Calvin on the Christian Life

If you could sum up the Christian life in one phrase, what would it be? It seems an impossible task. The entire Christian life in just one phrase? After all, if you’ve ever explored a bookstore and walked down the Christian Living aisle, you know just how many books are written on the subject. Thousands upon thousands. Each of my own books fall under this category. So how could anyone sum it up?

In John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion, he sums up the Christian life in two words: self-denial.

Why self-denial? Calvin reminds us that we are not our own. “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own” (1 Corinthians 6:19). Our Savior redeemed us from slavery to sin and made us his own. We are united to Christ. We belong to him and are not our own masters. We now live for him. We are to let his wisdom and will rule our lives, not our own. Calvin writes: “We are God’s: let all the parts of our life accordingly strive toward him as our only lawful goal.”

A Life of Self-Denial

What does this self-denial look like? It’s the opposite of self-love. It is devotion to God. It is a life lived for his honor and fame. Calvin says self-denial is not about seeking the things that are ours, but that which is the Lord’s. We live for his glory. He writes: “For when Scripture bids us leave off self-concern, it not only erases from our minds the yearning to possess, the desire for power, and the favor of men, but it also uproots ambition and all craving for human glory and other more secret plagues.” For those of us who know the burden of the fear of man or who worship the idols of affirmation and success, the call to self-denial frees us from those things. It frees us from wondering what others think of us or for striving for the acceptance and affirmation of others. We already have God’s approval and acceptance. We are freed instead to live for God and his glory, to strive for the things that make him great and give him the honor he is due. This is gospel freedom!

Further, Calvin says this self-denial is seen in soberness (self-control), righteousness, and godliness. Paul describes this in Titus 2:11-14, ”For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” God not only saves us by grace, he also trains us by his grace to put off our sin nature and put on self-control, righteousness, and godliness. We live a life of self-denial as we cast aside our former way of life, denying what comes naturally to us in our sin nature. We are new creations, re-made into the image Christ, the one who bore the cross for us and calls us to take up our own crosses and follow after him (Matt. 16:24).

These efforts at self-denial have an end in sight. In this Titus passage, Paul reminds us of our hope in glory. We live in self-denial as we wait for Christ’s return and eternal life with him. As Paul says elsewhere, we are in the world, not of it. We are pilgrims, traveling in this world as citizens of another country. And when Christ comes to bring us to our true home, we’ll shed our sin once and for all. Don’t you look forward to that day?

Benefits of Self-Denial

In the Institutes, Calvin also writes of the benefits of living a life of self-denial. One benefit is having the right attitude of humility toward others, of counting others above yourself (Phil 2:3). Calvin reminds us that all we have and all that we are come as a gift of God’s grace; we cannot boast in ourselves. We are called to honor one another, do good to one another, and show forbearance to one another.

Calvin says this self-denial necessarily leads to seeking the benefit of our neighbors. The more we deny ourselves, the more we seek to help others. We are open handed and generous with what God has given us. We help others, not because they are inherently good or because they deserve it, but because of the image of God in them, “the image of God…is worthy of your giving yourself and all your possessions.”  

Another blessing of self-denial is that is helps us bear adversity. Calvin says there are many hard things in life that take place: “various diseases repeatedly trouble us: now plague rages; now we are cruelly beset by the calamities of war; now ice and hail…” In the face of such hardship, Calvin says many wish they had not been born, they rail against God, and accuse him of cruelty. But for the godly, for those who know they belong to God, “he alone has duly denied himself who has so totally resigned himself to the Lord that he permits every part of his life to be governed by God’s will.” No matter what happens, we trust in the grace of God, knowing he will meet all our needs, for we are the sheep of his pasture.

I’ve only highlighted a few things from this section of Calvin’s Institutes on self-denial in the Christian life. His work provides great devotional reading and I commend you to it. Above all, Calvin emphasizes the grace of God in Christ for us. The work of self-denial is not an outward work, done in the strength of the flesh, but an overflow of the inner work of a heart transformed by the grace of God. Ultimately, it is the process of shedding our old selves, and putting on the new self. It is conforming to our Savior, Jesus Christ.

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On Kuyper, Calvinism, and Art

I consider myself a relatively creative person. I played the flute for many years. I enjoy writing poetry. I love finding new uses for old things.

But I can’t draw to save my life.

I’ve admired the talent of artists who portray what they see onto paper or canvas with skill and accuracy. Both of my children took a drawing class for several years and I was amazed at what they achieved. Even today, my youngest will print out images from the computer to use as inspiration for his drawings. I have a dear friend who expresses her love for Christ in beautiful encaustic works.

I’ve long told myself that one day, I will take an art class.

Recently, I read Kuyper’s Lectures on Calvinism. These lectures were delivered to students at Princeton Seminary in 1898. In these lectures, Abraham Kuyper spoke on the influence of Calvinism on all aspects of life, from government to science, religion to the arts. What stands out to me the most from his lecture on the arts, is that for a Reformed believer, artistic expression is a natural overflow of our theology.

“But if you confess that the world once was beautiful, but by the curse has become undone, and by a final catastrophe is to pass to its full state of glory, excelling even the beautiful paradise, then art has the mystical task of reminding us in its productions of the beautiful that was lost and of anticipating its perfect coming luster..Calvinism honored art as a gift of the Holy Ghost and as a consolation in our present life, enabling us to discover in and behind this sinful life a richer and more glorious background...arts points out to the Calvinist both the still visible lines of the original plan, and what is even more, the splendid restoration by which the supreme Artist and master Builder will one day renew and enhance even the beauty of his original creation.” (p. 139-140).

The artist images the first Artist, the one who crafted all things. When we paint, draw, sculpt, or craft, we reflect the One who made us. And in doing so, we bring him glory. But even more, the arts can be a spiritual exercise, a way to express what God is doing in us, in this world, and in the world to come. Like music, artistic expression speaks to the human heart in a unique language. It goes beneath the surface, to our very heart and speaks to our emotions: our longings and hopes, our heartaches and sorrows, our dreams and aspirations. It speaks to the sorrow in all of us of a world fallen and broken from sin and to the hope we have in seeing all things made new.

You might say that Kuyper and Calvin have inspired me. As a result, I decided to take an art class this summer. Whatever comes of it, my prayer is that I what I learn will help me express my love for Christ. I hope to gain skills to sketch or paint what I see in the world around me. And to live out my theology through creative expression. As Kuyper said, “If a common man, to whom the world pays no special attention, is valued and even chosen by God as one of his elect, this must lead the artist also to find a motive for his artistic studies in what is common and of everyday occurrence, to pay attention to the emotions and the issues of the human heart in it, to grasp with his artistic instinct their ideal impulse, and lastly, by his pencil to interpret for the world at large the precious discovery he has made.” (p. 150)