True knowledge of God is never something we invent, negotiate, or outgrow—it is something we are born with and spend our lives trying, often unsuccessfully, to suppress. In this reading from Calvin, we are confronted with the claim that every human being carries an implanted sense of God, a sensus divinitatis, placed there by God Himself and continually renewed so that no one can plead ignorance. Calvin argues that the universality of religion, the persistence of idolatry, and even the restless conscience of God’s fiercest mockers all testify to this inescapable knowledge. Though the human heart corrupts and distorts what it knows of God, it can never fully erase it; even rebellion presupposes the reality it resists. Calvin presses the point further by showing that this knowledge of God is not meant for speculation but for worship, obedience, and reverent fear, and that when it fails to lead us to honor God, it becomes vain—marking not only moral failure but a failure to live toward the very end for which we were created (Romans 1:19–21; Psalm 14:1).

Readings:

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

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