Calvin: Commentaries Author(s): Calvin, Jean Haroutunian, Joseph (Editor/Translator) Publisher: Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library Description: Selections from Calvin©s Commentaries, newly translated, and arranged by subject. Subjects: The Bible Works about the Bible i Contents Title Page 1 General Editors’ Preface 2 Preface 3 General Introduction 5 I. The Bible 55 II. The Knowledge of God 89 III. Jesus Christ 107 IV. The Christian Life 147 V. Faith 172 VI. Providence 201 VII. Election and Predestination 223 VIII. Ethics and the Common Life 242 IX. The Church 280 General Index 316 Indexes 317 Index of Scripture References 318 Greek Words and Phrases 322 Latin Words and Phrases 324 French Words and Phrases 325 Index of Pages of the Print Edition 326 ii This PDF file is from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library, www.ccel.org. The mission of the CCEL is to make classic Christian books available to the world. • This book is available in PDF, HTML, and other formats. 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Written permission is required for commercial use. iii Title Page Title Page CALVIN: COMMENTARIES THE LIBRARY OF CHRISTIAN CLASSICS Volume XXIII Newly translated and edited by JOSEPH HAROUTUNIAN, Ph.D., D.D. Cyrus H. McCormick Professor of Systematic Theology, McCormick Theological Seminary, Chicago, Illinois In collaboration with LOUISE PETTIBONE SMITH, A.M., Ph.D. Professor of Biblical History, Emeritus, Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts PHILADELPHIA THE WESTMINSTER PRESS First published MCMLVIII Library of Congress Catalog Card No.: 58–5060 9 1 General Editors' Preface General Editors’ Preface GENERAL EDITORS’ PREFACE The Christian Church possesses in its literature an abundant and incomparable treasure. But it is an inheritance that must be reclaimed by each generation. THE LIBRARY OF CHRISTIAN CLASSICS is designed to present in the English language, and in twenty-six volumes of convenient size, a selection of the most indispensable Christian treatises written prior to the end of the sixteenth century. The practice of giving circulation to writings selected for superior worth or special in- terest was adopted at the beginning of Christian history. The canonical Scriptures were themselves a selection from a much wider literature. In the Patristic era there began to appear a class of works of compilation (often designed for ready reference in controversy) of the opinions of well-reputed predecessors, and in the Middle Ages many such works were produced. These medieval anthologies actually preserve some noteworthy materials from works otherwise lost. In modern times, with the increasing inability even of those trained in universities and theological colleges to read Latin and Greek texts with ease and familiarity, the translation of selected portions of earlier Christian literature into modern languages has become more necessary than ever; while the wide range of distinguished books written in vernaculars such as English makes selection there also needful. The efforts that have been made to meet this need are too numerous to be noted here, but none of these collections serves the purpose of the reader who desires a library of representative treatises spanning the Christian centuries as a whole. Most of them embrace only the age of the Church Fathers, and some of them have long been out of print. A fresh translation of a work already translated may shed much new light upon its meaning. This is true even of Bible translations despite the work of many experts through the centuries. In some instances old translations have been adopted in this series, but wherever necessary or desirable, new ones have been made. Notes have been supplied where these were needed to explain the author’s meaning. The introductions 10 provided for the several treatises and extracts will, we believes furnish welcome guidance. JOHN BAILLIE JOHN T. MCNEILL HENRY P. VAN DUSEN 11 2 Preface Preface PREFACE In making this selection from Calvin’s Biblical Commentaries, our first intention was to use the translations of the Calvin Translation Society. However, it soon became clear that we had to make one of our own. For this there were two very good reasons. The older translation is about a hundred years old, and its style is no longer our own. Calvin’s Com- mentaries were composed by way of either lecture or dictation. Their Latin style, although uneven, has the vividness and directness of the spoken word. It is the style of a master of the language, and it is neither strange nor archaic. Therefore, it seemed to us unjust both to Calvin and to the reader to perpetuate English versions of the Commentaries that are both out of date and to us stilted. We have tried to make a translation which is at once true to the original and in good and vivid present-day English. It is too much to hope that we have succeeded in every passage we have selected. Any translator knows that fidelity in ex- pressing the meaning and feeling of an author in another tongue is a subtle and risky business. We only hope that we have produced a readable translation without doing Calvin undue violence. We wanted the reader to enjoy Calvin as well as understand him. We hope we have met with some, even if uneven, success. The older translations are from the hands of a number of scholars. Their English styles are different, and not of the same quality. Besides, the exegetical and theological predilections of the several translators have understandably colored their versions of the Latin text. In a selection like ours we would have had to put together, in immediate succession, passages with different styles and different adequacy as translations. This would have produced a book with a garbled and bewildering style. We made a new translation to avoid such an in- tolerable defect. We must say a word as to why we offer the reader this particular volume out of the vast body of Calvin’s Commentaries. We had no single principle of selection. We took what we 14 liked — rather, a small fraction of what we liked and would have included if we had had the space. We were intent upon giving the reader good specimens of Calvin’s way of explaining Biblical texts, to bring out his qualities as an exegete. We wanted to show his concern with literary and historical questions, his understanding of Scripture both as the Word of God and as a human document, his constant preoccupation with the upbuilding of the church. We could not and did not ignore present-day issues in the interpretation of the Bible in theology and practical church life. We did the best we could to include material in which Calvin can be of some help to the church today. We did our selecting with such interests in mind. However, we do hope that this book has a certain continuity which will convey a proper sense of the integrity of Calvin’s mind. Our organization of the material is one of many possible. The one we adopted seemed natural to us. We have not given special chapters to Calvin’s teachings on man, sin, the Holy 3 Preface Spirit, eschatology, politics. We had to choose between depth and spread, and we chose depth. We have much more material in hand, and someday we may be able to use it, especially if there is sufficient demand for it. I wish to express my gratitude to Prof. Louise P. Smith who collaborated with me, espe- cially in preparing the Old Testament passages. Her knowledge of Scripture and Calvin, her patience and good sense, her encouragement, have been invaluable in this laborious under- taking. I am also grateful to the editors and the publisher for their help, and to Mrs. George W. Baird who typed the major part of the manuscript. I wish to thank Rev. Kenneth M. Keeler and the First Presbyterian Church of Santa Fe, New Mexico, for giving me a study where I worked happily for seven months. My thanks are due also to Prof. Calvin Schmitt of the McCormick Theological Seminary Library for the bibliographical help he gave me, and to Prof. Edward A. Dowey, Jr., for his criticisms and suggestions, especially with regard to the Introduction. JOSEPH HAROUTUNIAN McCormick Theological Seminary, Chicago, Illinois 15 4 General Introduction General Introduction General Introduction CALVIN AS BIBLICAL COMMENTATOR In these translated selections from the Biblical Commentaries of Calvin, we have tried to produce a readable version of a representative part of his work in this field. The Com- mentaries were translated into English soon after they were published in the second half of the sixteenth century. (They were retranslated about the middle of the nineteenth century, by the Calvin Translation Society, Edinburgh, and have been reprinted in this second version.) They were also translated immediately into French and somewhat later into Dutch and German.