“The name of Jesus was not given to Him at random, or
fortuitously, or at the will of man, but was brought from Heaven by an angel,
as the herald of the supreme decree; the reason also being added, “for He shall
save his people from their sins” (Mat.1:21).
In these words attention should be paid to what we have elsewhere
observed, that the office of Redeemer was assigned to Him in order that He might be our Saviour. Still, however, redemption might be defective
if it did not conduct us by an uninterrupted progression to the final goal of
safety. Therefore, the moment we turn
aside from Him in the minutest degree, salvation, which resides entirely in
Him, gradually disappears; so that all
who do not rest in Him voluntarily deprive themselves of all grace…[1]
But here it is necessary diligently to consider in what way we obtain salvation
from Him (Jesus), that we may not only be persuaded that He is the author of
it, but having embraced whatever is sufficient as a sure foundation of our
faith, may eschew all that might make us waver.
For seeing no man can descend into himself, and seriously consider what
he is, without feeling that God is angry and at
enmity with him, and therefore anxiously longing for the means of
regaining His favour (this cannot be without satisfaction) the certainty here
required is of no ordinary description – sinners, until freed from guilt, being
always liable to the wrath and curse of God, who, as He is a just judge, cannot
permit His law to be violated with impunity, but is armed for vengeance.”
In this passage, Jesus is called
Saviour and Redeemer. However, His
“redemption might be defective if it did not conduct us by an uninterrupted
progression to the final goal of safety.”
It is not certain what is meant by “the final goal of safety”. ¨The Institutes tell us that “there is always
sin in the saints, until they are freed from their mortal frame”, and “death is
the only termination to this warfare”(III, 3,10,9) so we presume that the
expression refers to final entry to Heaven.
The succeeding sentence would appear to refer to believers who have had
their eyes turned upon Jesus, but the moment they turn aside in the minutest
degree (yes, if they waver in the minutest degree!), gradually salvation
disappears! This is, of course, an
extreme Arminianism. Calvin insists that the most committed Christian sins many times in a day;
according to this paragraph, at the end of the day he would have to look to a
God who is “armed for vengeance”.
This absurdity has come about
because in this paragraph Calvin is dealing with real life, and not expounding
his teaching. For the moment he has laid aside the question of predestination.
When he refers to no man, is the
reference to one of the elect or of
the reprobate? No-one can tell. I have to inform at this point that I have been all my life a Calvinist (converted at nine years old) and still
am, but I still have to protest against the “five points”. I am quite ready to
listen to any refutation of my ideas, as long as they are Bible-based.
