“For just as our eyes, when dimmed with age or weakness or by some other defect, unless aided by spectacles, discern nothing distinctly; so, such is our feebleness, unless Scripture guides us in seeking God, we are immediately confused.” (Calvin, Institutes I. 14. 1)
The Distinctions in the Godhead
The Persons of the Godhead are a distinction and not a division. Augustine speaks clearly of the distinctions within the Godhead meaning as they belong to the Persons of the Trinity, when he says,
“Christ with respect to himself is called God; with respect to the Father, Son. Again, the Father with respect to himself is called God; with respect to the Son, Father. In so far as he is called Father with respect to the Son, he is not the Son; in so far as he is called the Son with respect to the Father, he is not the Father; in so far as he is called both Father with respect to himself, and Son with respect to himself, he is the same God.”
Three in One – One in Three
“I cannot think on the one without quickly being encircled by the splendor of the three; nor can I discern the three without being straightway carried back to the one.” Gregory of Nazianzus
Calvin admired this saying of Gregory’s and I confess I like it too (see Institutes I. 13. 17).
An Orthodox Catechism (2)
Here are the next 2 questions in An Orthodox Catechism. These begin the first part of the Catechism focusing on Man’s Misery.
Q.3. From what source do you know your misery?
A. From the Law of God
Q.4. What does the Law of God require of us?
A. That which Christ summarily teaches us, Matthew 22:37–40. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first and great commandment; and the second is like it, You shall live your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets.
Inward Persuasion
According to Calvin in his Institutes (1.8.13), Scripture will ultimately suffice for a saving knowledge of God only when it’s certainty is founded upon the inward persuasion of the Holy Spirit…those who wish to prove to unbelievers that Scripture is the Word of God are acting foolishly, for only by faith can this be known.
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