Daily Devotional Reading (Audiobook)
*Edited Subtitles & Transcript
Chapter 1 The Knowledge of God
0:00 [1] The Knowledge of God
2:39 [2] Self-knowledge impossible without the knowledge of God
7:53 [3] An awareness of God is common to all
*The reference is to Cicero's essay ‘The Nature of the Gods’, I.16.43.
**Again, Cicero's ‘Nature of the Gods’ (I.42.118) appears to be Calvin's source. The idea is found, however, in other writers, including Plato (Laws, X.889E) and Sextus Empiricus (‘Against the Professors’, IX.54).
***Caligula, Roman emperor (A.D. 37-41), whose depravity and impious excesses, as recorded by Suetonius (‘Lives of the Caesars’, IV.51), were only matched by his bouts of superstitious terror.
13:16 [4] The seed of religion is perverted by self-will
16:05 [5] The twin evils of superstition and craven fear
*Lactantius, Christian apologist of the early fourth century, author of the Divine Institutes, a spirited attack on pagan beliefs and philosophy. Calvin probably has in mind his ‘Divine Institutes’, I.6.25; IV.2.5; IV.4.3.6-7.
**Calvin's Latin text of 1539 identifies the pagan poet as Statius (‘Thebaid’, III.661).
21:02 [6] What true godliness entails
*Plato, ‘Phaedo’, 107C; ‘Theaetetus’, 176B, where likeness to God is represented as the ultimate goal of the wise.
**Not an exact quotation, but an inference drawn from Odysseus' dialogue with Gryllus. Cf. Plutarch, ‘Moralia’, XII.992E.
25:30 [7] God revealed in his manifold works of creation
*Galen, Greek physician (second century A.D.), author of many works on anatomy and physiology, including the ‘De usu partium’ referred to here. He continued to be a recognised medical authority throughout the Middle Ages and well into the sixteenth century.
31:23 [8] God revealed in his works of providence
35:00 [9] God accessible to the heart
38:31 [10] Man is sadly blind to the message of God's works
*Plato, ‘Timaeus’, 33B.
45:46 [11] God's word is a necessary addition to his works
48:45 [12] God's truth accessible only through Scripture
51:21 [13] Scripture's authority is not determined by the church
*The notion of the church as the final interpreter and judge of Scripture was vigorously defended by contemporary Roman theologians, whose work Calvin knew well. Among them were Johannes Cochlaeus, De authoritate ecclesiae et scripturae (1524), and Johann Eck, Enchiridion locorum communium (I525, I532).
55:39 [14] Scripture is authenticated by the Holy Spirit’s inner witness
58:18 [15] Secondary proofs of Scripture's authority: its wisdom and truth
01:01:53 [16] Secondary proofs of Scripture's authority: the history of the church
01:06:08 [17] Error of the Spiritualists who abandon Scripture
*Calvin's preferred name for those who laid claim to special revelation of the Spirit was Libertines. The term describes a loose array of illuminists, enthusiasts and mystics, some perhaps with Anabaptist connections, but all impatient of a religion bound by the written word and a fixed creed. Cf. Calvin's later treatise, ‘Against the Sect of the Libertines Called Spiritual’ (1545).
01:10:42 [18] Scripture never a dead letter when joined to the grace of Christ
01:14:38 [19] Agreement of Scripture with the witness of creation
*The 1539 ‘Institutes’ read 'Jehovah'.
**The 'third title' is ‘Elohim’, transliterated from the Hebrew in the 1539 text.
***See below, Chapter 4, ‘Faith’
Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin
Robert White Translation (2014) (1541 edition)
