110+ John Calvin Quotes On Faith, Scripture And Predestination

John Calvin was a French theologian who lived from 1509-1564. He was a major figure in the Protestant Reformation, and his teachings, known as Calvinism, had a profound influence on the development of Protestantism. He is known for his Institutes of the Christian Religion, a seminal work of Protestant theology. Following is our collection on famous quotes by John Calvin on faith, scripture, predestination.

Top 10 John Calvin Quotes

1. Prayer doesn't change things - God changes things in answer to prayer.
2. When God wants to judge a nation, He gives them wicked rulers.
3. A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God's truth is attacked and yet would remain silent.
4. Whatever a person may be like, we must still love them because we love God.
5. We shall never be clothed with the righteousness of Christ except we first know assuredly that we have no righteousness of our own.
6. If a preacher is not first preaching to himself, better that he falls on the steps of the pulpit and breaks his neck than preaches that sermon.
7. Only those who have learned well to be earnestly dissatisfied with themselves, and to be confounded with shame at their wretchedness truly understand the Christian gospel.
8. Humility is the beginning of true intelligence.
9. Whoever is not satisfied with Christ alone, strives after something beyond absolute perfection.
10. The pastor ought to have two voices: one, for gathering the sheep; and another, for warding off and driving away wolves and thieves. The Scripture supplies him with the means of doing both.

John Calvin Image Quotes

Whatever a person may be like, we must still love them because we love God. — John Calvin

Humility is the beginning of true intelligence. — John Calvin

If God does nothing random, there must always be something to learn. — John Calvin

Every one of us is, even from his mother's womb, a master craftsman of idols. — John Calvin

True wisdom consists in two things: Knowledge of God and Knowledge of Self. — John Calvin

John Calvin Short Quotes

• For what is idolatry if not this: to worship the gifts in place of the Giver himself?
• If God does nothing random, there must always be something to learn.
• Every one of us is, even from his mother's womb, a master craftsman of idols.
• True wisdom consists in two things: Knowledge of God and Knowledge of Self.
• You must submit to supreme suffering in order to discover the completion of joy.
• We must remember that Satan has his miracles, too.
• Satan is an astute theologian.
• The Holy Spirit is the bond by which Christ efficaciously unites us to himself.
• A man that extols himself is a fool and an idiot
• There is no worse screen to block out the Spirit than confidence in our own intelligence.

John Calvin Quotes About Faith

A man will be justified by faith when, excluded from righteousness of works, he by faith lays hold of the righteousness of Christ, and clothed in it, appears in the sight of God not as a sinner, but as righteous. — John Calvin

Faith and hope...are the wings by which our souls, rising above the world, are lifted up to God. — John Calvin

Faith does not proceed from ourselves, but is the fruit of spiritual regeneration. — John Calvin

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

True faith is ever connected with hope. — John Calvin

Faith consists not in ignorance, but in knowledge - knowledge not of God merely...but when we recognize God as a propitious Father through the reconciliation made by Christ, and Christ as given to us for righteousness, sanctification, and life. — John Calvin

To have a proper understanding of the gospel, we must recognise that we need to lean entirely upon the Lord Jesus Christ and his mercy alone as our only hope of salvation. ... No one can be justified by the law; justification is through faith alone. — John Calvin

Things that are seen are temporal; things that are unseen are eternal. — John Calvin

Faith consists, not in ignorance, but in knowledge, and that, not only of God, but also of the divine will. — John Calvin

The subject then of these chapters may be stated thus, - man's only righteousness is through the mercy of God in Christ, which being offered by the Gospel is apprehended by faith. — John Calvin

John Calvin Quotes About Scripture

Scripture is like a pair of spectacles which dispels the darkness and gives us a clear view of God. — John Calvin

The Scriptures obtain full authority among believers only when men regard them as having sprung from heaven, as if there the living words of God were heard. — John Calvin

Original sin, therefore, appears to be a hereditary, depravity and corruption of our nature, diffused through all the parts of the soul, rendering us obnoxious to the divine wrath and producing in us those works which the scripture calls 'works of. — John Calvin

But a most pernicious error widely prevails that Scripture has only so much weight as is conceded to it by the consent of the church. As if the eternal and inviolable truth of God depended upon the decision of men! — John Calvin

