Download Calvin`s Doctrine of Knowledge

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The Importance of Calvin’s
doctrine of knowledge
By
Bambi Francisco
For the class on Reformation Church History
Prof. Trueman
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Knowledge or wisdom for Calvin was based on knowledge of self, and
knowledge of God. “Without knowledge of self, there is no knowledge of God,” says
Calvin. Because Calvin chose the word knowledge in his title, “The Knowledge of
God the Creator,” rather than “belief” or “existence” of God, underscores the
centrality of God’s revelatory wisdom and man’s awareness of self in both the
structure and content of Calvin’s theology. [Pg. 35 Calvin Institutes Vol. XX Book
I.i. to III.XIX]
Calvin does concede that it is hard to discern which knowledge precedes the
other, or gives birth to the other. In many ways, both require simultaneous attention
in order to attain clear understanding of self and God, and ultimately true wisdom.
Initially, it would appear that Calvin makes a case early on in the Institutes that
knowledge of man’s self comes before knowing God. He supports this in two ways –
through man’s discovery of his wickedness or through man’s discovery of his
endowments. In the former case, Calvin states firmly that man must first be appalled
by himself, and, by his unhappiness, in order to attain some knowledge of God. It is
the ”miserable ruin” we find ourselves in, this awareness of ourselves as morally
bankrupt and helpless, that compels us to look upward. [Institutes pg. 36] Calvin
emphatically says that it is only through exploration and examination of our own
hearts and depraved mind that we can then recognize the light of wisdom and sound
virtue as coming from someone other than ourselves. “We cannot seriously aspire to
Him before we begin to become more displeased with ourselves,” he says. [Institutes
Pg. 37] To this end, it does appear that Calvin is suggesting that man reaches some
level of awareness about himself before he seeks God.
On the other hand, man is often led to seek God when excogitating on his above-
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average abilities, or perhaps string of good fortune. Man cannot comprehend his
endowments without “immediately turning his thoughts to the contemplation of
God,” Calvin asserts. “Clearly, the mighty gifts, which we are endowed are hardly
from ourselves; indeed, our very being is nothing but subsistence in the one God.”
[Institutes Pg. 35]
The latter case may be “clear” in the 1500’s, when a state of consciousness in
which man contemplated a higher order was far more pervasive in the culture than it
is 500 years later. It may be more difficult in the more modern times when
indifference is a popularly-held view, and, new information encourages men to
believe in their abilities to provide answers, which, in effect, extends knowledge.
Importantly, the modern man is predisposed to accepting the realities of both
good and evil as the true order, and, are therefore less inclined to believe in a perfect
world, much less a divine being that is perfect. Though Calvin does not explicitly
address indifference in man, he knows all too well the effects of myopia. So, long as
we do not look beyond the earth, we are pleased with are our own righteousness,
wisdom and virtue; we address ourselves in the most flattering terms, and “fancy
ourselves all but demigods,” he says with a hint of admonition. [Institutes Pg. 38]
There is, therefore, no knowledge of God for those content with themselves. For
what man would not remain as he is, Calvin asks, as long as he ignores his miseries
and remains numb to himself. Indeed, many men accept the status quo because they
accept life’s vicissitudes and attribute them to certain phenomenon he doesn’t
understand nor needs to.
To be sure, man cannot have complete knowledge of himself until he sees the
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face of God. Calvin states this explicitly when he says, “the second part of wisdom
consists in knowledge of ourselves.” The first part of wisdom, therefore, is
knowledge of God. Without the knowledge of God, men, confident in their
understanding of morality, take it upon themselves to pursue the honorable. [Institutes
Pg. 243]. Yet a closer inspection of self in comparison to a standard of divine
judgment would leave men in a state of humbleness. This is to say that man is never
sufficiently touched by the awareness of his state until he has investigated his life in
accordance to God’s majesty. [Institutes Pg. 244]
All this said, a tertiary knowledge or blind acceptance of God would not compel
man to look upon God in such a way that profoundly changes his view of himself.
