Started reading Calvin’s “Sermons on the Beatitudes.” The first sermon, based on Christ’s choosing of the twelve disciples, deals directly with sovereign election. Immediately, the message seems to delve deep into the doctrines of grace. Calvin, preaching on God’s election out of Mark 3:13-19:
How, indeed, can we explain our soul’s salvation except in terms of God’s good pleasure and his free gift of mercy? For if we think that we are better than others whom he has passed over or abandoned, we simply demean God’s unconditional kindness through which we obtain salvation. And this we do every time we seek to gain a measure of importance or esteem in men’s eyes. Every mouth must of necessity be shut. We must learn that God has chosen us, not because he saw something good in us, or found us more amenable than those whom he rejects, but simply that he might reveal the full splendour of his generosity.
Calvin’s ability to exposit scripture is well known and highly regarded even by those who may not hold his view of predestination. Yet it is an odd thing that such exegesis would constantly provide evidence of God’s sovereign choice despite man’s radical corruption. Calvinism is just a name for a doctrine already in scripture and it’s unfortunate that we must use a name other than Biblical for what is so apparent.
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