Calvin's Institutes: February 24

In today’s reading from Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin pushes his argument about human inability to its breaking point. He rejects the idea that sin is merely ignorance or that the will retains even a small native power to move toward God. Human reason, Calvin argues, is not simply weak but fundamentally disordered—capable of flashes of moral insight yet unable to sustain obedience or rightly aim the soul toward righteousness. Even our best intentions collapse under the weight of vanity and self-deception. Turning to Romans 7, Calvin insists Paul is describing the regenerate believer’s struggle, not an unfallen remnant of goodness in natural humanity. The will, therefore, is not free in spiritual matters but bound under sin until liberated by grace. From beginning to end, Calvin leaves no room for partial credit: every good desire, every true movement toward God, and every step of obedience is the work of God alone. Grace does not merely assist the will—it creates it.

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