The word omnipotent was created by man to describe what he is not, but it goes
without saying that man isn’t necessarily humbled or depressed when he realizes he
not only lacks omniscience, but that the gulf between his knowledge and all-knowing
is infinity.
It is quite apparent, therefore, that in order for man to know God, he must fear,
revere and trust God. “Piety is requisite for the knowledge of God,” Calvin declares.
This piety comes with the realization that God is his creator. When man accepts that
he is God’s “handiwork” and “made over and bound to his command by the right of
creation,” then it should logically follow that man would have reverence for his
creator and fear the consequences of not adhering God’s enjoinments. It would
follow that man’s life is “wickedly corrupt” if his will is not disposed to God’s
service. Of course, man must also believe that God is the fountainhead of all good.
[Institutes Pg. 42]
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In recognizing that there are men who choose to ignore the existence of God
because they cannot conceive of God, Calvin maintains that man has an underlying
sense of divinity, even as he attempts to cast away all knowledge of God and corrupt
the worship of him. “Nature, itself permits no one to forget,” says Calvin, “although
many strive with every nerve to this end.” [Institutes Pg. 46] If all men are born with
a knowledge of God, it is clear that those who do not direct every thought and action
in their lives to knowing him “degenerate from the law of their creation.”
God’s kingdom and original sin
Calvin helps us to appreciate the requirements for knowing self and God: In order
to know God, man must have piety; In order to know self, man must essentially
examine himself in accordance with a divine standard.
At the heart of this knowledge, Calvin implicitly alludes to requisite belief in
another world, namely God’s perfect kingdom, which is the standard our world fails
to measure up to. Calvin asserts, therefore, that knowledge of self lies first in
considering what we were given at creation. Without this view, then men would not
even entertain original sin or a fallen nature. For original sin presupposes that man
fell from a state of integrity at creation. “For we cannot think upon either our first
condition [original nobility] or to what purpose we were formed without being
prompted to mediate upon immortality, and to yearn after the Kingdom of God,” says
Calvin. For what is the origin; what is creation’s end? It is that which we have been
completely estranged, and that which we must endeavor to recover. [Institutes Pg.
244]
This raises the issue of sin carrying down from one man. For if man has free
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will, why is sin attached to him at birth? This is a view held today, as it was then.
Pelagius, a British monk who countered Augustine’s of man’s inborn depravity,
asserted that Adam sinned only to his own loss without harming his posterity.
[Institutes Pg. 247] The Pelagian assertion is that man has natural moral abilities.
[Documents of the Chrisitan Church. H. Bettensosn, Pg. 74-78]. This is surely
“profane fiction,” Calvin avers, as he points to clear testimony by Paul in Romans
5:19 that all were lost through one man. Calvin also reminds us that in the Old
Testament Psalms, David also confesses to have been “begotten in iniquities, ad
conceived by his mother in sin.” [Institutes Pg. 247]
It is with regard to Adam’s sin where Calvin illustrates how sin is being in
contempt of knowledge, in so much that knowledge is truth. It is being afforded the
choice between obedience to God’s word, because it is true, and disobedience, in
order to find an alternative truth. Adam’s faith in God’s word is tested in order for
him to prove to God that he as “willingly under God’s command.” [Institutes Pg. 245]
Here is an example of the first man’s revolt from God’s authority, because he was
“contemptuous of truth,” and turned to falsehood. “Surely, once man holds God’s
Word in contempt, we shake off all reverence for him.” Without reverence, there is
impiety, which Calvin considers the most detestable of all sins.
Anyone who would therefore find inborn sin as unjust, or incomprehensible,
does not understand the graveness of Adam’s sin and the magnitude of disrespect he
showed his creator. As Calvin professes, it is highly reasonable to God’s thundering
punitive action. “To have been made in the likeness of God seemed a small matter to
a son of earth unless he also attained equality with God -- a monstrous wickedness!”
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Calvin exclaims. If apostasy by which man withdraws from the authority of his
Maker is a foul and detestable offence, “it is vain to extenuate Adam’s sin.”
