Randy Blacketer Profile picture
Jan 27 6 tweets 2 min read
#Calvin on false teachers who claim #anxiety is a sin, Inst. 3.8.9 #Translating

"Today among Christians there are also new Stoics who consider it a fault not only to moan or cry but also to be sad or worried.

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But these paradoxes, of course, generally come from people who, having more practice with speculation than action, are not capable of doing anything but supplying us with such paradoxes.

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But we have nothing to do with that iron philosophy, which our master and Lord condemned not only in words but by his own example. After all, he lamented and cried over his own hardships and those of others and he instructed his disciples no differently.

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'The world will rejoice,' he says, 'but you will grieve and weep' (John 16:20). And to prevent anyone from turning it into a fault, he proclaimed with an explicit declaration that those who mourn are blessed (Matt. 5:4).

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It is no wonder, because if all tears are forbidden, how will we judge the Lord himself, from whose body dropped tears of blood (Luke 22:44)? If all fear is branded as unfaithfulness, what will we make of that terror with which, we read, he was severely dismayed?

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If all sadness is displeasing, how can it be agreeable that he confessed that his soul was sorrowful to the point of death? (Matt. 26:[37–]38)."

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More from @drdominee

Jan 27
#Calvin on contemptuous & patronizing charity, an attitude common among Christians today who think their wealth is due to their own merit. Inst. 3.7.7

"Yes, it can happen that a person may fully perform what they ought to do as far as external duties are concerned,

1/5
yet within they may be far from the true way of performing them. You see some people who appear to be profoundly generous, yet they never give anything without projecting disapproval, either through their prideful expression or even through arrogant words.

2/5
And we have come to such a tragic state in this unhappy time that people—at least the majority of them—give almost no alms without contempt. This depravity should not be tolerable even among the heathens.

3/5
Read 5 tweets
Jan 26
#Calvin on arrogance & love of conflict, Inst. 3.7.4 #Translating

"So, every person, in flattering themselves, carries a sort of kingdom in their heart. Unduly attributing to themselves the things that they find pleasing, they criticize the character and habits of others.

1/4 Image
And if they get into a conflict, then their venom bursts out. Yes, many people put on a show of some gentleness as long as they find everything pleasant and congenial, but how few of them will maintain that same tone of moderation when they are annoyed and irritated?

2/4
There is no other cure than to tear out from our innermost guts this most toxic plague that is the love of conflict and love of self (τῆς φιλονεικίας καὶ φιλαυτίας), just as the teaching of Scripture also tears it out.

3/4
Read 4 tweets
Jan 26
#Calvin on Christians in name only, Institutes 3.6.4 #AmTranslating

"And here is the place to rebuke those who possess nothing more than the label and badge of Christ and yet want to be called 'Christians.' Where do they get the audacity to boast in his holy name? ...
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Therefore, let them either stop boasting of being what they are not, which is an affront to God, or show themselves to be worthy students of Christ their schoolmaster.

2/6
We have given the leading role to the doctrine that contains our religion because our salvation begins there, but this teaching must flow into our heart and permeate our conduct of life, and even transform us into itself so that it will be productive for us.

3/6
Read 6 tweets
Nov 17, 2022
John #Calvin on how to esteem and interact with others, Institutes 3.7.4 #AmTranslating

"So, every person, in flattering themselves, carries a sort of kingdom in their heart.

1/11
Unduly attributing the things that they find pleasing to themselves, they criticize the character and habits of others. And if they get into a conflict, then their venom bursts out.

2/11
Yes, many people put on a show of some gentleness as long as they find everything pleasant and congenial, but how few of them will maintain that same tone of moderation when they are annoyed and irritated?

3/11
Read 11 tweets
Nov 17, 2022
Images from a presentation I'm preparing on the #Calvin Institutes translation.
France in Calvin's Day. Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples. French humanist Guillaume Budé. Melchior Wolmar.
Calvin's commentary on the Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca's "On Clemency." It didn't sell. Calvin decides to focus elsewhere. His first theological work, Psychopannychia, which his friends urged him not to publish, and which he delayed until 1542.
One of the inflammatory placards of the infamous affair thereof, 1534. Less successful at promoting the Protestant cause than a press conference at Four Seasons Total Landscaping. Francis I cracks down (a placard was posted on his bedroom door); 35 protestants burned in Paris.
Read 6 tweets
Nov 16, 2022
#Calvin on self-denial as #pilgrimage Institutes 3.7.3 #AmTranslating

"So, with respect to both tables of the law, [Paul] directs us to put off our own nature and reject whatever our reason and will dictate. Next, he distills all of life’s actions into three parts:

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soberness, righteousness [or justice], and godliness. Of these, soberness obviously refers to both chastity and moderation as well as to a pure and sparing use of temporal goods and patience in poverty.

2/7
Righteousness includes all the duties of equity so that each person is given their due. Next comes godliness, which unites us with God in true holiness after we have been separated from the impurities of the world.

3/7
Read 7 tweets

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