88 John Calvin Quotes

I can say as to myself, that I have been assailed on all sides, and have scarcely been able to enjoy repose for a single moment, but have always had to sustain some conflict either from enemies without or within the church.

In the maxims of the law, God is seen as the rewarder of perfect righteousness and the avenger of sin. But in Christ, His face shines out, full of grace and gentleness to poor, unworthy sinners.

Men cannot open their eyes without being compelled to see Him [and] wherever you cast your eyes, there is no spot in the universe wherein you cannot discern at least some sparks of His glory.

Repentance is the true turning of our life to God, a turning that arises from a pure and earnest fear of Him; and it consists in the mortification of the flesh and the renewing of the Spirit.

The answer of our prayers is secured by the fact that in rejecting them God would in a certain sense deny His own nature.

Let's get rid of the inhuman philosophy which only allows necessities. Not only does it wrongly deprive us of legitimate enjoyment of God's generosity, but it cannot be affected without depriving man of all his senses, reducing him to a block.

Thou, Lord, bruisest me, but I am abundantly satisfied, since it is from Thy hand.

There is no inconsistency in saying that God rewards good works, provided we understand that nevertheless men obtain eternal life gratuitously.

Children, obey. Why does the apostle use the word obey instead of honor, which has a greater extent of meaning? It is because obedience is the evidence of that honor which children owe to their parents, and is therefore more earnestly enforced.

Original sin may be defined as the hereditary corruption and depravity of our nature. This reaches every part of the soul, makes us abhorrent to God's wrath and produces in us what Scripture calls works of the flesh.

No one knows the one-hundredth part of the sin that clings to his soul.

The torture of a bad conscience is the hell of a living soul.

Wherever we find the Word of God surely preached and heard, and the sacraments administered according to the institution of Christ, there, it is not to be doubted, is a church of God.

The moment any mention is made of Christian liberty lust begins to boil, or insane commotions arise, if a speedy restraint is not laid on those licentious spirits by whom the best things are perverted into the worst.

If we believe heaven to be our country, it is better for us to transmit our wealth thither, than to retain it here, where we may lose it by a sudden removal.

As idle talk is often concealed under the garb of jesting, and wit, the Apostle Paul expressly condemns pleasantry, which is so agreeable as to seem a praiseworthy virtue, as a part of foolish talking.

Can true repentance exist without faith? By no means. But although they cannot be separated, they ought to be distinguished.

It is a sign of a perverse and treacherous disposition to wound the good name of another, when he has no opportunity of defending himself.

It is entirely by the intervention of Christ's righteousness that we obtain justification before God. This is equivalent to saying that man is not just in himself, but that the righteousness of Christ is communicated to him by imputation, while he is strictly deserving of punishment.

It is beyond dispute that some awareness of God exists in the human mind by natural instinct, since God Himself has given everyone some idea of Him so that no one can plead ignorance.

God cannot be comprehended by us, except as far as he accommodates himself to our standard.

Now, in order that true religion may shine upon us, we ought to hold that it must take its beginning from heavenly doctrine and that no one can get even the slightest taste of right and sound doctrine unless he be a pupil of Scripture.

Augustine does not disagree with this when he teaches that it is a faculty of the reason and the will to choose good with the assistance of grace; evil, when grace is absent.

Nobody seriously believes the universe was made by God without being persuaded that He takes care of His works.

Nothing is more dangerous than to be blinded by prosperity.

Doubtful prayer is no prayer at all.

We must remember that Satan has his miracles, too.

Is it faith to understand nothing, and merely submit your convictions implicitly to the Church?

Yet consider now, whether women are not quite past sense and reason, when they want to rule over men.

Wherever we see the Word of God purely preached and heard, there a church of God exists, even if it swarms with many faults.

For there is no one so great or mighty that he can avoid the misery that will rise up against him when he resists and strives against God.

Since 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.

When Christ returned to heaven, He withdrew His physical presence from our sight. He didn't stop being with the disciples but by the ascension fulfilled His promise to be with us to the end of the world. As His body was raised to heaven, so His power and reign have spread to the uttermost parts.

God tolerates even our stammering, and pardons our ignorance whenever something inadvertently escapes us - as, indeed, without this mercy there would be no freedom to pray.

Prosperity inebriates men, so that they take delights in their own merits.

To know God as the Master and Bestower of all good things, who invites us to request them of Him, and still not go to Him and ask of Him - this would be of as little profit as for a man to neglect a treasure, buried and hidden in the earth, after it had been pointed out to him.

They who prematurely put themselves forward to root out whatever is displeasing to them overthrow the judgment of God and rashly intrude upon the office of angels.

Man is never sufficiently touched and affected by the awareness of his lowly state until he has compared himself with God's majesty.