We are in Chapter 3 today. It’s entitled; The Knowledge of God Has Been Naturally Implanted in the Minds of Men.
I read or heard someone say that the 21st century would be a “spiritual century,” meaning mankind, disillusioned with 20th century violence, would seek “gods” again. The fact is mankind has always sought gods in one form or another. The modern era, the space of history from the Enlightenment Age to the end of WWII was not a rejection of “gods” in favour of science and human reason but merely a joy ride with the new "gods" of science and reason.
Calvin’s third chapter reminds us again that man does have a “seed of religion” in him. Why? Because he was made in God’s image. Here are my summaries for this chapter.
1. There is a knowledge of God naturally implanted in creation and the human conscience. This natural knowledge is severely smothered due to sin. (see Book I, ch. IV). This leaves mankind without excuse. The "seed of religion" remains in God's creatures.
2. Calvin agrees with Cicero on this point..."No nation so barbarous, no people so savage, that they have not a deep seated conviction that there is a God" (Pg.44). The practice of religion of any sort has not come about willy-nilly. It is an expression of the natural knowledge of God imprinted upon the conscience.
3. But sadly! Fallen man hates this knowledge and attempts to erase it from his mind in various ways. As Calvin writes, "though the stupid hardness in their minds, which the impious eagerly conjure up to reject God, wastes away, yet the sense of divinity, which they greatly wished to have extinguished, thrives and presently grows" (Pg, 46).
4. What distinguishes man from brute beasts is their "reason" which tells them they are creatures and that there is a Creator. Even when they worship wood in rebellion against the true God, they do show the principle of accountability. It is the opposite with brute beasts; they live by the principle of instinct.
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