Scripture points out this difference between believers and unbelievers; the latter, as old slaves of their incurable perversity, cannot endure the rod; but the former, like children of noble birth, profit by repentance and correction. — John Calvin

Hence that dread and amazement with which as Scripture uniformly relates holy men were struck and overwhelmed whenever they beheld the presence of God. Men are never duly touched and impressed with a conviction of their insignificance until they have. — John Calvin

If true religion is to beam upon us, our principle must be, that it is necessary to begin with heavenly teaching, and that it is impossible for any man to obtain even the minutest portion of right and sound doctrine without being a disciple of Scripture. — John Calvin

Our true wisdom is to embrace with meek docility, and without reservation, whatever the holy scriptures have delivered. — John Calvin

Scripture urges and warns us that whatever favors we may have obtained from the Lord, we have received them as a trust on condition that they should be applied to the common benefit of the church. — John Calvin

All the more vile is the stupidity of those persons who open heaven to all the impious and unbelieving without the grace of Him whom Scripture commonly teaches to be the only door whereby we enter into salvation. — John Calvin

John Calvin Quotes About Prayer

To make intercession for men is the most powerful and practical way in which we can express our love for them. — John Calvin

Unless we fix certain hours in the day for prayer, it easily slips from our memory. — John Calvin

Joy and patience are far above our strength... We must persevere in prayer that he may not permit our hearts to faint... Prayer and perseverance are necessary in our daily conflicts. The best remedy to the weariness is diligence in prayer. — John Calvin

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

We must resist wandering thoughts in prayer. Raising our hands reminds us that we need to raise up our minds to God, setting aside all irrelevant thoughts. — John Calvin

Prayers belong strictly to the worship of God. Fasting is a subordinate aid, which is pleasing to God no farther than as it aids the earnestness and fervency of prayer. — John Calvin

The door is closed to prayer unless it is opened with the key of trust. — John Calvin

We must not think that [God] takes no notice of us, when He does not answer our wishes: for He has a right to distinguish what we actually need. — John Calvin

Against the persecution of a tyrant the godly have no remedy but prayer. — John Calvin

Prayers will never reach God unless they are founded on free mercy. — John Calvin

John Calvin Quotes About Free Will

To be Christians under the law of grace does not mean to wander unbridled outside the law, but to be engrafted in Christ, by whose grace we are free from the curse of the law, and by whose Spirit we have the law engraved upon our hearts. — John Calvin

Free will does not enable any man to perform good works, unless he is assisted by grace; indeed, the special grace which the elect alone receive through regeneration. For I stay not to consider the extravagance of those who say that grace is offered equally and promiscuously to all — John Calvin

Let that ethical philosophy therefore of free-will be far from a Christian mind. — John Calvin

Free will is an empty term. — John Calvin

This is plainly to ascribe divinity to 'free will.' — John Calvin

Free-will cannot will good and of necessity serves sin. — John Calvin

John Calvin Quotes About Salvation

God preordained, for his own glory and the display of His attributes of mercy and justice, a part of the human race, without any merit of their own, to eternal salvation, and another part, in just punishment of their sin, to eternal damnation. — John Calvin

No man is excluded from calling upon God, the gate of salvation is set open unto all men: neither is there any other thing which keepeth us back from entering in, save only our own unbelief. — John Calvin

Our assurance, our glory, and the sole anchor of our salvation are that Christ the Son of God is ours, and we in turn are in him sons of God and heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven, called to the hope of eternal blessedness by God's grace, not by our worth. — John Calvin

Whenever our sins press hard against us, whenever Satan would drive us to despair, we must hold up this shield, that God does not want us to be overwhelmed in everlasting destruction, for He has ordained His Son to be the salvation of the world. — John Calvin

There is no group or type of people anywhere in the world that is excluded from salvation, because God desires that the gospel be proclaimed to all without exception. — John Calvin

All things being at God's disposal, and the decision of salvation or death belonging to him, he orders all things by his counsel and decree in such a manner, that some men are born devoted from the womb to certain death, that his name may be glorified in their destruction. — John Calvin

...nothing good can proceed from our will until it be formed again, and that after it is formed again in so far as it is good, it is of God, and not of us. — John Calvin

