Our next meeting is in October, and the reading we will discuss then includes a section from Book 3 that comprises Calvin's vision of the Christian life. This section (chapters 6 - 10 of Book 3) is often published as a separate book with the title, Golden Booklet of the True Christian Life.
It is golden, indeed. Rather than expounding on this or that particular Christian virtue, Calvin uncovers the heart and soul of what it means to live as a Christian in this world. The Christian life is first and foremost the denial of ourselves:
"If we then, are not are own (1 Cor. 6:19) but the Lord's, it is clear what error we must flee, and whither we must direct all the acts of our life. We are not our own: let not our reason nor our will, therefore, sway our plans and deeds. We are not our own: let us therefore not set it as our goal to seek what is expedient for us according to the flesh. We are not our own: in so far as we can, let us therefore forget ourselves and all that is ours. Conversely, we are God's: let us therefore live for him and die for him. We are God's: let his wisdom and will therefore rule all our actions. We are God's: let all parts of our life accordingly strive toward him as our only lawful goal. O, how much has that man profited who, having been taught that he is not his own, has taken away dominion and rule from his own reason that he may yield it to God!" (III.vii.1).
Part of self-denial is bearing the cross of Christ: "For whomever the Lord has adopted and deemed worthy of his fellowship ought to prepare themselves for a hard, toilsome, and unquiet life, crammed with very many and various kinds of evil" (III.viii.1). But God uses this hardship for our good: "in the very act of afflicting us with the cross he is providing for our salvation" (III.viii:1).
Another theme underlying Calvin's work, but one which he does not devote whole sections to explaining, is that of pilgrimage. We must have a godly contempt for this life, so that we will set our hope on the life that is to come. Christ "teaches us to travel as pilgrims in this world that our celestial heritage may not perish or pass away" (III.vii.3). I wonder if John Bunyan ever read this sentence in the Institutes, for it was the "Celestial City" to which Christian journeyed in Pilgrim's Progress!
At the same time, Calvin affirms the worth of this world. For instance, he argues that the basis on which we love and serve our neighbor, though they may not be worthy of such treatment by human reckoning, is the fact that they are image-bearers of God. Calvin also says we must use with gratefulness the good things of this world that God has created, not only merely to sustain physical life, but also for the delight and enjoyment they bring to us. He was no ascetic; his counsel here is to enjoy the good things God has given us in this world, but all the while fixing our hearts on the better world to come.
The very last section on calling was too short. I wish that he had written more on it. Though brief, the insight is profound. Calvin writes:
"The magistrate will discharge his functions more willingly; the head of the household will confine himself more willingly to his duty; each man will bear and swallow the discomforts, vexations, weariness, and anxieties in his way of life, when he has been persuaded that the burden was laid upon him by God. From this will arise also a singular consolation: that no task will be sordid and base, provided you obey your calling in it, that it will not shine and be reckoned very precious in God's sight." (III.xi.6).
Calvin's treatise on the Christian life is God-centered, well-balanced, and very challenging. If a Christian doesn't read anything else by Calvin but this, he won't go far wrong.
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