[Institutes Pg.245]
What, therefore is at sin’s root? Calvin would surmise that it is unfaithfulness.
But like a weed sin proliferates, practically crowding any virtue within man with
ambition, pride, and ungratefulness. Adam’s unfaithfulness led to these plagues
because he sought more than was granted him. And therefore it can also be observed,
as it was by Augustine, that pride was the beginning of all evils. “For ambition had
not raised man higher than was meet and right, he could have remained in his original
state.” [Institutes Pg. 245]
Let us then suppose that it is agreed that men are sinful. Many unbelievers would
ask: How does he have free will? After all, man does have natural abilities to choose
between right and wrong. But Calvin simply draws a distinction between the desiring
or discernment of good and the will to act on it. In order to act on it without impulse,
man must deliberate on it – a capacity that distinguishes man from animals. Only
when man acts on it or chooses to follow what is good, he then has free will. For why
does man so often choose not to follow what he knows is right? It must be that his
will chooses to do what is wrong. Therefore, does he have free will? Or, is his will
enslaved to something else?
Before delving into this position, let us first consider that man had this freedom
to choose. Calvin ridicules these men of this position by asking what kind of noble
position is this to take – to not be forced to sin, yet to be such a willing slave to it? If
man has free choice, why does he choose to sin, if he were not free from the bondage
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of sin?
It must be then that free will has been so enslaved that it can have no power for
righteousness. Without the power to control the will to do good, the will cannot be
free. Choice belongs to the sphere of the will rather than the understanding. [II. ii. 4]
“To begin with, philosophers teach that all things seek good through a natural
instinct,” but let us not suppose that this doctrine has anything to do with the human
will, Calvin explains.
Making the point emphatically, Calvin says that the natural instinct that treats
the “good” and the “acceptable” alike has nothing to do with free will, says Calvin.
[Institutes Pg. 286] Free will is only active when the reason considers alternative
possibilities [Aquinas, Summa Theol] By this they mean that the object of the
appetite must be amenable to choice, and deliberation must go before to open the way
of choice. The natural desire of men to do good is similar to animals, for animals too
desire their well-being. “But man does not pursue with reason and pursue with zeal
what is truly good for himself according to the excellence of his immortal nature; nor
does he use his reason in deliberation to bend his mind to it.” [Institutes Pg. 286]
Therefore whether man is impelled to seek after good by impulse has no bearing upon
the freedom of the will. This instead is required: that he discerns good by right
reason. That knowing it he chooses it and follows it.
To sum up, much as man desires to follow what is good, still he does not follow
it. The desire for well-being natural to men no more proves freedom of the will than
the tendency of metals and stones toward perfection of their essence proves it in
them. [Institutes Pg. 287]
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Yet there will always exist men who accept that they are masters of their fate,
and in command of their wits, capable of turning on and off his ability to do good or
evil. “Man’s disposition voluntarily so inclines to falsehood that he more quickly
derives error from one word than truth from a wordy discourse.” [Institutes Pg. 264]
And this inclination to falsehood can only be reversed through God’s redeeming
grace. It is that grace that frees our will. “What God’s grace has not freed will not be
free.” It is, God’s grace that frees man’s will in order to do what is just, and be less
inclined to do what is evil. [Institutes Pg. 264] Calvin is building upon the
Augustinian position that free will is a faculty of reason and the will to choose good
with the assistance of grace, evil when grace is absent. [Institutes Pg. 261] How is it
then that God’s claims and promises rest on man’s faith? It would be inconsistent
with the accepted premise that God’s truth cannot depend or rely on man’s idea of
truth, his fallible judgment, or his incorrigible will to go against God’s will. Yet this
seeming inconsistency underscores Calvin’s contention that God’s grace corrects in
God’s elect “the inbred unbelief” of man’s nature. This is how faith on the part of
man can be reconciled with man’s inclination to go against God’s will. It is God’s
grace that is the remedy for man’s imperfection. [Calvin’s Commentary on Romans]
Man’s responsibility
There will always be men who choose to accept their circumstances, and
proceed through life with a carefree attitude. But man should not be idle, he should be
compelled to know himself. The value of knowing thy self is espoused and
encouraged in Proverbs and by the ancient philosophers. The inscription “Know
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Thyself” is on the temple at Delphi, and is part of the text for a lesson taught by
Socrates in Xenophon’s Memorabilita IV. To this end, Calvin views not knowing all
that pertains to human life as “disgraceful” and ignorance of ourselves as
“detestable.” Therefore when making decisions in necessary matters, we “miserably
deceives and even blind ourselves.” [Institutes Pg. 241]
Yet there are men who do seek to examine themselves and reach levels of
awareness outside of God. This is observed by Calvin in his analysis of the
philosophers, who mistakenly “propose the goal of recognizing his own worth and
excellence,” while man knows himself. This leads man to contemplate nothing but
what swells him with empty assurance and puffs him up with pride. [Gen. 1:27] This
is because this approach, while building self confidence, puts that self confidence in
man and not in God, his creator. As Calvin observes, philosophers never sensed the
assurance of God’s benevolence toward us, without which man’s understanding can
only be filled with boundless confusion.
