8
first seven paragraphs of the third chapter in Book Three of the Institutes. He then states
his carefully crafted definition in Paragraph Seven. Calvin's classic definition runs as
follows: "Now we shall possess a right definition of faith if we call it a firm and certain
knowledge of God's benevolence toward us, founded upon the truth of the freely given
promise in Christ, both revealed to our minds and sealed upon our hearts through the
Holy Spirit."
13
He follows this statement of his definition by discussing various
questions and difficulties related to his definition of faith in Paragraphs 8 through 43.
This careful and extended treatment of the subject manifests how critical and central the
subject of faith is for Calvin.
This careful and extended treatment of faith has not prevented this subject
from becoming one of the cruxes of Calvin studies.
14
It has given rise to discussions of
whether Calvin's doctrine of faith is intellectualist or voluntarist.
15
It has also given rise
to the related discussion of the relation of faith and assurance in Calvin's doctrine.
16
It
has given rise, furthermore, to the inter-twined discussions of unbelief in the elect and of
belief in the non-elect.
17
Finally, the place of knowledge in Calvin's view of faith has
also become a subject of discussion as Neo-orthodoxy attempted to lay claim to Calvin.
18
Its clarity in Calvin. The meaning of faith for the purpose of the question
_______________________
13
Inst. 3:2:7.
14
George Gordh, "Calvin's Conception of Faith," Review & Expositor 50 (April, 1953): 207-
215; Brian A. Gerrish, "The Doctrine of Faith," Princeton Seminary Bulletin 16, no. 2 (1995): 202-215.
15
Cf. the discussion of R. T. Kendall's notorious thesis by Richard A. Muller, The
Unaccommodated Calvin (Oxford: New York, 2000), 159-73. Note also George W. Harper, "Calvin and
English Calvinism to 1649: A Review Article," Calvin Theological Journal 20 (1985): 255-62; Stephen
Thorson, "Tensions in Calvin's View of Faith: Unexamined Assumptions in R. T. Kendall's Calvin and
English Calvinism to 1649," JETS 37, no. 3 (September, 1994): 413-26.
16
Joel R. Beeke, "Does Assurance Belong to the Essence of Faith? Calvin and the Calvinists,"
The Master's Seminary Journal 5, no. 1 (Spring, 1994): 43-71.
17
John Clark Smith, "Calvin: Unbelief in the Elect," Evangelical Quarterly 54 (1982): 14-24.
18
James M. Bulman, "The Place of Knowledge in Calvin's View of Faith," Review and
Expositor 50 (July 1953): 323-329.