, serene, propitious to us. It is indeed a very distant prospect, but so clear that we know we are not deceived. Now, let me just say, here's what I think Calvin is saying. Just as faith and doubt can coexist in the same soul, so also assurance of salvation and struggles with assurance of salvation can coexist in the same soul.

46:25 So Calvin's argument is that doubts and fears are no contradiction to the fact that a person still has a certain knowledge of the divine benevolence toward him. So it ought to be clear that Calvin is very far in many ways from Kendall's view of faith and assurance. He teaches that we shall have struggles of assurance all our life because of the imperfection of faith. This, however, does not mean that he is in every respect teaching the classic Puritan view, or that his thought fits into our accustomed categories.

47:00 For us, faith and assurance of salvation are two different things. I'm not even saying that they shouldn't be two different things. I'm just saying, we have to be honest about Calvin here, and I'm not sure Calvin made that distinction. Okay? In fact, I'm quite certain he didn't. Before we completely reject Calvin's paradox, however, we ought to remember that John Murray also taught that the presence of a germ of assurance accompanying all true faith. More importantly, does not the Bible indicate that all true believers possess the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba, Father? So, assurance and a lack of assurance are not mutually exclusive realities for the Christian. They are not

47:45 mutually exclusive for Calvin, because assurance itself is not an all or nothing matter. Conclusions. There is a certain discontinuity between Calvin's view and the classic Puritan view. The classic Puritan view is stated in the Westminster Confession of Faith in chapter 18, paragraph 3. Notice the italicized statements. This infallible assurance does not so belong to the essence of faith, but that a true believer may wait long and conflict with many difficulties before he be partaker of it. I don't think Calvin could have said that. He would have said that.

48:25 He'd agreed with the spirit of it, but I don't think he would have said that. There is a certain ambiguity in Calvin's view between personal appropriation and assurance, i.e., between assurance regarding God's promise and assurance regarding our compliance.

48:43 And here, I'll just say this because I don't dare not say it. Biblically, I think there is a distinction that I think maybe Calvin overlooks between the assurance of faith and the assurance of hope, or put it this way, assurance that God's promise is true and assurance that I have complied with the conditions of God's promise. I think in the Bible, those are two different kinds of assurance, and I think that Calvin probably overlooked that distinction. This ambiguity in Calvin is not to be wholly followed or emulated since saying, I will be saved if I comply with the gospel is not the same as saying, I have complied with the gospel and will be saved. Faith and assurance of salvation. are not equivalent in my view, although I think they were in Calvin's. Faith is commitment to Christ.

49:42 Assurance is certainty of being in Christ. I think those are two different things. But I don't think my views should disguise what Calvin actually said and taught. There is a certain validity in Calvin's view.

49:56 As I have said above, it is not appropriate to define faith as essentially or primarily assurance of salvation. I think that is a terrible mistake. But this is what Calvin, I think, intended to do. Biblical faith is not essentially assurance. It is believing commitment.

50:14 Nonetheless, there is a certain element of truth in Calvin's view. It reminds us that assurance of salvation is not separable from faith. Hope is a mark of all true Christians. The spirit of adoption is possessed by all true Christians.

50:30 And assurance of salvation is of the essence of hope and is of the essence of the ministry of the spirit of adoption. A degree of assurance, or in John Murray's word, a germ of assurance, will thus accompany all true faith even though it is not identical with faith. Now, am I drawing two finer distinctions for you? Well, I'm sorry, but I think these distinctions are really crucially important in the way we preach the gospel.

50:59 Calvin does helpfully remind us that assurance of salvation is not an all-or-nothing kind of thing. I think too often people, when they talk about assurance, is, you either have it or you don't. Well, I'm sorry. I think people have varying degrees of it.

51:13 I think it's capable of various degrees. If, as I believe the Bible teaches, the biblical word for assurance of salvation is hope, and hope is a grace that may be possessed in various degrees, then I think assurance of salvation is a grace that may be possessed in various degrees. It varies in relation to the strength of faith and other factors. Wow, okay.

Excursus: Calvin, Repentance, and Regeneration Terminology

51:46 But I need to this is not working out well. I want to take this, I've been short on a lot of lectures this semester. This one may go a little longer. Keep your questions about what we were just talking about in your minds, because now I need to answer a second set of questions regarding Calvin's use of the terms repentance and regeneration.

52:11 The Reformed tradition began with a most appropriate reaction to Roman Catholic legalism in the teaching of Martin Luther and John Calvin. Far from striving to chart a separate course, John Calvin was, in most respects, a faithful follower and careful systematizer of Luther and his insights into the Christian gospel. Nowhere is this more true than in Calvin's doctrine of justification sola fidei. Arguably, Calvin's entire treatment of the way of salvation or ordo salutis in the Institutes treats the subject in the interest and in the light of justification sola fidei.

52:52 I've attempted to graphically present this teaching on the subject as follows. Some of you have seen that chart before. Holy Spirit creates faith in Christ. Union with Christ imparts forgiveness of sins.

