7
to the Father as He looks at us).
Does saving faith justify as obedience for Calvin? Phrased in this way, an
unqualifiedly negative answer is required to this question. This negative answer will be
argued in the rest of this essay from three facets of Calvin's theology: the definition of
faith, the relationship of faith and repentance, and the contrast between law and grace.
The Definition of Faith in Calvin
Its context in Calvin. Calvin begins Book Three of the Institutes by stressing
that it is the agency of the Holy Spirit that produces faith. Calvin asks why it is that all
do not embrace the grace of the gospel and insists that this requires that "we climb higher
and examine into the secret energy of the Spirit."
11
He then stresses that the Holy Spirit
is first given to Christ before He is given to us and discusses the titles (and thus the
works) of the Spirit.
12
Paragraph Four of this chapter then begins, "But faith is the
principal work of the Holy Spirit."
This discussion of the Holy Spirit as the spring of faith in Christ must not be
quickly passed over in order to come immediately to Calvin's attempt to define faith. It
serves to set the stage and create the context for his definition by emphasizing the fact
that faith itself is the gift of the Father's grace, through the Son's work, in the Spirit's
power. It may be in some sense true that it is by our faith that we unite ourselves to
Christ. Yet, for Calvin, it is also true and in a sense even more true or important that it is
Christ who unites us to Himself by the bond of the Spirit who creates the faith in us
which unites us to Christ.
A crux in Calvin studies. Calvin comes to his attempt to define faith in the
_______________________
11
Inst. 3:1:1.
12
Inst. 3:1:2-3.