Today we reach the sobering and fitting conclusion of the First Book of Calvin’s Institutes, where divine providence is defended against its most serious objections—not by speculation, but by Scripture itself. Calvin confronts the claim that God must either have contradictory wills or be the author of sin, insisting that such objections are ultimately aimed at the Holy Spirit, who openly declares that God “has done whatsoever he has pleased” (Psalm 115:3) and that even Christ’s crucifixion occurred by God’s “definite plan and foreknowledge” (Acts 2:23; Acts 4:28). The error, Calvin explains, lies in confusing God’s will with God’s command: God may will an event for righteous purposes while forbidding the sinful intentions through which it is carried out. Thus Absalom’s rebellion, Jeroboam’s rise, and Judas’s betrayal were all condemned acts that nevertheless fulfilled God’s just and unchanging counsel. Drawing heavily on Augustine, Calvin shows that God judges not merely actions, but wills—so the same deed may display God’s righteousness and man’s guilt at once. To reject this teaching because it exceeds human understanding is not humility but pride; true wisdom is to submit with reverence to what God has revealed, even when it humbles us (Isaiah 14:27; 1 Timothy 6:16).

John Calvin — Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 1, Chapter 18 (Sections 3–4)

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