What happens to human freedom after the Fall? In today’s reading from Calvin’s Institutes, Book 2, Chapter 2, Calvin presses directly into one of the most uncomfortable questions in Christian theology: whether anything resembling free will truly remains once sin has done its work. Moving carefully between sloth and pride, Calvin critiques both pagan philosophers and well-meaning Christian theologians who tried to preserve human dignity by overstating human ability. Along the way, he exposes how easily “free will” becomes a theological placeholder rather than a carefully defined reality, showing why clarity here matters not only for doctrine, but for humility, grace, and the proper glory of God. This reading sets the stage for Calvin’s fuller account of the intellect, the will, and the depth of humanity’s dependence on divine mercy.

Readings:

John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 2, Chapter 2, Sections 1–4

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In these closing sections, Calvin presses the doctrine of original sin to its deepest and most uncomfortable conclusion: corruption does not merely touch the surface of human desire but penetrates the very center of the soul—mind, heart, and will alike. Sin has seized not only our appetites but the “citadel” of reason itself, blinding understanding and twisting judgment so thoroughly that nothing in us remains neutral or untouched (Romans 8:7; Ephesians 4:17–18). This devastation, however, must never be attributed to God as Creator. Calvin is careful here: our corruption is natural in the sense that it is inherited, but it is not original to creation. It is an alien infection, an adventitious wound introduced by Adam’s revolt, not a defect built into human nature by God (Ecclesiastes 7:29). Thus all attempts to blame God for human evil collapse. The fault lies wholly with our degeneration, not with divine workmanship. And by clarifying this, Calvin simultaneously dismantles both Pelagian optimism and Manichaean dualism: humanity is neither morally intact nor metaphysically evil. We are fallen creatures, naturally depraved yet still creatures of God, whose only hope is not repair but re-creation—nothing less than a new nature wrought by grace (Ephesians 2:3; Romans 12:2).

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In today’s reading, Calvin presses us into a kind of self-knowledge that is painful but necessary, dismantling every form of pride so that grace alone can stand. He insists that to know ourselves rightly is not to flatter our dignity but to confront our ruin—measuring ourselves not by human judgment but by divine justice, where all confidence in our own powers collapses. From there, he traces the fall of Adam not to mere sensual excess, but to infidelity: a refusal to trust God’s word, which opened the door to pride, ambition, rebellion, and finally the collapse of the entire created order. Adam’s sin was not isolated, nor was its damage superficial; it shattered human nature itself and spread by propagation, not imitation, leaving every person born already in need of mercy. The force of Calvin’s argument is unrelenting: until we grasp the depth of our corruption, we will never understand why Christ is necessary, nor why redemption must be sheer gift rather than human achievement (Psalm 51:5; Romans 5:19; Romans 8:20–22).

Readings: John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion — Book 2, Chapter 1, Sections 1–3 John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion — Book 2, Chapter 1, Section 4 John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion — Book 2, Chapter 1, Section 5

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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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Today’s reading brings us to one of the most demanding—and clarifying—chapters of Calvin’s Institutes, where the doctrine of providence is pressed to its furthest edge and refuses to retreat. In Book 1, Chapter 18, Sections 1–2, Calvin confronts the uneasy question of how God can sovereignly govern even Satan and the wicked without becoming the author of sin, rejecting the comforting but unbiblical idea that evil occurs merely by God’s “permission.” Scripture itself will not allow that escape: the devil cannot touch Job apart from God’s will (Job 1:12; 1:21), Ahab is deceived by divine judgment (2 Kings 22:20), Christ is crucified according to God’s determined counsel (Acts 2:23; 4:28), and even the hidden movements of human hearts—including fear, blindness, and hardening—are directed by God’s righteous purpose (Exodus 4:21; Joshua 11:20; Romans 1:28). Calvin insists that God governs all things actively and intentionally, bending even the reprobate to serve his judgments, while remaining perfectly pure, just, and untainted by their evil. The result is not philosophical comfort but theological sobriety: God’s providence leaves no room for chance, no refuge for human pride, and no explanation for history apart from the sovereign will of the Lord who “does whatever pleases him” (Psalm 115:3).

