Book Two: Chapter XI - 2. The earthly promises corresponded to the childhood of the church in the Old Covenant; but were not to chain hope to earthly things, pg. 451:
Here we see that for Abraham his final reward is put in the Lord alone—so as not to seek a fleeting and elusive reward in the elements of this world [Gal. 4:3], but an imperishable one. Then he adds the promise of the land, solely as a symbol of his benevolence and as a type of the heavenly inheritance. The saints testify in their own words that they have experienced it. David thus mounts up from temporal blessings to that highest and ultimate blessing. “My heart,” he says, “and my flesh fail for desire of thee. . . . God is . . . my portion forever.” [Ps. 73:26 p.; cf. Ps. 84:2]
Book Two: Chapter XIII - 4. True man—and yet sinless! True man—and yet external God!, pg. 481:
For even if the Word in his immeasurable essence united with the nature of man into one person, we do not imagine that he was confined therein. Here is something marvelous: the Son of God descended from heaven in such a way that, without leaving heaven, he willed to be borne in the virgin’s womb, to go about the earth, and to hang upon the cross; yet he continuously filled the world even as he had done from the beginning!
Book Two: Chapter XIV - I. Duality and unity, pg. 482:
Speaking of the two natures of Christ……
If anything like this very great mystery can be found in human affairs, the most apposite parallel seems to be that of man, whom we see to consist of two substances. Yet neither is so mingled with the other as not to retain its own distinctive nature. For the soul is not the body, and the body is not the soul. Therefore, some things are said exclusively of the soul that can in no wise apply to the body; and of the body, again, that in no way fit the soul; of the whole man, that cannot refer—except inappropriately—to either soul or body separately. Finally, the characteristics of the mind are [sometimes] transferred to the body, and those of the body to the soul. Yet he who consists of these parts is one man, not many. Such expressions signify both that there is one person in man composed of two elements joined together, and that there are two diverse underlying natures that make up this person. Thus, also, the Scriptures speak of Christ: they sometimes attribute to him what must be referred solely to his humanity, sometimes what belongs uniquely to his divinity; and sometimes what embraces both natures but fits neither one alone.
Book Two: Chapter XV - (iii. The priestly office: reconciliation and intercession, 6) 6., pg. 502 - 503:
It follows that he is an everlasting intercessor: through his pleading to obtain favor. Hence arises not only trust in prayer, but also peace for godly consciences, while they safely lean upon God’s fatherly mercy are surely persuaded that whatever has been concentrated through the Mediator is pleasing to God. Although God under the law commanded animal sacrifices to be offered to himself, in Christ there was a new and different order, in which the same one was to be both priest and sacrifice. This was because no other satisfaction adequate for our sins, and no man worthy to offer to God the only–begotten Son, could be found. Now, Christ plays the priestly role, not only to render the Father favorable and propitious toward us by an eternal law of reconciliation, but also to receive us as his companions in this great office [Rev. 1:6]. For we who are defiled in ourselves, yet our priest in him, offer ourselves and our all to God, and freely enter the heavenly sanctuary that the sacrifices of prayers and praise that we bring may be acceptable and sweet-smelling before God. This is the meaning of Christ’s statement: “For their sake I sanctify myself” [John 17:19]. For we, imbued with his holiness in so far as he has consecrated us to the Father with himself, although we would otherwise be loathsome to him, please him as pure and clean–and even as holy.
Book Three: Chapter I: 3. Titles of the Holy Spirit in Scripture, pg. 540:
First, he is called the “spirit of adoption” because he is the witness to us of the free benevolence of God with which God the Father has embraced us in his beloved only-begotten Son to become a Father to us; and he encourages us to have trust in prayer. In fact, he supplies the very words so that we may fearlessly cry, “Abba, Father!” [Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6].
For the same reason he is called “the guarantee and seal” of our inheritance [II Cor. 1:22; cf. Eph. 1:14] because from heaven he so gives life to us, on pilgrimage in the world and resembling dead men, as to assure us that our salvation is safe in God’s unfailing care. He is also called “life” because of righteousness [cf. Rom. 8:10].
