Saturday, December 6, 2008

Book Club -- Institutes of the Christian Religion

It's not really me pouring the tea because I'm just quoting Calvin! I'm sitting here with my glass of water with no ice and my Institutes of the Christian Religion. It's a cold, bleak, December day around here...perfect for tea...or water with no ice.

In any event, while I was on vacation last week I was reading all about works, and righteousness, and justification by faith alone. So, I wanted to let you guys get a taste of this feast. So, pull up a chair to the tea table, and grab a glass of water with no ice and allow Calvin to pour your tea for you today. He's the head of our conversations this afternoon, on the mercies of the Lord in our daily lives. It's talk time!

"What righteousness then, can men obtain by their works? First, I say, that the best thing which can be produced by them is always tainted and corrupted by the impurity of the flesh, and has, as it were, some mixture of dross in it. Let the holy servant of God, I say, select from the whole course of his life the action which he deems most excellent, and let him ponder it in all its parts; he will doubtless find in it something that savors of the rottenness of the flesh, since our alacrity in well-doing is never what it ought to be, but our course is always retarded by much weakness....We thus see, that even saints cannot perform one work which, if judged on its own merits, is not deserving of condemnation."

"Being admitted to participation in Him, though we are still foolish, He is our Wisdom; though we are still sinners, He is our Righteousness; though we are unclean, He is our purity; though we are weak, unarmed and exposed to Satan, yet ours is the power which has been given Him in heaven and in earth, to bruise Satan under our feet, and burst the gates of Hell; though we still bear about with us a body of death, He is our life; in short, all things of His are ours, we have all things in Him, He nothing in us. On this foundation, I say, we must be built, if we would grow up into a holy temple in the Lord."

"[Righteousness] does not justify because it forms an idea of the divine existence, but because it reclines with confidence on the divine mercy."

"'When we speak of the perfect virtue of the saints, part of this perfection consists in the recognition of our imperfection both in truth and in humility.'" (quoting Augustine)

'Faithful is the Lord, who has made himself our debtor, not by receiving anything from us, but by promising us all things.'" (quoting Augustine)


I could keep going for forever....there are so many more that I would love to share. But, I will save them for another day's tea.

May the Lord bless your Lord's Day tomorrow, as you feast upon the great things He has prepared for you in His day!

Savoring all the Mercies of the Savior,

Miss Blair

1 comment:

Andrea van Eyk said...

You really are a fabulous writer. Very intriguing!