Foundation for Reformed Theology, 1982-2012 
Calvin
John Calvin
(1509-1564)
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Rose Again from the Dead
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As we consider the sacrifice that our Lord Jesus Christ made for us and the redemption that he accomplished for us, let us learn from what John Calvin wrote about our faith, as articulated in the Apostles'  Creed. 

Rose Again from the Dead 


Next comes the resurrection from the dead. Without this what we have said so far would be incomplete. For since only weakness appears in the cross, death, and burial of Christ, faith must leap over all these things to attain its full strength. We have in his death the complete fulfillment of salvation, for through it we are reconciled to God, his righteous judgment is satisfied, the curse is removed, and the penalty paid in full. Nevertheless, we are said to "have been born anew to a living hope" not through his death but "through his resurrection." For as he, in rising again, came forth victor over death, so the victory of our faith over death lies in his resurrection alone. Paul's words better express its nature: "He was put to death for our sins, and raised for our justification." This is as if he had said: "Sin was taken away by his death; righteousness was revived and restored by his resurrection." For how could he by dying have freed us from death if he had himself succumbed to death? How could he have acquired victory for us if he had failed in the struggle? Therefore, we divide the substance of our salvation between Christ's death and resurrection as follows: through his death, sin was wiped out and death extinguished; through his resurrection, righteousness was restored and life raised up, so that--thanks to his resurrection--his death manifested its power and efficacy in us. Therefore, Paul states that "Christ was declared the Son of God . . . in the resurrection itself," because then at last he displayed his heavenly power, which is both the clear mirror of his divinity and the firm support of our faith. . . .

So then, let us remember that whenever mention is made of his death alone, we are to understand at the same time what belongs to his resurrection. Also, the same synecdoche applies to the word "resurrection": whenever it is mentioned separately from death, we are to understand it as including what has to do especially with his death. But because by rising again he obtained the victor's prize--that there might be resurrection and life--Paul rightly contends that "faith is annulled and the gospel empty and deceiving if Christ's resurrection is not fixed in our hearts." . . .

We must, by the way, note that he is said "to have risen from the dead." These words express the truth of his death and resurrection, as if it were said: he suffered the same death that other men naturally die; and received immortality in the same flesh that, in the mortal state, he had taken upon himself.

John Calvin, Calvin: Institutes of the Christian Religion, trans. from the 1559 Latin ed. by Ford Lewis Battles, 2 vols., in Library of Christian Classics, ed. John T. McNeill (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1960), Book II, chapter 16, section 13 (volume 1, pp. 520-522).

 

Dr. James C. Goodloe IVGrace and Peace,
 
            Jim
Dr. James C. Goodloe IV, Executive Director
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