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Foreword

Spirituality is a subject much on the minds of people today. With its prevailing secularism and materialism, modern culture has failed to satisfy its consumers. Many are coming to realize the truth of what Moses said to the children of Israel, "Man doth not live by bread only" (Deut. 8:3). With Christ in His Sermon on the Mount, they ask, "Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?" (Matt. 6:25). The result is a new interest in discovering and nurturing the inward, spiritual dimensions of human life.

Historic Christianity has always shared this interest. Fundamental to the Christian faith is the conviction that "God is a Spirit" (John 4:24), and that human beings are made in the image of God (Gen. 1:26-27). Assessing the state of fallen man, the apostle Paul declared that men are "alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart" (Eph. 4:18). Christ Himself declared, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3).

The cultivation of spiritual life has been addressed in different ways by different Christian traditions. Roman Catholicism has offered a spirituality of ritualism and sacramental administration, and alternatively, the disciplines of monastic life and the pursuits of mysticism. The Wesleyan Methodist tradition, the Holiness movement, and more recently, Pentecostalism and the charismatic movement have offered a spirituality with less ceremonial or intellectual content and a great deal more emotion and subjectivism.

The problem with most spirituality today is that it is not closely moored in Scripture and too often degenerates into unbiblical mysticism. In contrast, Reformed Christianity has followed a path of its own, largely determined by its concern to test all things by Scripture and to develop a spiritual life shaped by Scripture's teachings and directives. Reformed spirituality is the outworking of the conviction that "all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness" (2 Tim. 3:16). In dependence upon the Holy Spirit, it aims to achieve what John Murray called "intelligent piety," wedding scriptural knowledge and heartfelt piety. Of the preachers, scholars, and writers who fostered this kind of biblical spirituality, none have excelled the Puritans of England and their contemporaries in Scotland and the Netherlands. Their legacy excels in basing all spirituality, experience, and affections on the Bible.

The dual emphasis of nurturing both the mind and the soul is sorely needed today. On the one hand, we confront the problem of dry Reformed orthodoxy, which has correct doctrinal teaching but lacks emphasis on vibrant, godly living. The result is that people bow before the doctrine of God without a vital, spiritual union with the God of doctrine. On the other hand, Pentecostal and charismatic Christianity offers emotionalism in protest against a formal, lifeless Christianity, but it is not rooted solidly in Scripture. The result is that people bow before human feeling rather than before the Triune God.

This book promotes biblical spirituality through a study of the Reformed and Puritan heritage. The first three chapters deal with various aspects of Calvin's spirituality, while the next five show spiritual dimensions of the Puritans, specifically in the work of William Ames (chapter 6) and Anthony Burgess (chapter 8). Chapters 9–12 consider the Puritan spirituality of the Scottish tradition through the lives of John Brown of Haddington, Thomas Boston, and Ebenezer and Ralph Erskine. Chapter 13 introduces the spirituality of the Dutch Second Reformation, followed by studies of some of its leading representatives (chapters 14–16): Willem Teellinck, Herman Witsius, and Theodorus Jacobus Frelinghuysen. The book concludes with studies on justification by faith alone, holiness, and Reformed experiential preaching (chapters 17–19), all of which focus on Puritan spirituality.

