Institutes of the Christian Religion, Volume 2

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Calvin

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General Editors

John Baillie (1886–1960) served as President of the World Council of Churches, a member of the British Council of Churches, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, and Dean of the Faculty of Divinity at the University of Edinburgh. John T. McNeill (1885–1975) was Professor of the History of European Christianity at the University of Chicago and then Auburn Professor of Church History at Union Theological Seminary in New York. Henry P. Van Dusen (1897–1975) was an early and influential member of the World Council of Churches and served at Union Theological Seminary in New York as Roosevelt Professor of Systematic Theology and later as President.

the library of christian classics

Calvin Institutes of the Christian Religion volume two

Edited by

John T. McNeill Translated and indexed by

Ford Lewis Battles

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© 1960 The Westminster Press Reissued 2006 by Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville, Kentucky. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Westminster John Knox Press, 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202-1396. Cover design by designpointinc.com Published by Westminster John Knox Press Louisville, Kentucky This book is printed on acid-free paper that meets the American National Standards Institute Z39.48 standard. ? PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. ISBN-13: 978-0-664-22028-0 ISBN-10: 0-664-22028-2

CALVIN: INSTITUTES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION BOOKS III.XX TO IV.XX

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INSTITUTES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION

BOOK III

C H A P T E R XX PRAYER, WHICH IS THE CHIEF EXERCISE OF FAITH, AND BY WHICH W E DAILY RECEIVE GOD'S BENEFITS1

{The nature and value of prayer, 1-3) 1. Faith and prayer a From those matters so far discussed, we clearly see how destitute and devoid of all good things man is, and how he lacks all aids to salvation. Therefore, if he seeks resources to succor him in his need, he must go outside himself and get them elsewhere. It was afterward explained to us that the Lord willingly and freely reveals himself in his Christ. For in Christ he offers all happiness in place of our misery, all wealth in place of our neediness; in him he opens to us the heavenly treasures that our whole faith may contemplate his beloved Son, our whole expectation depend upon him, and our whole hope cleave to and rest in him. This, indeed, is that secret and hidden philosophy2 which cannot be wrested from syllogisms. But they whose eyes God has opened surely learn it by heart, that in his light they may see light [Ps. 36:9]. But after we have been instructed by faith to recognize that whatever we need and whatever we lack is in God, and in our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom the Father willed all the fullness of his bounty to abide [cf. Col. 1:19; John 1:16] so that we may all draw from it as from an overflowing spring, it remains for us to seek in him, and in prayers to ask of him, what we have learned to be in him. Otherwise, to know God as the master and bestower of all good things, who invites us to request them of him, and still not go to him and not ask of him—this would be of as little profit as for a man to neglect a treasure, buried and hidden in the earth, after it had been pointed out to him. Accordingly, the apostle, in order to show that true faith cannot be indifferent about calling upon God, has laid down this order: just as faith is born from the gospel, so through it our hearts are trained to 1

This thoughtful and ample chapter, with its tone of devout warmth, takes its place in the forefront of historically celebrated discussions of prayer, such as Tertullian's De oratione (CCL Tertullian I. 257-274; tr. ANCLXI. 178-204); Origen, nepieixvs (MPG 11. 415-562; tr. LCC II. 238-287; ACWXIX. 3-140); Gregory of Nyssa, On the Lord's Prayer (MPG 44. 1119-1194); and the short treatises of Augustine (MPL 47. 1113-1127) and of Hugh of St. Victor (MPL 176. 977-988). R. S. Wallace devotes a revealing chapter to Calvin's teaching on prayer, with citations from many of his works, in his Calvin's Doctrine of the Christian Life, pp. 271-295. 2 Cf. the note on Christian philosophy, p. 6, note 8; III. vii. 1, note 1, and the references to philosophers as a class in I. v. 12; I. xv. 6; III. vii. 2; III. vi. 1, 3; III. viii. 9.

CH. XX

THE WAY WE RECEIVE THE GRACE OF CHRIST

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call upon God's name [Rom. 10:14-17]. And this is precisely what he had said a little before: the Spirit of adoption, who seals the witness of the gospel in our hearts [Rom. 8:16], raises up our spirits to dare show forth to God their desires, to stir up unspeakable groanings [Rom. 8:26], and confidently cry, "Abba! Fatherl" [Rom. 8:15]. "Now we must more fully discuss this last point, since it was previously only mentioned in passing and, as it were, cursorily touched upon.3 2. The necessity of prayer b It is, therefore, by the benefit of prayer that we reach those riches which are laid up for us with the Heavenly Father. For there is a communion of men with God by which, having entered the heavenly sanctuary, they appeal to him in person concerning his promises in order to experience, where necessity so demands, that what they believed was not vain, although he had promised it in word alone. Therefore we see that to us nothing is promised to be expected from the Lord, which we are not also bidden t