When we see that the whole sum of our salvation, and every single part of it, are comprehended in Christ, we must beware of deriving even the minutest portion of it from any other quarter. — John Calvin

Christ's intercession is the continual application of his death to our salvation. — John Calvin

Whether each of the faithful has a particular angel assigned him for his defence, I cannot venture certainly to affirm... not one angel only has the care of every one of us, but that they all with one consent watch for our salvation. — John Calvin

John Calvin Quotes About Grace

Joy is a quiet gladness of heart as one contemplates the goodness of God's saving grace in Christ Jesus. — John Calvin

Human will does not by liberty obtain grace, but by grace obtains liberty. — John Calvin

If people mean that man has in himself the power to work in partnership with God's grace they are most wretchedly deluding themselves. — John Calvin

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. — John Calvin

All our words ought to be filled with true sweetness and grace; and this will be so if we mingle the useful with the sweet. — John Calvin

While sin is overflowing, [grace] pours itself forth so exuberantly, that it not only overcomes the flood of sin, but wholly absorbs it. — John Calvin

The grace of God has no charms for men till the Holy Spirit gives them a taste for it. — John Calvin

To will is human, to will the bad is of fallen nature, but to will the good is of Grace. — John Calvin

There are sons of God who do not yet appear so to us, but now do so to God; and there are those who, on account of some arrogated or temporal grace, are called so by us, but are not so to God. — John Calvin

In vain people busy themselves with finding any good of man's own in his will. For any mixture of the power of freewill that men strive to mingle with God's grace is nothing but a corruption of grace. It is just as if one were to dilute wine with muddy, bitter water. — John Calvin

John Calvin Quotes About Love

We are not to reflect on the wickedness of men but to look to the image of God in them, an image which, covering and obliterating their faults, an image which, by its beauty and dignity, should allure us to love and embrace them. — John Calvin

We are not to look to what men in themselves deserve but to attend to the image of God which exists in all and to which we owe all honor and love. — John Calvin

The only right stewardship is that which is tested by the rule of love. — John Calvin

There is no golden mean between these two extremes; either this early life must become low in our estimation, or it will have our inordinate love. — John Calvin

For it was not after we were reconciled to him by the blood of his Son that he began to love us, but he loved us before the foundation of the world, that with his only begotten Son we too might be sons of God before we were anything at all. — John Calvin

John Calvin Quotes About Doctrine

The gospel is not a doctrine of the tongue, but of life. It cannot be grasped by reason and memory only, but it is fully understood when it possesses the whole soul and penetrates to the inner recesses of the heart. — John Calvin

Doctrine is not an affair of the tongue but of the life. — John Calvin

The gospel is not a doctrine of the tongue, but of life. — John Calvin

John Calvin Quotes About Reason

Seeing that a Pilot steers the ship in which we sail, who will never allow us to perish even in the midst of shipwrecks, there is no reason why our minds should be overwhelmed with fear and overcome with weariness. — John Calvin

Pagan philosophers set up reason as the sole guide of life, of wisdom and conduct; but Christian philosophy demands of us that we surrender our reason to the Holy Spirit; and this means that we no longer live for ourselves, but that Christ lives and reigns within us (Rom 12:1; Eph 4:23; Gal 2:20). — John Calvin

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

John Calvin Quotes About Words

God works in his elect in two ways: inwardly, by his Spirit; outwardly, by his Word. — John Calvin

Unless God's Word illumine the way, the whole life of men is wrapped in darkness and mist, so that they cannot but miserably stray. — John Calvin

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

I consider looseness with words no less of a defect than looseness of the bowels. — John Calvin

The very word baptizé, however, signifies to immerse; and it is certain that immersion was the practice of the ancient Church. — John Calvin

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. — John Calvin

A soul, therefore, when deprived of the Word of God, is given up unarmed to the devil for destruction — John Calvin

The word "hope" I take for faith; and indeed hope is nothing else but the constancy of faith. — John Calvin

God does not bestow his spirit on his people in order to set aside the use of his word, but rather to render it fruitful. — John Calvin

Joy and thanksgiving expressed in prayer and praise according to the Word of God are the heart of the Church's worship. — John Calvin

John Calvin Quotes About Church

The church is the gathering of God's children, where they can be helped and fed like babies and then guided by her motherly care, grow up to manhood in maturity of faith. — John Calvin

