Firm Conviction that God is Kindly and Well-Disposed
I haven’t blogged about reading through Calvin’s Institutes for awhile (probably because I’m SO behind in my “read through the Institutes in a year” plan).
(BTW—Do you think an exhausted, drugged from surgery new mom could possibly hold up that giant book and read/catch up in the hospital recovering from a c-section? Probably not, I’m thinkin’.)
But today I was reading in Hall and Lillback’s “A Theological Guide to Calvin’s Institutes” and quotes like these have thoroughly enticed me to get back in the saddle and continue reading the actual Institutes, even though I’m so behind schedule for reading through them in one year:
“Yet we must not understand that Christ fell under a curse that overwhelmed him; rather—in taking the curse upon himself—he crushed, broke, and scattered its whole force. Hence faith apprehends an acquittal in the condemnation of Christ, a blessing in his curse. Paul with good reason, therefore, magnificently proclaims the triumph that Christ obtained for himself on the cross, as if the cross, which was full of shame, had been changed into a triumphant chariot [Col. 2:14-15]!”
“Briefly, he alone is a true believer, who convinced by a firm conviction that God is a kindly and well-disposed Father toward him, promises himself all things on the basis of his generosity; who, relying upon the promises of divine benevolence toward him, lays hold on an undoubted expectation of salvation …” [3.2.16]