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Life without providence is a life haunted by fear—but life under God’s providence is marked by unshakable peace. In Book 1, Chapter 17, Sections 10–14, Calvin contrasts the misery of imagining a world ruled by chance with the deep consolation of knowing that every danger, delay, and deliverance is held within the wise and steady hand of God (Psalm 91:2–6; Psalm 31:15). He shows that Scripture’s language of divine “repentance” does not signal instability in God, but mercy expressed in human terms—God’s threats are not revisions of his will, but instruments by which he calls sinners to repentance and brings about what he eternally purposed (Jonah 3:4–10; Isaiah 14:27). Far from undermining confidence, this doctrine anchors it: ignorance of providence leaves us anxious beneath a thousand possible deaths, but knowledge of it frees us to trust, obey, and rest in the God whose counsel never changes, even when history does (1 Samuel 15:29).

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God’s providence does not excuse sin, erase responsibility, or render human action meaningless—it orders all things without becoming the author of evil. In Book 1, Chapter 17, Sections 5–9, Calvin presses this balance with pastoral force, insisting that while God sovereignly governs even wicked acts for righteous ends, guilt remains wholly with the sinner, not with God (Genesis 50:20). Properly understood, providence becomes a source not of fatalism but of clarity: it teaches believers to look beyond chance, to give thanks in prosperity, to exercise patience in suffering, and to resist despair when wronged (Job 1:21; Matthew 10:29–31). Calvin shows how God restrains enemies, overrules Satan, and turns even adversity into an instrument of grace, while still calling his people to prudence, gratitude, repentance, and diligent use of means (2 Samuel 10:12). What emerges is a deeply practical doctrine—one that anchors courage without presumption, humility without passivity, and hope without illusion—training the Christian to live wisely under God’s steady, fatherly hand (Psalm 55:22).

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God’s providence does not cancel human responsibility—it grounds it. In the opening sections of Book 1, Chapter 17, Calvin explains that Scripture teaches divine providence not to satisfy curiosity but to form wisdom, humility, and trust. God governs past and future, working through means, without means, and even against means, yet always with special care for humanity and especially for the Church (Proverbs 16:9; Deuteronomy 29:29). Far from encouraging passivity or impiety, this doctrine guards against blaming God for sin, rejecting lawful means, or neglecting obedience. Calvin insists that deliberation, planning, and prudence are not rivals to providence but its instruments, since God ordains not only outcomes but also the paths by which they are reached. The secret counsel of God humbles human presumption, while his revealed will directs faithful action. Properly understood, providence neither excuses wickedness nor discourages effort; instead, it steadies the believer, restrains arrogance, and teaches us to act wisely under God’s sovereign hand (Romans 11:33–34).

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Providence does not mean blind fate or an impersonal chain of causes, and Calvin will not allow it to be reduced to either. In these closing sections of Chapter 16, he carefully dismantles the charge that Christian providence is merely Stoic fatalism, insisting instead that God actively governs all things by wise decree, not by necessity embedded in nature itself. Drawing on Basil and Augustine, Calvin rejects “fortune” and “chance” as pagan placeholders for ignorance, showing that what appears accidental to us is fully ordered by God’s hidden counsel (1 Timothy 6:20; Job 14:5). Events may be contingent from our limited perspective, yet nothing occurs outside the will of God—a truth illustrated in Scripture through Saul’s pursuit of David, the Philistines’ invasion, and even the unbroken bones of Christ (1 Samuel 23:26–27; John 19:33, 36). Here Calvin offers one of his most careful distinctions: God’s decree makes events certain without making them mechanically necessary, preserving both divine sovereignty and the integrity of created causes. This reading presses us to abandon the language of luck, resist fatalism, and rest instead in a providence that is purposeful, personal, and always at work—even when its reasons remain hidden.

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Providence is not a passive awareness of events after the fact, nor a vague divine impulse that leaves the world to run on its own—it is God actively governing all things, directing every moment, judgment, blessing, storm, success, and sorrow according to his wise and deliberate counsel. In these sections of Calvin’s Institutes, we are pressed to abandon the comfortable fiction of chance and to confess instead a God who truly reigns: not merely sustaining nature in general, but ordering particular events, human lives, and even what appears accidental to our eyes. From weather and harvest to poverty and promotion, from wind and sea to birth and bread, Calvin shows that Scripture leaves no room for a divided rule or a shared sovereignty. The comfort of faith, he argues, lies precisely here—that nothing happens apart from the Father’s hand, and that his providence is always purposeful, personal, and active (Genesis 22:8; Matthew 10:29; Proverbs 16:33; Psalm 75:6–7; Psalm 107:25, 29).

Readings:

John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 1, Chapter 16 (Sections 4–7)

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