John Calvin Quotes

178 Sourced Quotes

We unjustly defraud God of his right, unless each of us lives and dies in dependence on His sovereign pleasure.

John Calvin
But those who wish to prove to unbelievers that Scripture is the Word of God are acting foolishly, for only by faith can this be known.

John Calvin
There cannot be a surer rule, nor a stronger exhortation to the observance of it, than when we are taught that all the endowments which we possess are divine deposits entrusted to us for the very purpose of being distributed for the good of our neighbour.

John Calvin
The vices of which we are full we carefully hide from others, and we flatter ourselves with the notion that they are small and trivial; we sometimes even embrace them as virtues.

John Calvin
I have never seen either a drop of piety or a grain of truth or ingenuousness - nay, I have never found common sense in any Jew.

John Calvin
When we come to a comparison of heaven and earth, then we may indeed not only forget all about the present life, but even despise and scorn it.

John Calvin
Even if this earth is only a vestibule, we ought undoubtedly to make such a use of its blessing that we are assisted rather than delayed in our journey.

John Calvin
Everyone flatters himself and carries a kingdom in his breast.

John Calvin
There are sons of God who do not yet appear so to us, but now do so to God; and there are those who, on account of some arrogated or temporal grace, are called so by us, but are not so to God.

John Calvin
But we have nothing of the Spirit except through regeneration. Everything, therefore, which we have from nature is flesh.

John Calvin
Unless we ardently and prayerfully devote ourselves to Christ's righteousness we do not only faithlessly revolt from our Creator, but we also abjure him as our Savior.

John Calvin
The more we are oppressed by the cross, the fuller will be our spiritual joy.

John Calvin
Now the great thing is this: we are consecrated and dedicated to God in order that we may thereafter think, speak, meditate, and do, nothing except to his glory. For a sacred thing may not be applied to profane uses without marked injury to him.

John Calvin
We shall never be fit for the service of God, if we look not beyond this fleeting life.

John Calvin
Now we must remark, that there are two parts in the Commandment-the first forbids the erection of a graven image, or any likeness; the second prohibits the transferring of the worship which God claims for Himself alone, to any of these phantoms or delusive shows.

John Calvin
There is also an old proverb, that they who pay much attention to the body generally neglect the soul.

John Calvin
The flesh is willing to flatter itself, and many who now give themselves every indulgence, promise to themselves an easy entrance into life. THus men practice mutual deception on each other and fall asleep in wicked indifference.

John Calvin
We are not to look to what men in themselves deserve but to attend to the image of God which exists in all and to which we owe all honor and love.

John Calvin
Christ is the most perfect image of God, into which we are so renewed as to bear the image of God, in knowledge, purity, righteousness, and true holiness.

John Calvin
When God designs to forgive us he changes our hearts and turns us to obedience by His Spirit.

John Calvin
The one condition for spiritual progress is that we remain sincere and humble.

John Calvin
If everything proceeded according to their wishes, they would not understand what it means to follow God.

John Calvin
The Lord commands us to do good unto all men without exception, though the majority are very undeserving when judged according to their own merits... [The Scripture] teaches us that we must not think of man's real value, but only of his creation in the image of God to which we owe all possible honor and love.

John Calvin
It having been said above that God bends all the reprobate, and even Satan himself, at his will, three objections are started. First, that this happens by the permission, not by the will of God. To this objection there is a twofold reply, the one, that angels and men, good and bad, do nothing but what is appointed by God; the second, that all movements are secretly directed to their end by the hidden inspiration of God...

John Calvin
Scripture points out this difference between believers and unbelievers; the latter, as old slaves of their incurable perversity, cannot endure the rod; but the former, like children of noble birth, profit by repentance and correction.

John Calvin