Chapter 13 of this book was given as an address for the Interdisziplinäres Zentrum für Pietismusforschung in Halle, Germany in 1997. It has not been previously printed in a periodical or book. Other chapters have been revised and/or expanded, and all of them have been edited from their original printing. I wish to thank heartily the following sources for permission to reprint: Chapter 1, The Cambridge Companion to John Calvin, edited by Donald K. McKim (Cambridge: University Press, 2004), 125–52; chapter 2, Calvin and Spirituality, edited by David W. Foxgrover (Grand Rapids: CRC Product Services, 1999), 13–30; chapter 3, Reformation and Revival 10, 4 (fall, 2001):107–32; chapter 4, Reformed Spirituality: Communing with Our Glorious God, edited by Joseph A. Pipa, Jr. and J. Andrew Wortman (Taylors, S.C.: Southern Presbyterian Press, 2003), 73–100; chapter 5, Trust and Obey, edited by Don Kistler (Morgan, Penn.: Soli Deo Gloria, 1996), 154–200; chapter 6, The Devoted Life: An Invitation to the Puritan Classics, edited by Randall C. Gleason and Kelly M. Kapic (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 2004); chapter 7, Whatever Happened to the Reformation?, edited by Gary L.W. Johnson and R. Fowler White (Phillipsburg, N.J.: Presbyterian & Reformed, 2001), 229–52, 320–25; chapter 8, The Answer of a Good Conscience (Westminster Conference papers, London: Tentmaker, 1998), 27–52; chapter 9, The Systematic Theology of John Brown of Haddington (Ross-shire: Christian Focus, and Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2002), e–x; chapter 10, Complete Works of Thomas Boston (Stoke-on-Trent, England: Tentmaker, 2002), 1:I–1 to I–16; chapters 11–12, The Beauties of Ebenezer Erskine (Ross-shire: Christian Focus, and Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2001), i–liii, 617–22; chapter 14, The Path of True Godliness by Willem Teellinck (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2003), 11–29; chapter 15, An Analysis of Herman Witsius's Economy of the Covenants (Ross-shire: Christian Focus, 2002), iii–xxi; chapter 16, Forerunner of the Great Awakening: Sermons by Theodorus Jacobus Frelinghuysen (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), vii–xxxviii; chapter 17, Justification by Faith Alone, edited by Don Kistler (Morgan, Penn.: Soli Deo Gloria, 1995), 53–105; chapter 18, Reformation and Revival 4, 2 (1995):81–112; chapter 19, Feed My Sheep: A Passionate Plea for Preaching, edited by Don Kistler (Morgan, Penn.: Soli Deo Gloria, 2002), 94–128.

Each chapter is an independent unit with the exception of chapters 11 and 12. Consequently, footnotes in each chapter record sources without reference to previous chapters. Chapters that were originally written as introductions for books are not footnoted. Where antiquarian sources are quoted, spelling is updated. Repetition between the independent chapters has been kept to a minimum. Also, a few chapters address ministers directly in their applications, as they were first delivered as addresses at ministers' conferences. Bibliographies are appended for chapters 1, 4, 11-12, and 16, for those who wish to pursue further study.

I dedicate this book to my two older brothers, John and James, who "love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity" (Eph. 6:24) and model for me the essence of Puritan Reformed spirituality. They are gifts of God to me - real friends who have proven themselves to be faithful spiritual brothers in prosperity and adversity. I cannot express in words what they mean to me.

I also thank the following friends for coauthoring chapters with me: Ray B. Lanning (chapter 5), Jan van Vliet (chapter 6), Randall Pederson (chapters 9 and 10), and Cornelis Pronk (chapter 16). I thank Phyllis TenElshof, Ray Lanning, Kate Timmer, and Kristen Meschke for their able proofreading, and Gary and Linda den Hollander for their conscientious typesetting. I am deeply grateful to the seminary students who have heard many of these chapters in lectures and have assisted me "as iron sharpens iron." I am also grateful to the staff and board of Reformation Heritage Books for their faithful support and dedication. Thanks, too, to my loving flock, Heritage Netherlands Reformed Congregation of Grand Rapids, Michigan, without whom the pastoral tone of this book would not have been possible. Above all, I owe an enormous debt to my dear wife, Mary, and our three children, Calvin, Esther, and Lydia, for their loving sacrifices over the years as this book was being written.

If God uses this book to help some see more clearly the vision and value of the spiritual Puritan Reformed tradition, and especially to move us more deeply into intimate friendship with Himself through our Elder Brother, the Lord Jesus Christ, my joy will be full. Soli Deo Gloria!

March, 2004 - Joel R. Beeke

Calvin on Piety

John Calvin's Institutes have earned him the title of "the preeminent systematician of the Protestant Reformation.” His reputation as an intellectual, however, is often seen apart from the vital spiritual and pastoral context in which he wrote his theology. For Calvin, theological understanding and practical piety, truth and usefulness, are inseparable. Theology first of all deals with knowledge - knowledge of God and of ourselves - but there is no true knowledge where there is no true piety.

Calvin's concept of piety (pietas) is rooted in the knowledge of God and includes attitudes and actions that are directed to the adoration and service of God. In addition, his pietas includes a host of related themes, such as filial piety in human relationships, and respect and love for the image of God in human beings. Calvin's piety is evident in people who recognize through experiential faith that they have been accepted in Christ and engrafted into His body by the grace of God. In this "mystical union," the Lord claims them as His own in life and in death. They become God’s people and members of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. This relationship restores their joy of fellowship with God; it recreates their lives.

The purpose of this chapter is to show that Calvin's piety is fundamentally biblical, with an emphasis on the heart more than the mind. Head and heart must work together, but the heart is more important.¹ After an introductory look at the definition and goal of piety in Calvin's thinking, I will show how his pietas affects the theological, ecclesiological, and practical dimensions of his thought.

