Best 367 quotes of John Calvin on MyQuotes

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.

After 50 years, is it not clear that God has raised up new illnesses connected with fornication? From where do these things come if not from the hand of God? [In response to these diseases] The world was astounded, and people were terrified for a time, but they have not, to this day, observed the hand of God.

Again I ask whence it happened that the fall of Adam involved, without remedy, in eternal death so many nations, together with their infant children, except because it so seemed good to God? A decree horrible, I confess, and yet true.

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

All men were created to busy themselves with the labor for the common good.

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.

All the arts come from God and are to be respected as divine inventions

All the blessings we enjoy are Divine deposits, committed to our trust on this condition, that they should be dispensed for the benefit of our neighbors.

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.

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.

All true knowledge of God is born out of obedience.

All whom the Lord has chosen and received into the society of his saints ought to prepare themselves for a life that is hard, difficult, laborious and full of countless griefs.

A man that extols himself is a fool and an idiot

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.

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

A perfect faith is nowhere to be found, so it follows that all of us are partly unbelievers.

As by the revolt of the first man, the image of God could be effaced from his mind and soul, so there is nothing strange in His shedding some rays of grace on the reprobate, and afterwards allowing these to be extinguished.

As far as sacred Scripture is concerned, however much froward men try to gnaw at it, nevertheless it clearly is crammed with thoughts that could not be humanly conceived. Let each of the prophets be looked into: none will be found who does not far exceed human measure. Consequently, those for whom prophetic doctrine is tasteless ought to be thought of as lacking taste buds.

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

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.

Because I know that I am not my own master, I offer my heart as a true sacrifice to the Lord.

Because the will renewed is the Lord's work, it is wrongly attributed to man that he obeys prevenient grace with his will as attendant.

But a faithful believer will in all circumstances mediate on the mercy and fatherly goodness of God.

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!

But as a heathen tells us, there is no nation so barbarous, no race so brutish as not to be imbued with the conviction that there is a God.

But, as sculpture and painting are gifts of God, what I insist on is, that both shall be used purely and lawfully, that gifts which the Lord has bestowed upon us, for His glory and our good, shall not be preposterously abused, nay, shall not be perverted to our destruction.

But prosperity, and the happy issue of events, ought also to be attributed to his grace, in order that he may always receive the praise which he deserves, that of being a merciful Father, and an impartial Judge. About the close of the psalm, he inveighs against those ungodly men who will not acknowledge God's hand, amid such palpable demonstrations of his providence.

But the present life should never be hated, except insofar as it subjects us to sin, although even that hatred should not properly be applied to life itself.

But those who wish to prove to unbelievers that Scripture is the Word of God are acting foolishly, for only by faith can this be known.

Doctrine is not an affair of the tongue but of the life.

Christians rejoice even while they truly sorrow - because their rejoicing is in the hope of heaven... While joy overcomes sorrow, it does not put an end to it.

Christ is much more powerful to save, than Adam was to destroy.

Christ is the most perfect image of God, into which we are so renewed as to bear the image of God, in knowledge, purity, righteousness, and true holiness.

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

Concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, we must also be aware that he is our Advocate, and that without him we cannot approach God.

Each eye can have its vision separately; but when we are looking at anything our vision, which in itself is divided, joins up and unites in order to give itself as a whole to the object that is put before it.

Elisabeth, again, while she praises her, is so far from hiding the Divine glory, that she ascribes everything to God. And yet, though she acknowledges the superiority of Mary to herself and to others, she does not envy her the higher distinction, but modestly declares that she had obtained more than she deserved.

Even if this earth is only a vestibule, we ought undoubtedly to make such a use of its blessing that we are assisted rather than delayed in our journey.

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

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

Faith and patience are exceptional virtues in those that suffer. Patience is the fruit and evidence of faith.

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

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.

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

Faith is not a distant view, but a warm embrace of Christ.

Faith is the evidence of divine adoption.

Faith is tossed about by various doubts, so that the minds of the godly are rarely at peace.

For as the aged, or those whose sight is defective, when any book, however fair, is set before them, though they perceive that there is something written, are scarcely able to make out two consecutive words, but, when aided by glasses, begin to read distinctly, so Scripture, gathering together the impressions of Deity, which, till then, lay confused in our minds, dissipates the darkness, and shows us the true God clearly.

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.

For earthly princes lay aside their power when they rise up against God, and are unworthy to be reckoned among the number of mankind. We ought, rather, utterly to defy them.