53:07 On the one hand, in other words, justification, and on the other hand imparts repentance, regeneration, or sanctification, that is to say, a moral renewal of life. Now, that should be familiar. Calvin begins his teaching on the way of salvation by affirming that the Holy Spirit creates faith in Christ. This is his principal work.

53:32 In this way, the Spirit and faith unite the believer to Christ and to all the benefits of redemption to be found in Him. The two great benefits of salvation to be found in Christ are forgiveness of sins and moral renewal. In other words, justification and sanctification. Moral renewal is variously termed repentance, regeneration, and sanctification by Calvin. Calvin divides sanctification or moral renewal into mortification and vivification. Forgiveness, of sins, or justification is the other great blessing possessed in union with Christ, though it is treated second in order. It is, he says, the main hinge on which religion turns. Justification also has two sides or aspects.

54:18 It is both forgiveness of sins and a gracious acceptance of our persons by God. While justification is forensic and has to do with our status or standing before God, repentance, also called regeneration or sanctification, has to do with moral renewal. Now, Calvin's terminology for moral renewal is crucial for our purposes. Calvin terms this blessing sanctification, but more controversially, he calls it regeneration and repentance.

54:50 And this means that when he calls it this, regeneration is seen as following faith. Just as he sees repentance as logically subsequent to faith. And of course, that raises enormous questions in the mind of modern-day Calvinists. Does Calvin really think that regeneration follows faith? For many people, the whole essence of Calvinism is to say that regeneration precedes faith. Now, insight into Calvin's way of looking at repentance and regeneration is found in 331 of the Institutes. Here he explicitly says that repentance is the fruit of faith. I've read that paragraph to you before, and I'm not going to read it again.

55:40 Calvin sees repentance and regeneration as intimately bound up together. They are the human responsibility side and the divine power side of the same thing. Okay? Repentance and regeneration.

55:57 Therefore, in a word, I interpret repentance as regeneration, whose sole end is to restore in us the image of God. Repentance and regeneration occupy precisely the same place in Calvin's order and are the same thing. Repentance looks at this blessing of union with Christ from the human side while regeneration looks at it from the divine side. Calvin sums up.

56:18 Let us sum these up. Calvin, Christ was given to us by God's generosity to be grasped and possessed by us in faith. By partaking of him, we principally receive a double grace, namely that being reconciled to God through Christ, blamelessness, we may have in heaven instead of a judge a gracious Father, and secondly, that sanctified by Christ's Spirit, we may cultivate blamelessness and purity of life. Of regeneration, indeed, the second of these gifts I have said what seems sufficient.

56:51 Thus Calvin plainly teaches in the Institutes that repentance and regeneration logically follow and are the procurement of faith. It is clear that he does so because he regards them as synonymous with what we call ongoing sanctification. Since this is so, it would defy justification sola fidei to allow either repentance or regeneration to perceive or even be logically coincident with faith in the order of Salutus. It would actually be legalism in Calvin's view because to say that repentance and regeneration precedes faith is to say that we have to do good works and live a morally renewed lifestyle in order to become a Christian, which is legalism and Rome for Calvin.

57:31 So, since this is so, it would defy justification sola fidei to allow either repentance or regeneration to proceed or even be logically coincident with faith in the order of Salutus. They must be its consequence. They must be gifts bestowed through that faith which unites us with Christ. Calvinists today think that regeneration preceding faith is a sine qua non of Calvinism.

57:57 But we must not wonder if Calvin had Arminian tendencies. In Calvin and the Reformed tradition, however, regeneration has a range of meaning broader than that act of the Holy Spirit, which is the inception of faith. On the other hand, the origin of faith was designated by effectual calling. Furthermore, Calvin, at other points in his writings, makes clear that he is aware that regeneration may be used as descriptive of the Spirit giving faith.

58:26 And you notice Calvin's interesting comments in his commentary on the Gospel of John at 1.13. It may be thought the evangelists revere the natural order by making regeneration to precede faith, whereas, on the contrary, it is an effect of faith and therefore ought to be placed later. I reply that both statements perfectly agree.

58:48 The illumination of our minds by the Holy Spirit belongs to our renewal, and thus faith flows from regeneration as from its source. But since it is by the same faith that we receive Christ who sanctifies us by His Spirit, on that account it is said to be the beginning of our adoption. Now the solution, still more plain and easy, may be offered. For when the Lord breathes faith into us, He regenerates us by some method that is hidden and unknown to us. But after we have received faith, we perceive by a lively feeling of conscience not only the grace of adoption, but also the newness of life and the other gifts of the Holy Spirit. This is what Calvin is saying. Calvin is saying that regeneration may be used in two different ways. It may be used as the act of the Holy Spirit that is the inception of faith, but that's a secret work that goes on in the heart.

59:38 The outward manifestation of it, of this renewal, follows faith and must follow faith. But what about faith and repentance? Calvin's view that faith precedes repentance. Must we, without further discussion, ascribe the view of the merrill men who argue that faith precedes repentance?

59:58 See John Colquhoun's book on repentance. Though he makes repentance follow faith in the institutes, statements which qualify this perspective occur in his writings. Just as statements which qualify the idea that regeneration follows faith occur in his other writings, so also do it in his other writings. Are there statements that say that repentance, that qualify this idea that repentance follows faith?