The Definition and Importance of Piety
Pietas is one of the major themes of Calvin's theology. His theology is, as John T. McNeill says, "his piety described at length."² He is determined to confine theology within the limits of piety.³ In his preface addressed to King Francis I, Calvin says that the purpose of writing the Institutes was "solely to transmit certain rudiments by which those who are touched with any zeal for religion might be shaped to true godliness [pietas]."⁴

For Calvin, pietas designates the right attitude of man towards God. This attitude includes true knowledge, heartfelt worship, saving faith, filial fear, prayerful submission, and reverential love.⁵ Knowing who and what God is (theology) embraces right attitudes toward Him and doing what He wants (piety). In his first catechism, Calvin writes, "True piety consists in a sincere feeling which loves God as Father as much as it fears and reverences Him as Lord, embraces His righteousness, and dreads offending Him worse than death."⁶ In the Institutes, Calvin is more succinct: "I call 'piety' that reverence joined with love of God which the knowledge of his benefits induces."7 This love and reverence for God is a necessary concomitant to any knowledge of Him and embraces all of life. As Calvin says, "The whole life of Christians ought to be a sort of practice of godliness."⁸ Or, as the subtitle of the first edition of the Institutes states, "Embracing almost the whole sum of piety & whatever is necessary to know of the doctrine of salvation: A work most worthy to be read by all persons zealous for piety."⁹

Calvin's commentaries also reflect the importance of pietas. For example, he writes on 1 Timothy 4:7-8, "You will do the thing of greatest value, if with all your zeal and ability you devote yourself to godliness [pietas] alone. Godliness is the beginning, middle and end of Christian living. Where it is complete, there is nothing lacking . . . . Thus the conclusion is that we should concentrate exclusively on godliness, for when once we have attained to it, God requires no more of us."¹⁰ Commenting on 2 Peter 1:3, he says, "As soon as he [Peter] has made mention of life he immediately adds godliness [pietas] as if it were the soul of life."¹¹

Piety's Supreme Goal: Soli Deo Gloria
The goal of piety, as well as the entire Christian life, is the glory of God - glory that shines in God's attributes, in the structure of the world, and in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.12 Glorifying God supersedes personal salvation for every truly pious person.¹³ Calvin writes thus to Cardinal Sadolet: "It is not very sound theology to confine a man's thought so much to himself, and not to set before him, as the prime motive for his existence, zeal to illustrate the glory of God... I am persuaded that there is no man imbued with true piety who will not consider as insipid that long and labored exhortation to zeal for heavenly life, a zeal which keeps a man entirely devoted to himself and does not, even by one expression, arouse him to sanctify the name of God."¹⁴

That God may be glorified in us, the goal of piety, is the purpose of our creation. It thus becomes the yearning of the regenerate to live out the purpose of their original creation. ¹⁵ The pious man, according to Calvin, confesses, "We are God's: let us therefore live for him and die for him. We are God's: let his wisdom and will therefore rule all our actions. We are God's: let all the parts of our life accordingly strive toward him as our only lawful goal."¹⁶

God redeems, adopts, and sanctifies His people that His glory would shine in them and deliver them from impious self-seeking.¹⁷ The pious man's deepest concern therefore is God Himself and the things of God - God's Word, God's authority, God's gospel, God's truth. He yearns to know more of God and to commune more with Him.

But how do we glorify God? As Calvin writes, "God has prescribed for us a way in which he will be glorified by us, namely, piety, which consists in the obedience of his Word. He that exceeds these bounds does not go about to honor God, but rather to dishonor him."¹⁸ Obedience to God's Word means taking refuge in Christ for forgiveness of our sins, knowing Him through His Word, serving Him with a loving heart, doing good works in gratitude for His goodness, and exercising self-denial to the point of loving our enemies.¹⁹ This response involves total surrender to God Himself, His Word, and His will.²⁰

Calvin says, "I offer thee my heart, Lord, promptly and sincerely." This is the desire of all who are truly pious. However, this desire can only be realized through communion with Christ and participation in Him, for outside of Christ even the most religious person lives for himself. Only in Christ can the pious live as willing servants of their Lord, faithful soldiers of their Commander, and obedient children of their Father.²¹

Theological Dimensions

Piety's Profound Root: Mystical Union
"Calvin's doctrine of union with Christ is one of the most consistently influential features of his theology and ethics, if not the single most important teaching that animates the whole of his thought and his personal life," writes David Willis-Watkins.²²

