Saturday, June 13, 2009

Calvin on Christ as the Focal Point of the Whole Bible

Calvin believed that all of Scripture pointed to Christ - and, specifically, to Christ's death and resurrection for sinners: "Whenever we take the sacred books [of Scripture] into our hands, the blood of Christ ought to occur to our minds, as if the whole of its sacred instruction were written therewith" (Four Last Books of Moses III:320). In his Commentary on Corinthians, he wrote, "All the wisdom of believers is comprehended in the cross of Christ" (1:74). Further interpreting Paul, he adds, "There is no tribunal so magnificent, no throne so stately, no show of triumph so distinguished, no chariot so elevated, as is the gibbet on which Christ has subdued death and the devil" (Commentary on Philippians-Colossians, 191).

-- Taken from Michael Horton's article, "Is Calvin Still Relevant after 500 Years?", in the June/July 2009 issue of Modern Reformation