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

It is a promise which eminently deserves our observation that all who are united to Christ and acknowledge Him to be Christ and Mediator will remain to the end safe from all danger, for what is said of the body of the Church belongs to each of its members since they are one in Christ. — John Calvin

The highest honor in the church is not government but service. — John Calvin

God promised by the mouth of Isaiah that queens should be the nursing mothers of the church. — John Calvin

The Bible is the sceptre by which the Heavenly King rules His Church. — John Calvin

The excellence of the Church does not consist in multitude but in purity. — John Calvin

John Calvin Famous Quotes And Sayings

Whatever a person may be like, we must still love them because we love God. — John Calvin

The happiness promised us in Christ does not consist in outward advantages-such as leading a joyous and peaceful life, having rich possessions, being safe from all harm, and abounding with delights such as the flesh commonly longs after. No, our happiness belongs to the heavenly life! — John Calvin

Humility is the beginning of true intelligence. — John Calvin

Our prayer must not be self-centered. It must arise not only because we feel our own need as a burden we must lay upon God, but also because we are so bound up in love for our fellow men that we feel their need as acutely as our own. To make intercession for men is the most powerful and practical way in which we can express our love for them. — John Calvin

Whenever the Lord holds us in suspense, and delays his aid, he is not therefore asleep, but, on the contrary, regulates all His works in such a manner that he does nothing but at the proper time. — John Calvin

The blindness of unbelievers in no way detracts from the clarity of the gospel; the sun is no less bright because blind men do not perceive its light. — John Calvin

We should never insult others on account of their faults, for it is our duty to show charity and respect to everyone. — John Calvin

Every one of us is, even from his mother's womb, a master craftsman of idols. — John Calvin

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. — John Calvin

True wisdom consists in two things: Knowledge of God and Knowledge of Self. — John Calvin

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. — John Calvin

How do we know that God has elected us before the creation of the world? By believing in Jesus Christ. — John Calvin

We may rest assured that God would never have suffered any infants to be slain except those who were already damned and predestined for eternal death. — John Calvin

Men will never worship God with a sincere heart, or be roused to fear and obey Him with sufficient zeal, until they properly understand how much they are indebted to His mercy. — John Calvin

We can experience joy in adverse circumstances by holding God's benefits in such esteem that the recognition of them and meditation upon them shall overcome all sorrow. — John Calvin

If it seems more horrible to kill a man in his own house, then in a field,...it ought surely to be deemed more atrocious to destroy a fetus in the womb before it has come to light. — John Calvin

Wherefore all theology, when separated from Christ, is not only vain and confused, but is also mad, deceitful, and spurious; for, though the philosophers sometimes utter excellent sayings, yet they have nothing but what is short-lived, and even mixed up with wicked and erroneous sentiments. — John Calvin

However many blessings we expect from God, His infinite liberality will always exceed all our wishes and our thoughts. — John Calvin

Those who fall away have never been thoroughly imbued with the knowledge of Christ but only had a slight and passing taste of it. — John Calvin

The Lord has given us a table at which to feast, not an altar on which a victim is to be offered; He has not consecrated priests to make sacrifice, but servants to distribute the sacred feast. — John Calvin

Man's mind is like a store of idolatry and superstition; so much so that if a man believes his own mind it is certain that he will forsake God and forge some idol in his own brain. — John Calvin

The glory of God shines, indeed, in all creatures on high and below, but never more brightly than in the cross. — John Calvin

Holiness is not a merit by which we can attain communion with God, but a gift of Christ, which enables us to cling to him, and to follow him. — John Calvin

Then let every one of us, being warned by this sentence of the angel, acknowledge that he as yet cleaves to first principles, or, at least, does not comprehend all those things which are necessary to be known; and that therefore progress is to be made to the very end of life: for this is our wisdom, to be learners to the end. — John Calvin

That man is truly humble who neither claims any personal merit in the sight of God, nor proudly despises brethren, or aims at being thought superior to them, but reckons it enough that he is one of the members of Christ, and desires nothing more than that the Head alone should be exalted. — John Calvin

The first part of a good work is the will, the second is vigorous effort in the doing of it. God is the author of both. It is, therefore, robbery from God to arrogate anything to ourselves, either in the will or the act. — John Calvin

