&STjohn.calvin293@gmail.com

I’ll be on the road however I thought it might be nice to open a dialog on chapter 4 of book 1 of the institutes, before I leave; this chapter has good logic, in a hard topic. In chapter 3, Calvin’s point was that all men have an awareness of God. In chapter 4, I believe his point is that God reveals himself in scripture to prevent, accidental or intentional, incorrect conceptualizations, of Him, to our own preferences. He frames this chapter around the "wicked", who, I feel, Calvin defines as those people who consciously turn away from God. They cannot deny their awareness of God so they push this awareness away in various ways which deny His power: through: hypocrisy, ignorance, and superstition. Calvin feels the outward signs of this state, in a person's life, are: pride, stubbornness and impiety. Calvin packs so many thoughts into a short chapter that I think I may spend a day or so on this one, though there's no missing the point he’s defined. I'm brought to mind the Fruit of the Spirit as Paul defines in Galatians, chapter 5, verses 22-23. Perhaps, a person who is responding to this awareness of God, within God's revelation through scripture, will display the Fruits of the Spirit with: God, the world at large and also in their close relationships because of the in-dwelling of the Holy Spirit in their life. The Fruit of the Spirit consists of nine consequences of the Holy Spirit moving in a life. Note that it's not "fruits" but rather "fruit" - it all comes together when we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The "wicked" may be good to those who are close to them and also to those folks whom they choose however this is not the Fruit of the Spirit which is observable in God’s faithful who have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit: joy, love, peace (our personal relationship with God) // forbearance, goodness, kindness (our relationship with the world) // faithfulness, gentleness, and self control (our relationship with those who are close to us). I think that this sort of goes along with Calvin's quote in this chapter (4) from Lactantius: (Instit.Div. lib i. 2,, 6,) "No religion is genuine that is not in accordance with truth." I had to look him up in a wiki – Lactantius was a Latin-speaking native of North Africa, he was a pupil of Arnobius who  taught rhetoric in various cities of the Eastern Roman Empire, ending up finally in Constantinople. He also wrote apologetic works explaining Christianity in terms that were palatable to the educated people who still practiced the traditional religions of the Roman Empire. His writings  are an early example of a systematic presentation of Christian thought. He was considered somewhat heretical after his death, however some Renaissance folks took a renewed interest in him, though probably more for his elaborately rhetorical Latin style than for his theology. I think I’ll keep working on chapter 4 while I’m away; I think what Calvin is saying around all the stuff, about the "wicked", is that we may have an awareness of God however we cannot and will not come to any true "knowledge of God" without God's involvement - we are not capable of it ourselves - thus there is a need for structure with in our need and desire to seek relationship with God so we can “truly” know Him; perhaps, with reference back to chapter 2, God requires us to seek both Him and a knowledge of our “neighbor” to actually come to a true knowledge of Him.

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