SCRIPTURE
“If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord…”[1]
CALVIN
“God, by the secret leading of his providence turned my course another way [rather than the study of the law]. First, when I was too firmly addicted to the superstitions of the Papacy to be drawn easily out of such a deep mire, by a sudden conversion God subdued and made teachable my mind, already more rigid than suited my age. Having therefore received a taste and knowledge of true piety, I burned with such a desire to carry my study further, that although I did not drop other subjects, I had no zeal for them. In less than a year, all who were looking for purer doctrine began to come to learn from me, although I was a novice and beginner.”[2]
REFLECTION
John Calvin’s conversion rings of the Apostle Paul’s conversion. Both were entrenched by superstitious religious yokes of which bore oppressive burdens. Calvin and Paul were educated and regarded as up and coming standouts by their contemporaries. Both men had their perceived agendas; both aspiring to please God with their endeavors. The Apostle Paul met Christ while attempting to eradicate His’ disciples. Calvin, along with his contemporary proponents of the Protestant Reformation were persecuted, exiled/excommunicated, and many were even martyred at the order of the Roman Catholic Church. It is not too embellishing to consider, had Calvin remained the studious Roman Catholic that he was, though he sought a career in law, he may very well had been a proponent of and [maybe] even a legal administer of persecution during this period of the Reformation; not unlike Paul who went on a campaign to put to an end Christ’ followers.
Our age is one marked by a need for persons who possess a burning for piety. No, not one denomination or ministry may without arrogance appeal to an elite spiritual state. As with the holy Scripture, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift.”[3] History records few persons who so zealously burned for God’s glory that their lives, imperfections included, demonstrated worship-based piety in such a way as to make jealous the hearts of multitudes, who in turn displayed what it is to thirst and long after God with all their mind, soul, and body. Therefore, amidst the chaos, confusion, divisions, and the rightful exploitation of grievous sin which has so oppressed the body of Christ in all sectors of the Protestant Church, let us be encouraged by historical Christian figures such as Paul and Calvin. Persons who with careful examination and dependence upon the Holy Spirit for strength gave all of themselves to God in both private and public sectors. I offer, with humility, a case for us to look upon the motive of their methods for piety, to examine the failure of our impiety, and grab hold of a humility to look back to move forward. For we are languishing by our rejection of the foundations laid before us by the witness of the historical Church. Paul and Calvin new this all too well. Jesus knocked Paul off his horse! Calvin’s heart and mind was quickened by the Holy Spirit who revealed the truth of God’s Word in Christ to him in a moment. Kicking against the very truth of God, it was God indeed who demonstrated His abundant mercy, and to be sure, neither Paul, Calvin, or you and I ever deserved a fragment of it.
PRAYER
Father of glory, I humbly and boldly approach your throne of grace. I am grateful for Jesus Christ, who is sent of God, who is God, who bore the wrath of God on Himself which I rightfully deserve for my participation in sin. Instead, by your mercy and grace you transform dead hearts, making them alive by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, who is God. God, I recognize my propensity toward the world, it is a rumbling quake which seeks to pull humanity asunder. Thereby, I ask, for myself and for the church, Lord have mercy on our ever-wandering hearts. So foolishly we feast on the diet of this world, digesting what God has given only when our malnourishment espouses near death. So treacherously we devour men and woman with religious yokes, deceiving ourselves as though we had arrived at the fullness of salvation and the administration of the Church. Therefore, I pray Lord, deliver the church from the yoke of religiosity which ensnares freedom for true piety and burning hearts after God. I pray Lord, would you grant the church an illumination of its sin, and by Your mercy, heal, restore, and make her a burning and shining lamp for Christ. Cause our worldliness to dwindle in the light of your merciful grace. I pray Lord, send now the Holy Spirit to transform and renew hearts and minds by the power of Your Word. Oh, make my heart tremble in awe of You, and give to the church Your Holy Spirit to strengthen her to worship-based obedience. Cause us to long for obedient faith. If You can take one’s like Paul and Calvin, so bent upon destruction, to transform such hearts and minds to the truth of Your Word, setting them apart as a demonstration of Your efficacious grace. Look upon our dead religious tendencies with pity, giving us resurrection life for the sake of Jesus’ name being made much of throughout the world? I pray that You would do what flesh and blood cannot do-resurrect Your church, glorify Your name among the nations, and cause our hearts to long for the day of Your return. Maranatha~Amen.
[1]ESV. English Standard Version. Wheaton, Ill: Crossway, 2001. Ephesians 3:4-8. Print.
[2]Michael A.G. Haykin. Derek W.H. Thomas and John W. Tweeddale. John Calvin: For a New Reformation. Wheaton, Ill: Crossway, 2019. P. 30. Print.
[3]Ibid., ESV. Romans 3:23.