Since we are all naturally prone to hypocrisy, any empty semblance of righteousness is quite enough to satisfy us instead of righteousness itself. — John Calvin

men are undoubtedly more in danger from prosperity than from adversity. for when matters go smoothly, they flatter themselves, and are intoxicated by their success — John Calvin

The majesty of God in itself goes beyond the capacity of human understanding and cannot be comprehended by it.. We must adore its loftiness rather than investigate it, so that we do not remain overwhelmed by so great a splendor. — John Calvin

There is no knowing that does not begin with knowing God. — John Calvin

Let us consider this settled, that no one has made progress in the school of Christ who does not joyfully await the day of death and final resurrection. — John Calvin

The one condition for spiritual progress is that we remain sincere and humble. — John Calvin

The human heart has so many crannies where vanity hides, so many holes where falsehood works, is so decked out with deceiving hypocrisy, that it often dupes itself. — John Calvin

My heart I give you, Lord, eagerly and entirely. — John Calvin

Hatred grows into insolence when we desire to excel the rest of mankind and imagine we do not belong to the common lot; we even severely and haughtily despise others as our inferiors. — John Calvin

Angels are the dispensers and administrators of the divine beneficence toward us. — John Calvin

We cannot rely on God's promises without obeying his commandments. — John Calvin

For astronomy is not only pleasant, but also very useful to be known: it cannot be denied that this art unfolds the admirable wisdom of God. — John Calvin

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. — John Calvin

No one can travel so far that he does not make some progess each day. So let us never give up. Then we shall move forward daily in the Lord's way. And let us never despair because of our limited success. Even though it is so much less than we would like, our labour is not wasted when today is better than yesterday! — John Calvin

By predestination we mean the eternal decree of God, by which He determined with Himself whatever He wished to happen with regard to every man — John Calvin

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. — John Calvin

All true knowledge of God is born out of obedience. — John Calvin

It is a most blessed thing to be subject to the sovereignty of God. — John Calvin

Let this be our rule for goodwill and helpfulness, that whenever we are able to assist others we should behave as stewards who must someday give an account of ourselves. — John Calvin

We shall never be fit for the service of God, if we look not beyond this fleeting life. — John Calvin

Where is our acknowledgement of God if our thoughts are fixed on the glamour of our garments? — John Calvin

Without knowledge of self there is no knowledge of God. — John Calvin

The sufferings of Christ are the means of forgiveness of sin and eternal glory — John Calvin

Accursed is that peace of which revolt from God is the bond, and blessed are those contentions by which it is necessary to maintain the kingdom of Christ. — John Calvin

The Human heart is an idol factory. — John Calvin

Hypocrisy can plunge the mind of a man into a dark abyss, when he believes his own self-flattery instead of God's verdict. — John Calvin

Whoever shall now contend that it is unjust to put heretics and blasphemers to death will knowingly and willingly incur their very guilt. — John Calvin

Involvement in public life provides the opportunity to shape our manners in accordance with civil justice. — John Calvin

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

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

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. — John Calvin

We unjustly defraud God of his right, unless each of us lives and dies in dependence on His sovereign pleasure. — John Calvin

For, to my mind, this is a certain principle, that nothing is here treated of but the visible form of the world. He who would learn astronomy, and other recondite arts, let him go elsewhere. (on commenting the text of Genesis 1:6) — John Calvin

The true wisdom of man consists in the knowledge of God the creator and Redeemer. — John Calvin

There are people who are known to be very liberal, yet they never give without scolding or pride or even insolence. — John Calvin

The Angels are the dispensers and administrators of the Divine beneficence toward us. They regard our safety, undertake our defense, direct our ways, and exercise a constant solicitude that no evil befall us. — John Calvin

Man with all his shrewdness is as stupid about understanding by himself the mysteries of God, as an ass is incapable of understanding musical harmony. — John Calvin

Life Lessons by John Calvin

1. John Calvin taught that all of life should be lived in service to God, emphasizing the importance of humility and faithfulness.
2. He also believed in predestination, the idea that God has predetermined the course of one's life, and that individuals should strive to live in accordance with God's will.
3. Finally, Calvin emphasized the importance of education and knowledge, believing that individuals should strive to learn and understand the world around them.