Sárospataki Füzetek 13. (2009)

2009 / 4. szám - TANULMÁNYOK

“Calvin on the Proper Attitude Toward This Life and the Next'

“Away, then, with that inhuman philosophy which, while conceding only a necessary use of creatures, not only malignantly deprives us of the lawful fruit of God’s beneficence but cannot be practical unless it robs a man of all his senses and degrades him to a block” (Inst. III. 10.3) Here Calvin may be thinking of the stoics or ascetic groups within Roman Catholicism. Ronald Wallace points out that Calvin here “shows more breadth than many of his predecessors.” Augustine, for example, in reference to God giving us all things to enjoy applied them to things eternal, not temporal use.2?

This is one side of the coin. God provides earthly goods for us not merely to use but to enjoy, but always with moderation. The other side of the coin is that “material affluence is a dangerous thing.”3° So Calvin is almost as eloquent in his warnings about the dangers of the abuse of the aforementioned gifts.

Where is your thanksgiving if you so gorge yourself with banqueting or wine that you either become stupid or are rendered useless for the duties of piety and of your calling? Where is your recognition of God if your flesh boiling over with excessive abundance into vile lust infects the mind with its impurity so that you cannot discern anything that is right and honorable? Where is our gratefulness toward God for our clothing if in the sumptuousness of our apparel we both admire ourselves and despise others, if with its elegance and glitter we prepare ourselves for shameless conduct? Where is our recognition of God if our minds be fixed upon the splendor of our apparel? For many so enslave all their senses to delights that the mind lies overwhelmed. Many are so delighted with marble, gold, and pictures that they become marble, they turn, as it were, into metals and are like painted figures. The smell of the kitchen or the sweetness of its odors so stupefies others that they are unable to smell anything spiritual .... Paul’s rule is confirmed: that we should “make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires” [Rom.

13:14], for if we yield too much to these, they boil up without measure or control (Inst. III.10.3).

Finally, to avoid the slippery slopes of undue austerity and excess and abuse, one must not only use one’s conscience, as we have seen, but also exercise a wise use of Christian freedom. Interestingly, in his discussion of Christian freedom Calvin sums up his discussion at one point with a reference to the proper use of God’s gifts: “To sum up,” Calvin says,

We see whither this freedom tends, namely, that we should use God’s gifts for the purpose for which he gave them to us, with no scruples of conscience, no trouble of mind. With such confidence our minds will be at peace with him and will recognize his liberality toward us (Inst.

III.19.8).

29 Calvin, Geneva and the Reformation (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1988), 2003. so Comm. 1 Timothy 6:17, T. A. Smail translation. In this text Paul is warning the rich not to “have their hope set on the uncertainty of riches.”

Sariispaliiki Füzetek 21