Calvin did not intend to present theology from the viewpoint of a single doctrine. Nonetheless, his sermons, commentaries, and theological works are so permeated with the union-with-Christ doctrine that it becomes his focus for Christian faith and practice.²³ Calvin says as much when he writes, "That joining together of Head and members, that indwelling of Christ in our hearts - in short, that mystical union - are accorded by us the highest degree of importance, so that Christ, having been made ours, makes us sharers with him in the gifts with which he has been endowed."²⁴

For Calvin, piety is rooted in the believer’s mystical union (unio mystica) with Christ; thus this union must be our starting point.²⁵ Such a union is possible because Christ took on our human nature, filling it with His virtue. Union with Christ in His humanity is historical, ethical, and personal, but not essential. There is no crass mixture (^{crassa mixtura}) of human substances between Christ and us. Nonetheless, Calvin states, "Not only does he cleave to us by an indivisible bond of fellowship, but with a wonderful communion, day by day, he grows more and more into one body with us, until he becomes completely one with us."²⁶ This union is one of the gospel's greatest mysteries.²⁷ Because of the fountain of Christ's perfection in our nature, the pious may, by faith, draw whatever they need for their sanctification. The flesh of Christ is the source from which His people derive life and power.²⁸

If Christ had died and risen but was not applying His salvation to believers for their regeneration and sanctification, His work would have been ineffectual. Our piety shows that the Spirit of Christ is working in us what has already been accomplished in Christ. Christ administers His sanctification to the church through His royal priesthood so that the church may live piously for Him.²⁹

Piety's Major Theme: Communion and Participation
The heartbeat of Calvin's practical theology and piety is communion (communio) with Christ. This involves participation (participatio) in His benefits, which are inseparable from union with Christ.³⁰ The Confessio Fidei de Eucharistia (1537), signed by Calvin, Martin Bucer, and Wolfgang Capito, supported this emphasis.³¹ However, Calvin's communion with Christ was not shaped by his doctrine of the Lord's Supper; rather, his emphasis on spiritual communion with Christ helped shape his concept of the sacrament.

Similarly, the concepts of communio and participatio helped shape Calvin's understanding of regeneration, faith, justification, sanctification, assurance, election, and the church. He could not speak of any doctrine apart from communion with Christ. That is the heart of Calvin's system of theology.

Piety's Double Bond: The Spirit and Faith
Communion with Christ is realized only through Spirit-worked faith, Calvin teaches. It is actual communion not because believers participate in the essence of Christ's nature, but because the Spirit of Christ unites believers so intimately to Christ that they become flesh of His flesh and bone of His bone. From God's perspective, the Spirit is the bond between Christ and believers, whereas from our perspective, faith is the bond. These perspectives do not clash with each other, since one of the Spirit's principal operations is to work faith in a sinner.³²

Only the Spirit can unite Christ in heaven with the believer on earth. Just as the Spirit united heaven and earth in the Incarnation, so in regeneration the Spirit raises the elect from earth to commune with Christ in heaven and brings Christ into the hearts and lives of the elect on earth.³³ Communion with Christ is always the result of the Spirit's work - a work that is astonishing and experiential rather than comprehensible.³⁴ The Holy Spirit is thus the link that binds the believer to Christ and the channel through which Christ is communicated to the believer.³⁵ As Calvin writes to Peter Martyr: "We grow up together with Christ into one body, and he shares his Spirit with us, through whose hidden operation he has become ours. Believers receive this communion with Christ at the same time as their calling. But they grow from day to day more and more in this communion, in proportion to the life of Christ growing within them."³⁶

Calvin moves beyond Luther in this emphasis on communion with Christ. Calvin stresses that, by His Spirit, Christ empowers those who are united with Him by faith. Being "engrafted into the death of Christ, we derive from it a secret energy, as the twig does from the root," he writes. The believer "is animated by the secret power of Christ; so that Christ may be said to live and grow in him; for as the soul enlivens the body, so Christ imparts life to his members."³⁷

Like Luther, Calvin believes that knowledge is fundamental to faith. Such knowledge includes the Word of God as well as the proclamation of the gospel.³⁸ Since the written Word is exemplified in the living Word, Jesus Christ, faith cannot be separated from Christ, in whom all God’s promises are fulfilled.³⁹ The work of the Spirit does not supplement or supersede the revelation of Scripture, but authenticates it, Calvin teaches. "Take away the Word, and no faith will remain," Calvin says. ⁴⁰