Book Three: Chapter II: 2. Faith rests upon knowledge, not upon pious ignorance, pg. 545:
We do not obtain salvation either because we are prepared to embrace as true whatever the church has prescribed, or because we turn over to it the task of inquiring and knowing. But we do so when we know that God is our merciful Father, because of reconciliation effected through Christ [II Cor. 5:18-19], and that Christ has been given to us as righteousness, sanctification, and life. By this knowledge, I say, not by submission of our feeling, do we obtain entry into the Kingdom of Heaven. For when the apostle says, “With the heart a man believes unto righteousness, with the mouth makes confession unto salvation” [Rom. 10:10, cf. Vg.], he indicates that it is not enough for a man implicitly to believe what he does not understand or even investigate. But he requires explicit recognition of the divine goodness upon which our righteousness rest.
Book Three: Chapter II: 18. The conflict in the heart of the believer, pg. 564:
In order to understand this, it is necessary to return to that division of flesh and spirit which we have mentioned elsewhere. It most clearly reveals itself at this point. Therefore the godly heart feels in itself a division because it is partly imbued with sweetness from its recognition of the divine goodness, partly grieves in bitterness from an awareness of its calamity; partly rests upon the promise of the gospel, partly trembles at the evidence of its own iniquity; partly rejoices at the expectation of life, partly shudders at death. This variation arises from imperfection of faith, since in the course of the present life it never goes so well with us that we are wholly cured of the disease of unbelief and entirely filled and possessed by faith. Hence arise those conflicts; when unbelief, which reposes in the remains of the flesh, rises up to attack the faith that has been inwardly conceived.
But if in the believing mind certainty is mixed with doubt, do we not always come back to this, that faith does not rest in a certain and clear knowledge, but only in an obscure and confused knowledge of the divine will toward us? Not at all. For even if we are distracted by various thoughts, we are not on that account completely divorced from faith. Nor if we are troubled on all sides by the agitation of unbelief, are we for that reason immersed in its abyss. If we are struck, we are not for that reason cast down from our position. For the end of the conflict is always this: that faith ultimately triumphs over these difficulties which besiege and seem to imperil it.
Book Three: Chapter III: 10. Believers are still sinners, pg. 602-603:
But between Augustine and us we can see that there is this difference of opinion: while he concedes that believers, as long as they dwell in mortal bodies, are so bound by inordinate desires that they are unable not to desire inordinately, yet he dare not call this disease “sin.” Content to designate it with the term “weakness” he teaches that it becomes sin only when either act or consent follows the conceiving or apprehension of it, that is, when the will yields to the first strong inclination. We, on the other hand, deem it sin when man is tickled by any desire at all against the law of God. Indeed, we label “sin” that very depravity which begets in us desires of sort. We accordingly teach that in the saints, until they are divested of mortal bodies, there is always sin; for in their flesh there resides that depravity of inordinate desiring which contends against righteousness. And Augustine does not always refrain from using the term “sin,” as when he says: “Paul calls by the name ‘sin,’ the source from which all sins rise up into carnal desire. As far as this pertains to the saints, it loses its dominion on earth and perishes in heaven.” By these words he admits that in so far as believers are subject to the inordinate desires of the flesh they are guilty of sin.
Book Three: Chapter III: 18. In what sense is repentance the prior condition of forgiveness, pg. 614-615:
Plato sometimes says that the life of a philosopher is a meditation upon death; but we may more truly say that the life of a Christian man is a continual effort and exercise in the mortification of the flesh, till it is utterly slain, and God‘s Spirit reigns in us. Therefore, I think he has profited greatly who has learned to be very much displeased with himself, not so as to stick fast in this mire and progress no farther, but rather to hasten to God and yearn for him in order that, having been engrafted into the life and death of Christ, he may give attention to continual repentance. Truly, they who are held by a real loathing of sin cannot do otherwise. For no one ever hates sin unless he has previously been seized with a love of righteousness. This thought, as it was the simplest of all, so has it seemed to me to agree best with the truth of Scripture.
Calvin here is addressing Rome’s requirement of at least an annual confession to one’s priest for the sins committed in that year.
Book Three: Chapter IV: 17. The requirement of complete confession is a measureless torment, pg. 642-643:
Here let my readers consider how it is possible to reckon up all the acts of an entire year and to gather up what sins they have committed each day. For experience convinces each one that, when we have at evening to examine the transgressions of only a single day, the memory is confused; so great is the multitude and variety of them that press upon us! And I am not speaking of brutish and stupid hypocrites who, paying attention to three or four of their more serious offenses, think they have a fulfilled their obligation. But I speak of the true worshipers of God who, after they see themselves overwhelmed by the examination they have undergone, also add that saying of John’s: “If our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart” [I John 3:20]; thus they tremble at the sight of the Judge, whose knowledge is far beyond our understanding.
