Sárospataki Füzetek 13. (2009)

2009 / 4. szám - TANULMÁNYOK

I. John Hesselink

our ruin” (Inst. III.10.2). Then follows a delightful passage which must be quoted at length:

Now if we ponder to what end God created food, we shall find that he meant not only to provide for necessity but also for delight and good cheer. Thus the purpose of clothing, apart from necessity, was comeliness and decency. In grasses, trees, and fruits, apart from their various uses, there is beauty of appearance and pleasantness of odor [cf.

Gen. 2:9]. For if this were not true, the prophet would not have reckoned them among the benefits of God, “that wine gladdens the heart of man, that oil makes his face shine” [Ps. 104:15 p.]. Scripture would not have reminded us repeatedly, in commending his kindness, that he gave all such things to men. And the natural qualities themselves of things demonstrate sufficiently to what end and extent we may enjoy them.

Has the Lord clothed the flowers with the great beauty that greets our eyes, the sweetness of smell that is wafted upon our nostrils, and yet will it be unlawful for our eyes to be affected by that beauty, or our sense of smell by the sweetness of that odor? What? Did he not so distinguish colors as to make some more lovely than others? What? Did he not endow gold and silver, ivory and marble, with a loveliness that renders them more precious than other metals or stones? Did he not, in short, render many things attractive to us, apart from their necessary use?

(Inst. III.10.2).

This is not the only place where Calvin speaks so eloquently about God’s generous provisions for our enjoyment. In the introduction to his Genesis commentary we find a similar passage:

We see, indeed, the world with our eyes, we tread the world with our feet, we touch innumerable kinds of God’s works with our hands, we inhale a sweet and pleasant fragrance from herbs and flowers, we enjoy boundless benefits; but in those very things of which we attain some knowledge, there dwells such an immensity of divine power, goodness, and wisdom, as absorbs all our senses.27

Later, in his comments on the story of Joseph feasting with his brothers he writes:

Should any one object, that a frugal use of food and drink is simply that which suffices for the nourishing of the body: I answer, although food is properly for the supply of our necessities, yet the legitimate use of it may proceed further. For it is not in vain, that our food has savour as well as vital nutriment; but thus our heavenly Father sweetly delights us with his delicacies. And his kindness is not in vain commended in Psalm civ.

15, where he is said to create “wine that maketh glad the heart of man.”28

27 Genesis Argumentum, 57 (CO 23, 5-6).

28 Comm. Genesis 43:33. Then Calvin adds a cautionary note: “Nevertheless, the more kindly he indulges us, the more solicitously we ought to restrict ourselves to a frugal use of his gifts.”