Reflection 3 - Institutes of the Christian Religion

Are you a pupil of words from heaven? In today’s inaugural address President Barak Obama spoke “in the words of Scripture” saying, “We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.” It is here I reflected upon the words I read from John Calvin today, “Now, in order that true religion may shine upon us, we ought to hold that it must take its beginning from heavenly doctrine and that no one can get even the slightest taste of right and sound doctrine unless he be a pupil of Scripture.” (I.VI.2 p.72). Now a pupil of Scripture is one who sits under the authority of his teacher and speaks his words as one who truly represents him. As Calvin says, “The Scriptures obtain full authority among believers only when men regard them as having sprung from heaven, as if there the living words of God were heard.” (I.VII.1 p.74). Believers hold to the words of God as having sprung from heaven into their ears so that they have heard clearly from God himself. But for those who speak his words to exalt self or to prop up their own contrived doctrines are they pupils of words from heaven? The words from heaven are not meant to be twisted for when they are they allow the pupil to careen off his teacher’s path into a slippery fall of the human mind that forgets God. When the pupil thus walks he treads into a labyrinth of the revelation of God exchanging the glory of God for the glory of that which God creates and sustains. Therefore the pupil twists the truth and lusts after new fanciful religions. Religions that say God has promised all are equal, and all are free and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness. However in this same form of religion a child in the womb is not as equal as the mother, nor as free as the mother, nor as able as the mother to pursue their full measure of happiness. But for this pupil this is the noble idea, that precious gift, a better history and an enduring spirit we must reaffirm while we abort another 1.3 million babies this year in America.

John Calvin is right when he says, “For errors can never be uprooted from human hearts until true knowledge of God is planted therein.” (I.VI.3 p.73). The church must become pupils of the words from heaven to uproot the evil that lurks in our hearts and to see the true knowledge of God planted that will grow a church that is for his glory. The church must listen as those who long to hear God speak as from heaven to her that she may think rightly about him and his will. The church must be a pupil who hears not for our own ends but to know what is right and to be conformed by sound doctrine. I am assuming that President Obama was speaking from 1 Corinthians 13:11 in his speech. In that verse the apostle Paul is speaking in a illustrative manner of the time when the perfection of God’s church will be reached in the glory of God’s love and we will no longer be in need of those things that have helped us up to that time of perfection. We have needed prophecies, tongues and knowledge and God has given us those things from heaven. However, that time is not yet reached and we are still very much in need of instruction from a Wonderful Counselor and Mighty God. We are still seeing in the mirror dimly, we still know in part (1Cor.13:12). Therefore, we need God to direct us as pupils of the words of heaven so that when that day dawns on us we will not have followed cleverly devised myths and false religions that have a form of godliness but deny its power. I am praying for our President just as I am the church that we will receive the words from heaven as pupils who love and worship the one true, living and triune God who is our Creator and Redeemer.