True Calvinism explains and defends the doctrines of the Bible rediscovered by Luther, and the Reformers.
The gospel is a declaration of how God can reconcile sinners t... MoreTrue Calvinism explains and defends the doctrines of the Bible rediscovered by Luther, and the Reformers.
The gospel is a declaration of how God can reconcile sinners to himself without violating his justice.
Now we must also hold that all who corrupt pure religion — and this is sure to happen when each is given to his own opinion — separate themselves from the one and only God. Indeed, they will boast tha... View MoreNow we must also hold that all who corrupt pure religion — and this is sure to happen when each is given to his own opinion — separate themselves from the one and only God. Indeed, they will boast that they have something else in mind; but what they intend, or what they have persuaded themselves of, has not much bearing on the matter, seeing that the Holy Spirit pronounces them all to be apostates who in the blindness of their own minds substitute demons in place of God [1 Corinthians 10:20]. For this reason, Paul declares that the Ephesians were without God until they learned from the gospel what it was to worship the true God [Ephesians 2:12-13]. And this must not be restricted to one people, since elsewhere he states generally that all mortals “became vain in their reasonings” [Romans 1:21] after the majesty of the Creator had been disclosed to them in the fashioning of the universe. For this reason, Scripture, to make place for the true and only God, condemned as falsehood and lying whatever of divinity had formerly been celebrated among the heathen; nor did any divine presence remain except on Mt. Zion, where the proper knowledge of God continued to flourish [Habakkuk 2:18, 20]. Certainly among the pagans in Christ’s lifetime the Samaritans seemed to come closest to true piety; yet we hear from Christ’s mouth that they knew not what they worshiped [John 4:22]. From this it follows that they were deluded by vain error.
-John Calvin