When our faith is tested by suffering "as gold is tried in a furnace" and we depend with confidence on God and rely entirely on his help, we will be granted the most excellent gift of patience and through faith we may victoriously persevere to the end.
John CalvinChristians rejoice even while they truly sorrow - because their rejoicing is in the hope of heaven... While joy overcomes sorrow, it does not put an end to it.
John CalvinGod does not bestow his spirit on his people in order to set aside the use of his word, but rather to render it fruitful.
John Calvin...nothing good can proceed from our will until it be formed again, and that after it is formed again in so far as it is good, it is of God, and not of us.
John CalvinWe can experience joy in adverse circumstances by holding God's benefits in such esteem that the recognition of them and meditation upon them shall overcome all sorrow.
John CalvinGod preordained, for his own glory and the display of His attributes of mercy and justice, a part of the human race, without any merit of their own, to eternal salvation, and another part, in just punishment of their sin, to eternal damnation.
John CalvinThe word "hope" I take for faith; and indeed hope is nothing else but the constancy of faith.
John CalvinSince no daily responses are given from heaven, and the Scriptures are the only record in which God has been pleased to consign His truth to perpetual remembrance, the full authority which they ought to possess with the faithful is not recognized unless they are believed to have come from heaven as directly as if God had been heard giving utterance to them.
John CalvinCan true repentance exist without faith? By no means. But although they cannot be separated, they ought to be distinguished.
John CalvinThat man is truly humble who neither claims any personal merit in the sight of God, nor proudly despises brethren, or aims at being thought superior to them, but reckons it enough that he is one of the members of Christ, and desires nothing more than that the Head alone should be exalted.
John CalvinWherever we see the Word of God purely preached and heard, there a church of God exists, even if it swarms with many faults.
John CalvinWhile sin is overflowing, [grace] pours itself forth so exuberantly, that it not only overcomes the flood of sin, but wholly absorbs it.
John CalvinSince we are all naturally prone to hypocrisy, any empty semblance of righteousness is quite enough to satisfy us instead of righteousness itself.
John CalvinWe shall never be clothed with the righteousness of Christ except we first know assuredly that we have no righteousness of our own.
John CalvinPeace and friendship are an amiable thing among men. They be so indeed, and we ought to seek them to the uttermost of our power. But yet for all that, we must set such store by God's truth, that if all the world should be set on fire for the maintenance thereof, we should not stick at it.
John CalvinFor earthly princes lay aside their power when they rise up against God, and are unworthy to be reckoned among the number of mankind. We ought, rather, utterly to defy them.
John CalvinUnless we endeavor to do good to our neighbor, through our cruelty we transgress this law
John CalvinBut, as sculpture and painting are gifts of God, what I insist on is, that both shall be used purely and lawfully, that gifts which the Lord has bestowed upon us, for His glory and our good, shall not be preposterously abused, nay, shall not be perverted to our destruction.
John CalvinOur true wisdom is to embrace with meek docility, and without reservation, whatever the holy scriptures have delivered.
John CalvinLife is not found in commandments or declarations of penalties, but in the promise of mercy and only in a gratuitous promise.
John CalvinWe must not think that [God] takes no notice of us, when He does not answer our wishes: for He has a right to distinguish what we actually need.
John CalvinThere is not one blade of grass, there is no color in this world that is not intended to make men rejoice.
John CalvinThe Lord has not redeemed you so you might enjoy pleasures and luxuries or so that you might abandon yourself to ease and indolence, but rather so you should be prepared to endure all sorts of evils.
John CalvinTo be pure in heart is to take no delight in cunning, but converse sincerely with men, and express nothing, by word or look, which is not felt in the heart.
John CalvinIf a preacher is not first preaching to himself, better that he falls on the steps of the pulpit and breaks his neck than preaches that sermon.
John CalvinNobody seriously believes the universe was made by God without being persuaded that He takes care of His works.
John CalvinThe sum is, that the worship of God must be spiritual, in order that it may correspond with His nature. For although Moses only speaks of idolatry, yet there is no doubt but that by synecdoche, as in all the rest of the law, he condemns all fictitious services which men in their ingenuity have invented.
John CalvinIf we are given gold, would we not test it to determine it's value? If we doubted its genuineness - we would test it by fire...and so God with us.
John CalvinThe evil in our desires typically does not lie in what we want, but that we want it too much.
John CalvinTo have a proper understanding of the gospel, we must recognise that we need to lean entirely upon the Lord Jesus Christ and his mercy alone as our only hope of salvation. ... No one can be justified by the law; justification is through faith alone.
John CalvinEvery person, on coming to the knowledge of himself, is not only urged to seek God, but is also led as by the hand to find Him.
John CalvinFor though we very truly hear that the kingdom of God will be filled with splendor, joy, happiness and glory, yet when these things are spoken of, they remain utterly remote from our perception, and as it were, wrapped in obscurities, until that day.
John CalvinTo will is human, to will the bad is of fallen nature, but to will the good is of Grace.
John CalvinWhoever is not satisfied with Christ alone, strives after something beyond absolute perfection.
John CalvinTo search for wisdom apart from Christ means not simply foolhardiness but utter insanity.
John Calvin