The Symbol of Faith
Calvin's Catechism : 1537
It has been said above what we obtain in Christ through faith. Now let us hear what our faith must see and consider in Christ in order to confirm itself. Let us know then that in the Symbol (as it is called) it is explained how the Father has made Christ for us wisdom, redemption, life, righteousness, and sanctification. It can hardly matter which author or authors have composed this summary of faith. It contains no human doctrine. On the contrary it is a collection of very certain testimonies of the Scripture. But in order that the belief we profess in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit perturb no one, we must first explain it a little. When we name the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we do not imagine three Gods. But the Scripture and the very experience of piety shows us, in the very simple essence of God, God the Father, his Son, and his Spirit, in such a way that our intellect cannot conceive the Father without comprehending at the same time the Son (in whom brightly shines the vivid image of the Father) and the Spirit (in whom appear the power and virtue of the Father). Let us therefore hold ourselves firm with all the thought of our heart in only one God; yet, nevertheless, let us contemplate the Father with the Son and his Spirit.
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
With these words we are taught not only to believe that God exists, but rather to know what kind of God he is, and to trust that we are of the number of those to whom he promises that he will be their God and whom he receives as his people. All power is attributed to him. It is meant thereby that he administers all things by his providence, rules them by his will, and guides them by his virtue and might. When God is called creator of heaven and earth, it must be understood thereby that he perpetually upholds, maintains, and gives life to all that which he has once created.
And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
Our former teaching that Christ is the true and proper object of our faith appears easily from the fact that all the parts of our salvation are here presented in him. We call him “Jesus” (he has been honored with that title through heavenly revelation) because he has been sent to free his people from their sins. For this reason the Scripture affirms (Acts 4:12) that no other name has been given to men in which they shall obtain salvation. The title “Christ” signifies that through unction he has been fully endowed with all the graces of the Holy Spirit. These graces are called “oil” in the Scripture, and rightly so, because without them we fall as dry and barren [branches].
Now, through such an unction the Father has constituted him King in order that he subject unto himself all power in heaven and on earth, to the end that we too may become kings in him, having dominion over the devil, sin, death, and hell. Secondly, God has constituted him Priest in order to satisfy the Father for us and to reconcile him through his sacrifice, to the end that in him we too might become priests, offering to the Father prayers, thanksgivings, ourselves, and all things of ours, having him as our intercessor and mediator. Besides all this, Jesus Christ is called Son of God—not, however, like the believers by adoption and grace merely, but truly and by nature. Hence, he is the only and unique Son, to be distinguished from all the others. And he is our Lord, not only according to his divinity, which from all eternity he has had one with the Father, but he is our Lord also according to and in that flesh in which he has been manifested to us. For, as St. Paul says (1 Cor. 8:6), there is only one God from whom are all things, and only one Lord Jesus Christ through whom are all things.
Who was conceived of the holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary.
Here we are told how the Son of God has been made Jesus for us, that is to say, Saviour, and Christ, that is, anointed as King to keep us, and as Priest to reconcile us with the Father. For he has put on our flesh in order that, being made Son of man, he would make us children of God together with himself; and, having received on himself our poverty, he would transfer his riches to us; having taken on himself our weakness, he would confirm us by his power; having accepted our mortality, he would give us his immortality; and being descended to earth, he would raise us to heaven.
He was born of the virgin Mary in order that he would be recognized as the true Son of Abraham and of David, who had been promised in the law and to the prophets, and as true man, in all things similar to us except only in sin, who, having been tempted by all our infirmities, learned to have compassion on them. Yet, he himself has been conceived in the bosom of the virgin through the virtue of the Holy Spirit (marvelous and unspeakable for us), so that he would not be born stained by any carnal corruption, but sanctified by sovereign purity.
Has suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried, has descended into hell.
With these words we are taught that he has accomplished our redemption in view of which he was born mortal man, for, the disobedience of man having provoked the wrath of God, he effaced it by his obedience, rendering himself obedient to the Father even to death. And by his death Jesus offered himself to the Father in sacrifice in order to pacify his justice once for all times, to the end that all believers might be eternally sanctified, and eternal satisfaction be accomplished. He has shed his sacred blood for the price of our redemption in order to extinguish the wrath of God inflamed against us and to purge away our iniquity.