60:24 Calvin, commenting on Psalm 130, verse 4, asserts that repentance is a preparation unto faith. When he does so, however, he is careful to make clear that this repentance is not a transformed lifestyle. It's not a transformed lifestyle that is a preparation unto faith. And this preparation unto faith, this repentance which is the preparation unto faith does not consist in good works. In fact, it consists in the very opposite. Calvin describes it, this repentance, as a lively sense of the judgment of God. Shame and fear and self-dissatisfaction.

61:09 So, tensions exist in Calvin on the relation of repentance and soul of a day, which will arise time after time, the tradition flowing from Calvin. These tensions arise in Calvin, however, because of a commitment to guard justification, soul of a day, from deductions from the doctrine of repentance, which are too easy to draw, very common, and terribly misleading. Well, that concludes Lecture 2. Finally, I gave up, and I feel completely guiltless about it.

Questions and Clarifications on Calvin's Terminology

61:49 Alright, questions, interpretations,

61:55 clarifications?

61:59 When Calvin says what precedes what? Well, whenever he would use faith precedes, he meant logically, not chronologically. He would have allowed no faith to be genuine that was not, that was devoid of repentance. That is to say, a transformed lifestyle. So, no faith that was unaccompanied by a transformed lifestyle would have been regarded by Calvin as genuine faith. So, yeah, he would have said that though faith, and he did say in the Institute, that though faith logically precedes repentance and regeneration, it is inseparable from them. Yes, Dave? Don't we believe that we are dead in our trespasses and sins?

62:54 How much ability do dead men have to do anything at all?

62:59 None whatsoever. Calvin thought they had no ability whatsoever to do anything good.

63:09 I don't understand the problem then. To me, it's very simple. If God doesn't regenerate at first, we cannot do anything. That's right.

63:19 And Calvin would have agreed with you, but the problem is the way he used the word regeneration. In substance, he would have agreed with you. He would have said, he did say, said it very clearly in the very first paragraph of Book 3, that it's the Holy Spirit that makes the difference between men and giving some men faith and not other men. Okay? The problem is that we use the term regeneration almost exclusively to refer to that act by which we are dead. By which the Holy Spirit gives men faith. Calvin did not use the word that way. He used it of the transformed lifestyle that flowed out of faith in Christ.

64:04 Now, when you use it that way, you have to say it the way Calvin did. You have to say that a regenerate lifestyle can only come through faith in Christ. Okay? You cannot say that a regenerate lifestyle is what gives us faith in Christ.

64:20 But what he meant by regeneration was a regenerate lifestyle. A more moral renewal of life. So, the confusion here is Calvin's peculiar way of using the word, well, not only the word regeneration, but also the word repentance in the Institutes. And that's why it's important to realize that in his commentaries and other places, he qualified the way he used those words in the Institutes.

64:49 At the same time, I think it's good to go into this because it's important to understand, it's crucial to understand, I think, that Calvin's whole approach to this thing is intended to guard justification by faith alone. To make sure that under the guise of repentance, under the guise of the work of the Spirit, justification sola fidei would not be undermined. And it can be undermined that way. And it is being undermined that way today.

65:31 Okay.

65:36 That's a good thing to be able to say, isn't it? John Ferguson asks, so Calvin uses regeneration in two different ways. One is repentance and another is the work of the Spirit creating faith. Yes, John, that is, that's, I think I'd rather say it this way, but I think you're essentially correct.

65:58 He uses both regeneration and repentance in two different ways. In one way, he uses them in the Institutes to speak of the lifestyle created by the moral renewal of the Holy Spirit in the Institutes, but he also uses both to speak of the work of the Spirit that brings men to faith in Christ, and he uses the words that way in his commentaries and acknowledges that those uses of the words are appropriate.

66:33 No, I don't think so. I think you can find in the early Reformed and Lutheran confessions of faith, parallel usages of the term regeneration, and particularly you can find the idea that God gives the Holy Spirit to faith, and it's this Holy Spirit that creates the new man, the new lifestyle. In the Christian, that is actually asserted in a number of Reformed and Lutheran confessions just that way. So no, I don't think he's unique, but his using the words this way has led to enormous controversies. And later on, combating what they felt was a kind of legalism and Scottish Presbyterianism, the Merrill men are going to, to revert to Calvin's idea and insist vehemently that faith precedes repentance. However, you have to know that you can find statements in Andrew Fuller and Martin Lloyd-Jones and A.W. Pink that

67:49 are just as clearly say that repentance logically precedes faith. At the end of the day, my own view is that trying to create any kind of precedence between repentance, and faith, logical or otherwise, is impossible. We are only saved by a repenting faith and by a believing repentance. I think John Murray frankly gets it right when he says it's not possible or profitable to speak of those things that way.

68:25 That they are coeval, is that the right word? They come together and one never is present. Without the other, logically or temporarily. Yeah, Siamese twins.

68:39 Siamese twins. Yes, Dave? I would be surprised to know this if we study John Calvin and come to conclusions about what he believed. That's right.

68:56 If someone comes to a conclusion just without qualification, he thinks that faith's ... ...

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