Calvin's Hermeneutical Skills - Get Ready To Laugh!

Matthew 5:34 : “The Anabaptists, not content with this moderate use of oaths, condemn all, without exception, on the ground of our Saviour’s general prohibition, “ I say unto you, Swear not at all :” […] we shall not suppose that Christ condemned all oaths but those only which transgressed the rule of the Law […] Those who condemn oaths think their argument invincible when they fasten on the expression, “not at all”.” Institutes 2:8:26.

John 3: 5 : “our Savior intimates the mode in which God regenerates us — viz. by water and the Spirit; in other words, by the Spirit, who, in irrigating and cleansing the souls of believers, operates in the manner of water. By “water and the Spirit,” therefore, I simply understand the Spirit, which is water.” Institutes 4:16:25.

Acts 2:38 : “Repent and be baptized, everyone of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:37, 38). In like manner, when Philip was asked by the eunuch to baptize him, he answered, “If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.” Hence they think they can make out that baptism cannot be lawfully given to anyone without previous faith and repentance. Institutes 4:16:23


Acts 22:16 : “It will, perhaps, be objected, Why did Ananias say to Paul that he washed away his sins by baptism (Acts 22:16), if sins are not washed away by the power out baptism? […] All then that Ananias meant to say was, Be baptized, Paul, that you may be assured that your sins are forgiven you.” Institutes 4:15:15.

Acts 19:3-5 : “But they seem to think the weapon which they brandish irresistible, when they allege that Paul rebaptized those who had been baptized with the baptism of John […]But I deny that they were rebaptized. What then is meant by the words, “They were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus “? Some interpret that they were only instructed in sound doctrine by Paul; but I would rather interpret more simply, that the baptism of the Holy Spirit, in other words, the visible gifts of the Holy Spirit, were given by the laying on of hands. These are sometimes designated under the name of baptism. Institutes 4:15:18.

Romans 10:17 : “But faith, they say, cometh by hearing, the use of which infants have not yet obtained, nor can they be fit to know God, being, as Moses declares, without the knowledge of good and evil (Deuteronomy 1:39). But they observe not that where the apostle makes hearing the beginning of faith, he is only describing the usual economy and dispensation which the Lord is wont to employ in calling his people, and not laying down an invariable rule, for which no other method can be substituted.” Institutes 4:16:19.

 

Calvin was a man of knowledge, and as such we can learn things from him. However I found his irreverent approach to scripture so full of I Am Rightness and hideous logic as to be extremely funny. I might agree with him on baptism for the remission of sins, but I would not write a book saying 'well actually Ananias meant to say this...' That is just too funny. With regards to the outward ordinance of baptism, when united with saving faith, I concur with Calvin to a degree and agree with him when he wrote:

"Christ by baptism has made us partakers of his death, engrafting us into it. And as the twig derives substance and nourishment from the root to which it is attached, so those who receive baptism with true faith truly feel the efficacy of Christ’s death in the mortification of their flesh, and the efficacy of his resurrection in the quickening of the Spirit." 4:15:5

And again:

"is to be a sign and evidence of our purification, or (better to explain my meaning) it is a kind of sealed instrument by which he assures us that all our sins are so deleted, covered, and effaced, that they will never come into his sight, never be mentioned, never imputed. For it is his will that all who have believed, be baptized for the remission of sins. Hence those who have thought that baptism is nothing else than the badge and mark by which we profess our religion before men, in the same way as soldiers attest their profession by bearing the insignia of their commander, having not attended to what was the principal thing in baptism; and this is, that we are to receive it in connection with the promise, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved” (Mark 16:16)." 4:15:1

Dean