John Calvin Quotes
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The Scriptures should be read with the aim of finding Christ in them. Whoever turns aside from this object, even though he wears himself out all his life in learning, he will never reach the knowledge of the truth.
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Let us fall before the majesty of our great God, acknowledging our faults, and praying that he will make us ever more conscious of them.
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We may also fitly remember that Satan has his miracles, which, though they are deceitful tricks rather than true powers, are such a sort as to mislead the simple-minded and untutored Thes, 2:9-10 ... Idolatry has been nourished by wonderful miracles, yet these are not sufficient to sanction the superstition either of magicians or of idolators.
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While sin is overflowing, grace pours itself forth so exuberantly, that it not only overcomes the flood of sin, but wholly absorbs it.
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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.
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For even if the Word in His immeasurable essence united with the nature of man into one person, we do not imagine that He was confined therein. Here is something marvellous: the Son of God descended from heaven in such a way that, without leaving heaven, He willed to be borne in the virgin's womb, to go about the earth, and to hang upon the cross; yet He continuously filled the world even as He had done from the beginning.
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Joy is a quiet gladness of heart as one contemplates the goodness of God's saving grace in Christ Jesus.
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Christ's intercession is the continual application of his death to our salvation.
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The fire of affliction reveals the quality of our faith.
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If there had been any unbelief in Mary, that could not prevent God from accomplishing his work in any other way which he might choose. But she is called blessed, because she received by faith the blessing offered to her, and opened up the way to God for its accomplishment.
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All true knowledge of God is born out of obedience.
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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.
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We should ask God to increase our hope when it is small, awaken it when it is dormant, confirm it when it is wavering, strengthen it when it is weak, and raise it up when it is overthrown.
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We are nowhere forbidden to laugh, or be satisfied with food...or to be delighted with music or to drink wine.
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When God designs to forgive us he changes our hearts and turns us to obedience by His Spirit.
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The Eucharist is the Sacrament of Love; It signifies Love, It produces love. The Eucharist is the consummation of the whole spiritual life.
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We cannot rely on God's promises without obeying his commandments.
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We must always speak of the efficacy of the ministry in such a manner that the entire praise of the work may be reserved for God alone.
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The Lord commands us to do good unto all men without exception, though the majority are very undeserving when judged according to their own merits. But scripture here helps us out with an excellent argument when it teaches us that we must not think of man's real value, but only of his creation in the image of God to which we owe all possible honor and love.
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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.
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There cannot be a surer rule, nor a stronger exhortation to the observance of it, than when we are taught that all the endowments which we possess are divine deposits entrusted to us for the very purpose of being distributed for the good of our neighbour.
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God works in his elect in two ways: inwardly, by his Spirit; outwardly, by his Word.
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In forming an estimate of sins, we are often imposed upon by imagining that the more hidden the less heinous they are.
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Men are idol factories.