But let us consider the gifts endowed by some, such as these philosophers, and
lacking in others. Even this reality is a testament of God’s glory. Upon examining the
thoughts of philosophers and theologians, Calvin determines that it is agreed that
“reason is proper to our nature; it distinguishes us from brute beasts.” [Institutes Pg.
276] It is obvious that there are some who are less endowed with faculties to be
virtuous or brave. Why is this so? The inequality of men’s gifts is to show men that
God’s grace is at work. For isn’t it so that if God did not spare us, man – because of
his sinful nature – would be subjected to his own foolish decisions and thinking.
Therefore, those who are born with greater gifts – superior judgment, and a readier
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wit, a keenness to excel – owe their gifts to God’s grace, says Calvin.
If one person is to show more excellence, it is to show God’s grace, says Calvin.
“Special grace is a special endowment of capacity, virtue, or heroism by which a man
is fitted to serve the divine purpose in this world, while himself may remain in the
common state of human depravity.” [Cf. II. Iii. 4]
This view is also taught elsewhere, such as in Homer’s Odyssey, where it is said
that men are to excel in natural ability not only as Jupiter has bestowed it upon each,
but as he leads them day by day. It is also the case that a man may be ingenious one
day and struck dumb the next, as a testament to God’s hand at work. “He takes
understanding away from the prudent [cf. Job 12:20] and makes them wander in
trackless wastes.” [Job 12:24; cf. Ps. 107:40] So incomprehensible are God’s
mysteries, such as taking away understanding from the prudent, or God’s wrath over
man even though through man’s unrighteousness God is glorified, that Calvin
reminds us that “if we desire to become capable of understanding them, we must
especially labor to become freed from our own reason and to give up to ourselves,
and unreservedly to submit to his word.” [Commentary on Romans]
Man’s knowledge of God is God’s own work
The faculty to understand God is not a common endowment of nature. Only a
person who is by the Holy Spirit knows God. Only a person whose mind is illumined
by God can become spiritually wise. The apostle Paul also says that “no can say
‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit.” In John 3, we read these words: “No one
can receive anything except what is given him from above.” [Institutes Pg. 278] Even
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Moses, in his reproach to the Israelites for their forgetfulness and irreverence says
that no one can become wise in God’s mysteries except by his gift. In Deut., he says:
“Your eyes saw those signs and great wonders; but the Lord has not give you a heart
to understand, or ears to hears, or eyes to see.” [Institutes Pg. 279] All these verses
underscore that man, left to his own reasoning, can never achieve true knowledge of
God or have the wisdom to even conceive God and what is God’s. This position has
to accept the belief that man has been corrupted by sin. By his very nature, man is in a
state of sin. This does not flow that God implanted sin from the beginning. Rather
that sin is an adventitious quality that comes upon man. It is natural, however,
because it is not by man’s accord or bad conduct. [Institutes Pg. 254]
If we hold true to this position, then nothing can be credited to man, how much
more the knowledge of God.
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