Faith unites the believer to Christ by means of the Word, enabling the believer to receive Christ as He is clothed in the gospel and graciously offered by the Father.⁴¹ By faith, God also dwells in the believer. Consequently, Calvin says, "We ought not to separate Christ from ourselves or ourselves from him," but participate in Christ by faith, for this "revives us from death to make us a new creature." ⁴²

By faith, the believer possesses Christ and grows in Him. Furthermore, the degree of his faith exercised through the Word determines his degree of communion with Christ.⁴³ "Everything which faith should contemplate is exhibited to us in Christ," Calvin writes.⁴⁴ Though Christ remains in heaven, the believer who excels in piety learns to grasp Christ so firmly by faith that Christ dwells within his heart.⁴⁵ By faith, the pious live by what they find in Christ rather than by what they find in themselves.⁴⁶

Looking to Christ for assurance, therefore, means looking at ourselves in Christ. As David Willis-Watkins writes, "Assurance of salvation is a derivative self-knowledge, whose focus remains on Christ as united to his body, the Church, of which we are members."⁴⁷

Piety's Double Cleansing: Justification and Sanctification
According to Calvin, believers receive from Christ by faith the "double grace" of justification and sanctification, which, together, provide a twofold cleansing.⁴⁸ Justification offers imputed purity, and sanctification, actual purity.⁴⁹

Calvin defines justification as "the acceptance with which God receives us into his favor as righteous men."⁵⁰ He goes on to say that "since God justifies us by the intercession of Christ, he absolves us not by the confirmation of our own innocence but by the imputation of righteousness, so that we who are not righteous in ourselves may be reckoned as such in Christ."⁵¹ Justification includes the remission of sins and the right to eternal life.

Calvin regards justification as a central doctrine of the Christian faith. He calls it "the principal hinge by which religion is supported," the soil out of which the Christian life develops, and the substance of piety.⁵² Justification not only serves God's honor by satisfying the conditions for salvation; it also offers the believer's conscience "peaceful rest and serene tranquility."⁵³ As Romans 5:1 says, "Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." This is the heart and soul of piety. Believers do not need to worry about their status with God because they are justified by faith. They can willingly renounce personal glory and daily accept their own life from the hand of their Creator and Redeemer. Daily skirmishes may be lost to the enemy, but Jesus Christ has won the war for them.

Sanctification refers to the process in which the believer increasingly becomes conformed to Christ in heart, conduct, and devotion to God. It is the continual remaking of the believer by the Holy Spirit, the increasing consecration of body and soul to God.⁵⁴ In sanctification, the believer offers himself to God as a sacrifice. This does not come without great struggle and slow progress; it requires cleansing from the pollution of the flesh and renouncing the world.⁵⁵ It requires repentance, mortification, and daily conversion.

Justification and sanctification are inseparable, Calvin says. To separate one from the other is to tear Christ in pieces,⁵⁶ or like trying to separate the sun's light from the heat that light generates.⁵⁷ Believers are justified for the purpose of worshipping God in holiness of life.⁵⁸

Ecclesiological Dimensions

Piety through the Church
Calvin's pietas is not independent of Scripture nor the church; rather, it is rooted in the Word and nurtured in the church. While breaking with the clericalism and absolutism of Rome, Calvin nonetheless maintains a high view of the church. "If we do not prefer the church to all other objects of our interest, we are unworthy of being counted among her members," he writes.

Augustine once said, "He cannot have God for his Father who refuses to have the church for his mother." To that Calvin adds, "For there is no other way to enter into life unless this mother conceive us in her womb, give us birth, nourish us at her breast, and lastly, unless she keep us under her care and guidance until, putting off mortal flesh, we become like the angels." Apart from the church, there is little hope for forgiveness of sins or salvation, Calvin wrote. It is always disastrous to leave the church.⁵⁹

For Calvin, believers are engrafted into Christ and His church, because spiritual growth happens within the church. The church is mother, educator, and nourisher of every believer, for the Holy Spirit acts in her. Believers cultivate piety by the Spirit through the church's teaching ministry, progressing from spiritual infancy to adolescence to full manhood in Christ. They do not graduate from the church until they die.⁶⁰ This lifelong education is offered within an atmosphere of genuine piety in which believers love and care for one another under the headship of Christ.⁶¹ It encourages the growth of one another's gifts and love, as it is "constrained to borrow from others."⁶²

Growth in piety is impossible apart from the church, for piety is fostered by the communion of saints. Within the church, believers “cleave to each other in the mutual distribution of gifts.”63 Each member has his own place and gifts to use within the body.⁶⁴ Ideally, the entire body uses these gifts in symmetry and proportion, ever reforming and growing toward perfection.⁶⁵

Piety of the Word
The Word of God is central to the development of Christian piety in the believer. Calvin's relational model explains how.

