In this section of Institutes of the Christian Religion Book 2, Chapter 11, Calvin continues explaining how the Old and New Testaments differ—not in their substance, but in how God administered His covenant across history. He describes the Law as a tutor that guided God’s people toward Christ, giving them a distant and shadowed glimpse of the truth that would later be revealed clearly in the Gospel. The saints of the Old Testament truly believed and possessed genuine faith, yet they lived under a dimmer light of revelation compared to the clarity that came when Christ appeared. Calvin then explains the promise of the new covenant spoken through Jeremiah: in the Gospel, God writes His law on the heart rather than merely presenting it externally. The Law could command righteousness and expose sin, but it could not change the human heart. The Gospel, by contrast, brings the work of the Spirit, granting life, righteousness, and inward renewal. Finally, Calvin highlights another contrast often used in Scripture: the Old Testament is associated with fear and bondage, while the New Testament produces confidence and freedom through the Spirit of adoption. Yet even here Calvin is careful to say that the faithful under the Old Testament still shared in the grace of the Gospel—they simply lived under a heavier burden of ceremonies and shadows while waiting for the full revelation that came in Christ.

Readings:

John Calvin Institutes of the Christian Religion — Book 2, Chapter 11, Sections 5–9

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How do we truly know the invisible God when nature alone leaves us prone to confusion and speculation? In this reading, Calvin explains why Scripture provides a clearer portrait of God than creation by itself ever could, grounding our knowledge of the Creator in the historical account given through Moses. He rebukes arrogant curiosity about time, eternity, and creation, urging humility where God has chosen silence, and shows how the six-day creation displays God’s fatherly wisdom and care. Calvin then turns to the invisible realm, addressing angels not to satisfy curiosity, but to guard against errors that diminish God’s sovereignty or divide creation into rival powers. Throughout, he calls us away from idle speculation and back to Scripture’s plain teaching, where true knowledge leads not to pride, but to reverence, faith, and worship.

Readings: John Calvin, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 1, Chapter 14 (Sections 1–5)

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of God? In today’s reading, Calvin carefully addresses this tension by showing how Scripture speaks of the Father and the Son according to order and role without dividing the divine essence. He explains Christ’s words as Mediator, clarifies passages that seem to imply inferiority, and demonstrates that the Son’s submission belongs to His redemptive office, not to His nature. Drawing on Irenaeus, Tertullian, and the broader consensus of the Fathers, Calvin dismantles claims that early Christianity knew only the Father as God, showing instead a consistent confession of one God in three persons. The result is a sober, historically grounded defense of Trinitarian faith that guards both Christ’s full divinity and the unity of God without speculation or distortion.

Readings: John Calvin, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 1, Chapter 13 (Sections 26–29)

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