But in this redemption there is nothing that is without mystery. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, then judge of the land of Judea, by whose sentence he was condemned as a criminal and malefactor in order that through this condemnation we might be freed and absolved at the consistory of the great Judge. He has been crucified in order to bear on the cross (which was cursed in God’s Law) our curse which our sins deserved. He died in order to conquer by his death the death which was against us and in order to swallow that death which otherwise would have swallowed and devoured us all. He has been buried in order that we too (being participants in him by the efficacy of his death) be buried unto sin, being freed from the power of the devil and of death. Concerning the expression that he descended into hell, it means that he was afflicted by God and that he has felt and endured the horrible rigor of his judgment in order to shield us from his wrath and to satisfy his justice for us. Thus he has suffered and borne the penalties due to our iniquity and not to him who was without sin and without stain.
Not that the Father was ever incensed against him, for how could he have been indignant against his Son whom he loved so much, and in whom he was so well pleased? Or, how could he [the Son] have appeased the Father by his intercession if he had provoked God against him? But he is said to have endured the weight of the wrath of God in the sense that, in as much as he was struck and afflicted by the hand of God, he felt all the signs of the scorn and retribution of God to the point of being constrained to cry out with anguish,” My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
On the third day he rose from the dead, he ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of God, the Father almighty: from there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
From this resurrection we can have full trust of obtaining victory over the domination of death. For, just as he could not be retained by its pains but rose above all its power, so he has broken all its darts in such a way that they can no longer transfix us mortally. Christ’s resurrection is, therefore, first the very certain truth, substance, and foundation of our own resurrection to come; secondly, also of our present vivification by which we are raised to newness of life. By his ascension into heaven, he has opened to us the entrance to the kingdom of heaven, which was once closed to all in Adam; for he has entered heaven in our flesh, as in our name, so that in him we already possess heaven through hope and even sit in celestial places. And he is there with great advantage to us, for, having as eternal priest entered God’s sanctuary not made by man’s hand, he stands there as perpetual advocate and mediator in our behalf.
As to his being now seated at the right hand of the Father, it means, first, that he is constituted and declared king, master, and lord over all things, in order that by his power he keeps and maintains us so that his reign and his glory is our strength, virtue, and glory against hell. Secondly, it means that he has received all the graces of the Holy Spirit in order to dispense them and enrich therewith believers. Hence, though he has been raised to heaven and the presence of his body has been taken from our sight, yet he does not cease from assisting his faithful ones with his help and power and showing them an evident virtue of his presence. This he has also promised saying, “Behold I am with you until the consummation of the world.” Finally, it follows that he will descend from there in a visible form such as he was seen to ascend. This will happen at the last day. He will then appear to all in the incomprehensible majesty of his reign in order to judge the living and the dead. By “living” we mean those whom the last day will surprise and overtake still living. By “dead” we mean those who shall have died before that day. He will then render to all according to their works, as each shall have proved by his deeds to be believer or unbeliever, faithful or unfaithful. And from this comes a unique consolation to us, that is, we do know the judgment to be committed to him whose coming advent can be for us but unto deliverance and salvation.
I believe in the holy Spirit.
When we are taught to believe in the Holy Spirit, we are also commanded to expect from him what is said about him in the Scripture. For Christ by virtue of his Spirit works all that which is good, in whatever place that be. By the power of the Spirit, Christ makes, upholds, maintains, and vivifies all things; by it he justifies, sanctifies and purifies, calls and attracts us to himself in order that we may obtain deliverance. Hence, when the Spirit thus dwells in us, it is he who enlightens us with his light in order that we may learn and fully know how great are the riches of the divine goodness which we possess in Christ. It is the Spirit that inflames our hearts with the fire of ardent love for God and for our neighbor. Every day he mortifies and every day consumes more and more the vices of our evil desire or greed, so that, if there are some good deeds in us, these are the fruits and the virtues of his grace; and without the Spirit there is in us nothing but darkness of understanding and perversity of heart.
