Counting the cost, closing the loop, and Calvin's Institutes

Somewhere, Someone said something about "counting the cost."  That would be in the New Testament, Jesus speaking, and specifically Luke 14:28-33.  In the context, Jesus teaches about counting the cost of discipleship.  He used the metaphors of someone building a tower, or a king going to war, and failing to consider whether they would be able to follow through and bring it to completion.  Alas, a less universal metaphor might be a church-planting pastor naively planning to post blogs on Calvin's Institutes without first counting the cost. 

So, here I am, confessing my failure to my faithful blog readers (i.e., brother Nathan!).  But I thought I would close the loop in a hopefully helpful way.  I am continuing my re-study of the Institutes, using a very helpful book:  Analysis of the Institutes of the Christian Religion of John Calvin, by Ford Lewis Battles (published by P&R).   Battles was an important 20th Calvin scholar and English translator of the Institutes.

For those who are reviewing Calvin's magnum opus, or are just starting their journey, this book is an indispensable companion.  It's essentially an analytical outline of the Institutes, and serves as a clear guide to Calvin's thought.   The outline is thorough - the book is 421 pages long!  But it is also concise when compared to the 1700+ pages of the two volume Library of Christian Classics edition of the Institutes.

Here's an example of the work.  This is Battles' outline for Book 1, Chapter 1 of Calvin's work:

Chapter 1:  The Knowledge of God and That of Ourselves Are Connected, and How They Are Interrelated

1. Without knowledge of self there is no knowledge of God
  a. our real wisdom is confined almost entirely to
    (1) knowledge of God
    (2) knowledge of ourselves
  b. our rich blessings, acknowledged as from God, reveal our poverty and
      ruin which in turn compel us to look Godward
    (1) to seek what we lack
    (2) to learn humility
  c. we cannot seriously aspire to knowledge of God before we begin to
      become displeased with ourselves.

2. Without knowledge of God there is no knowledge of self
  a. if we hypocritically confine our contemplation to ourselves and do not
      go beyond to contemplate God, we complacently laud our own virtues
  b. but the moment our thoughts rise to God and His excellencies, we see
      our "virtues" as wicked, foolish, and weak

3. Man before God's majesty
  a. scriptural examples of man's painful awareness of his lowly state when
      confronted by God's majesty:  Job, Abraham, Elijah, etc.
  b. proposed order of teaching:
    (1) knowledge of God
    (2) knowledge of ourselves

So take up & read!

Comments

[Nathan]

Alright brother, let's keep you posting, or at least try. You can go on with the Calvin bit, which would be just fine, and possibly great, or you could take up a different task. I've been thinking about a bunch of different characteristics of God's character that folks don't usually talk or even think about. Consider Psalm 18 where God is the great deceiver. He deceives the perverse. Or how about in the first few Proverbs where God is personified in Wisdom, more specifically, probably Jesus. In, I think it is chapter 8 or 9, wisdom laughs and mocks at the one who had rejected her grace but now in the time of calamity seeks for help. It seems that when we break God down into "attributes" and "characteristics" we loose the personal aspect of who He is. We can describe a person's character, but to then attribute airtight categorical labels to the person, we will probably distort the actual picture of the person.

If you were to describe God to someone, let's say anyone, a believer or non, how would you describe God from both scripture and personal interaction in your life?

[Nathan]

Alright brother, let's keep you posting, or at least try. You can go on with the Calvin bit, which would be just fine, and possibly great, or you could take up a different task. I've been thinking about a bunch of different characteristics of God's character that folks don't usually talk or even think about. Consider Psalm 18 where God is the great deceiver. He deceives the perverse. Or how about in the first few Proverbs where God is personified in Wisdom, more specifically, probably Jesus. In, I think it is chapter 8 or 9, wisdom laughs and mocks at the one who had rejected her grace but now in the time of calamity seeks for help. It seems that when we break God down into "attributes" and "characteristics" we loose the personal aspect of who He is. We can describe a person's character, but to then attribute airtight categorical labels to the person, we will probably distort the actual picture of the person.

If you were to describe God to someone, let's say anyone, a believer or non, how would you describe God from both scripture and personal interaction in your life?