@calvinInstitutesChristianReligion20

Links: John Calvin, Christ & Government, Titus 3:1, Romans 13:1-2, 1 Peter 2:13-14,
Created: 2024-10-23 12:38

Book 4, Chapter XX,

Calvin on Obedience

• 23. Obedience
  • "that, with hearts inclined to reverence their rulers, the subjects should prove their obedience toward them, whether by obeying their proclamations, or by paying taxes, or by undertaking public offices and burdens which pertain to the common defense, or by executing any other commands of theirs. “Let every soul,” says Paul, “be subject to the higher powers.… For he who resists authority, resists what God has ordained.” [Rom. 13:1–2, Vg.] “Remind them,” he writes to Titus, “to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready for every good work.” [Titus 3:1, cf. Vg.] And Peter says, “Be subject to every human creature45x (or rather, as I translate it, ordinance) afor the Lord’s sake, whether it be to the king, as supreme, or unto governors who are sent through him to punish evildoers, but to praise doers of good.” [1 Peter 2:13–14.]"(1)
• 24. Obedience to unjust magistrate
  • When evil rulers come, killing, stealing, lying etc. Men often decide not to recognize these people as their rulers which Scripture calls us to do.
    • "Indeed, this inborn feeling has always been in the minds of men to hate and curse tyrants as much as to love and venerate lawful kings."(2)
• 25. Wicked ruler a judgment from God
  • Bad rulers can be a form of judgment from God. (Hos. 13:11; Isa. 3:4; 10:5; Deut. 28:29) (3)
• 26. Obedience to bad kings required in Scripture
  • God is in control of both time, seasons, and the kings he sets up and removes (Dan 2:21, 37)
  • Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem, he was an invader.
    • "Nevertheless, the Lord declares in Ezekiel that He has given him the land of Egypt for the service he had done him in devastating it [Ezek. 29:19–20]. And Daniel said to him: “You, O king, are a king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, powerful, mighty, and glorious; to you, I say, he has given also all lands where the sons of men dwell, beasts of the forest and birds of the air: these he has given into your hand and made you rule over them” [Dan. 2:37–38, cf. Vg.]. Again, Daniel says to Nebuchadnezzar’s son Belshazzar: “The Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar, your father, kingship and magnificence, honor and glory; and because of the magnificence that he gave him, all peoples, tribes, and tongues were trembling and fearful before him” [Dan. 5:18–19, cf. Vg.]. When we hear that a king has been ordained by God, let us at once call to mind those heavenly edicts with regard to honoring and fearing a king; then we shall not hesitate to hold a most wicked tyrant in the place where the Lord has deigned to set him." (4)
  • Another example in Scripture where the King is taking from his people unjustly (1 Sam 8:11-17, Cf. Dt 17:16), yet despite this the people had to obey it and were not allowed to resist.
• 27. The case of Nebuchadnezzar in Jer., ch. 27*
  • "I shall visit that nation with sword, famine, and pestilence.… Therefore, serve the king of Babylon and live" Jer 27:5
  • The Lord requires obedience from his people because of his kingship.
  • "If we have continually present to our minds and before our eyes the fact that even the most worthless kings are appointed by the same decree by which the authority of all kings is established, those seditious thoughts will never enter our minds that a king should be treated according to his merits, and that it is unfair that we should show ourselves subjects to him who, on his part, does not show himself a king to us." (5)
• 29. It is not the part of subjects but of God to vindicate the right
  • Comparison to the household, children still need to obey their parents, wife's still need to love and serve their husbands even if they are selfish, or not living up to their duty.
  • If we find this whole matter confusing, or troubling
  • Let us then also call this thought to mind, that it is not for us to remedy such evils; that only this remains, to implore the Lord’s help, in whose hand are the hearts of kings, and the changing of kingdoms (6)
• 32. Obedience to man must not become disobedience to God
  • "obedience is never to lead us away from obedience to him" (7)
  • "If they command anything against him, let it go unesteemed."
    • No wrong doing by Daniel (Dan 6:22-23)
    • The Israelites are condemned because they were too obedient to the wicked proclamation of the king [Hos. 5:13]
    • "That we have been redeemed by Christ at so great a price as our redemption cost him, so that we should not enslave ourselves to the wicked desires of men—much less be subject to their impiety"

References

1. John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion & 2, ed. John T. McNeill, trans. Ford Lewis Battles, vol. 1, The Library of Christian Classics (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011), 1510.
2. Ibid, 1512.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid, 1513–1514.
5. 1514–1515.
6. 1516
7. 1520