I believe the holy Church universal, the communion of saints.
We have already seen the fountain from which the Church springs. The Church is here set forth to us as object of faith to this end that we may have confidence that all the elect are conjoined through the bond of faith in one Church and society, in one people of God, of which Christ our Lord is the leader and prince and head, as of one body, so that in him they have been elected before the constitution of the world to the end that they may be all assembled in the kingdom of God. This society is catholic, that is to say, universal, because there are not two or three Churches, but all God’s elect are united and conjoined in Christ in such a way that just as they depend on one head so they grow as in one body, adhering one to the other, being composed as the members of one same body, being truly made one in as much as they live by the same spirit of God in one same faith, hope, and charity, being called to participate in one same inheritance of eternal life. Moreover, the Church is also holy, because all those who are elected by the eternal providence of God to be adopted as members of the Church are all sanctified by the Lord through spiritual regeneration.
The last phrase explains still more clearly what this Church is. That is, the communion of believers is of such a value that if one believer has received any gift from God, all other believers are in some manner made participants in it, although God’s dispensation of the gift may be given peculiarly to one person and not to the others. Exactly as the members of one same body through a certain communion participate all among themselves in all the things that they have, and yet each member has by itself particular properties and diverse functions. As it has been said, all the elect are assembled and shaped in one body. Now we believe the holy Church and her communion in such a way that, being assured through firm faith in Christ, we trust to be members of her.
I believe the remission of sins.
On this foundation rests and stands our salvation, because the remission of sins is the way to approach God and the means that retains and preserves us in his kingdom. For all the righteousness of believers is contained in the remission of sins which believers obtain, not through any merit of their own, but through the sole mercy of the Lord. And this takes place when, being oppressed, afflicted, and confused by the consciousness of their sins, they are cast down by the sentiment of God’s judgment, are displeased in themselves, and, as under a heavy burden, groan and travail, and through this hatred and confusion of sin they mortify their flesh and all that which is from themselves. But in order to obtain for us gratuitous remission of sins, Christ has himself redeemed and paid with the price of his own blood in which we must seek all purification and all satisfaction for sins. We are therefore taught to believe that through God’s liberality, Christ’s merit interceding, remission of sins is conceded and grace is done to us who are called and grafted into the body of the Church. And we are taught that no other remission of sins is given anywhere else or by any other means or to others, since outside this Church and communion of saints there is no salvation.
I believe the resurrection of the flesh, the eternal life. Amen.
Here first of all we are taught the expectation of the resurrection to come; that is to say, that it will so happen that the Lord will call back from dust and from corruption to a new life the flesh of those who shall have been consumed by death before the day of the great judgment. And it shall be so through the one same power by which he has resuscitated his Son from the dead. For those who will then be found alive shall pass to new life rather through a sudden transmutation than through natural form of death. Now, as the resurrection will be common to the good and to the bad alike but into different condition, the last part of the statement is added which discerns between our condition and theirs. Our resurrection will be such that, being resuscitated from corruption into incorruption, from mortality into immortality, and being glorified in both body and in soul, the Lord will receive us into a blessedness which will last without end, beyond all quality of mutation and corruption. This will be the true and entire perfection in life, light, and rightness, when we shall be inseparably adhering to the Lord, who, like a fountain that cannot dry up, contains in himself all fullness of life, light, and justice. And this blessedness will be the kingdom of God, filled with all light, joy, power, and felicity. These things are now well beyond men’s knowledge and we do not see them except in a mirror and in obscurity until that day shall have come when the Lord will give us to see his glory face to face.
On the contrary, the rejected and the bad who will not have sought and honored God through a true and vivid faith, inasmuch as they shall have part neither in God nor in his kingdom, they shall be thrown with the devils into immortal death and incorruptible corruption, so that, excluded from all joy, power, and all other goods of the celestial kingdom, being condemned to perpetual darkness and eternal torments, they be gnawed by a worm which shall never die and burned by a fire which shall never be quenched.
Dennison, James T., Jr. 2008–2014. Reformed Confessions of the 16th and 17th Centuries in English Translation: 1523–1693. Vol. 1. Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books.
This is so good Jason!