True religion is a dialogue between God and man. The part of the dialogue that God initiates is revelation. In this, God comes down to meet us, addresses us, and makes Himself known to us in the preaching of the Word. The other part of the dialogue is man's response to God's revelation. This response, which includes trust, adoration, and godly fear, is what Calvin calls pietas. The preaching of the Word saves us and preserves us as the Spirit enables us to appropriate the blood of Christ and respond to Him with reverential love. By the Spirit-empowered ching of men, "the renewal of the saints is accomplished and the body of Christ is edified,” Calvin says.⁶⁶

Calvin teaches that the preaching of the Word is our spiritual food and our medicine for spiritual health. With the Spirit's blessing, ministers are spiritual physicians who apply the Word to our souls as earthly physicians apply medicine to our bodies. Using the Word, these spiritual doctors diagnose, prescribe for, and cure spiritual disease in those plagued by sin and death. The preached Word is used as an instrument to heal, cleanse, and make fruitful our disease-prone souls.⁶⁷ The Spirit, or the "internal minister," promotes piety by using the "external minister" to preach the Word. As Calvin says, the external minister "holds forth the vocal word and it is received by the ears," but the internal minister "truly communicates the thing proclaimed . . . that is Christ."⁶⁸

To promote piety, the Spirit not only uses the gospel to work faith deep within the souls of His elect, as we have already seen, but He also uses the law. The law promotes piety in three ways:

1. It restrains sin and promotes righteousness in the church and society, preventing both from lapsing into chaos.
2. It disciplines, educates, and convicts us, driving us out of ourselves to Jesus Christ, the fulfiller and end of the law. The law cannot lead us to a saving knowledge of God in Christ; rather, the Holy Spirit uses it as a mirror to show us our guilt, shut us off from hope, and bring us to repentance. It drives us to the spiritual need out of which aith in Christ is born. This convicting use of the law is critical for the believer's piety, for it prevents the ungodly self-righteousness that is prone to reassert itself even in the holiest of saints.
3. It becomes the rule of life for the believer. "What is the rule of life which [God] has given us?" Calvin asks in the Genevan Catechism. The answer: "His law." Later, Calvin says the law "shows the mark at which we ought to aim, the goal towards which we ought to press, that each of us, according to the measure of grace bestowed upon him, may endeavor to frame his life according to the highest rectitude, and, by constant study, continually advance more and more."⁶⁹

Calvin writes about the third use of the law in the first edition of his Institutes, stating, "Believers... profit by the law because from it they learn more thoroughly each day what the Lord's will is like... It is as if some servant, already prepared with complete earnestness of heart to commend himself to his master, must search out and oversee his master's ways in order to conform and accommodate himself to them. Moreover, however much they may be prompted by the Spirit and eager to obey God, they are still weak in the flesh, and would rather serve sin than God. The law is to this flesh like a whip to an idle and balky ass, to goad, stir, arouse it to work."⁷⁰

In the last edition of the Institutes (1559), Calvin is more emphatic about how believers profit from the law. First, he says, "Here is the best instrument for them to learn more thoroughly each day the nature of the Lord's will to which they aspire, and to confirm them in the understanding of it." And second, it causes "frequent meditation upon it to be aroused to obedience, be strengthened in it, and be drawn back from the slippery path of transgression." Saints must press on in this, Calvin concludes. "For what would be less lovable than the law if, with importuning and threatening alone, it troubled souls through fear, and distressed them through fright?"⁷¹

Viewing the law primarily as an encouragement for the believer to cling to God and obey Him is another instance where Calvin differs from Luther. For Luther, the law is primarily negative; it is closely linked with sin, death, or the devil. Luther's dominant interest is in the second use of the law, even when he considers the law's role in sanctification. By contrast, Calvin views the law primarily as a positive expression of the will of God. As Hesselink says, "Calvin's view could be called Deuteronomic, for to him law and love are not antithetical, but are correlates." ⁷² The believer follows God's law not out of compulsory obedience, but out of grateful obedience. Under the tutelage of the Spirit, the law prompts gratitude in the believer, which leads to loving obedience and aversion to sin. In other words, the primary purpose of the law for Luther is to help the believer recognize and confront sin. For Calvin, its primary purpose is to direct the believer to serve God out of love.⁷³