Calvin’s Institutes. His Commentary on the Apostles’ Creed, Part 2: The life and obedience of Jesus for our salvation.

The Apostles’ Creed confesses what Jesus did while on earth. It does not recite his miracles, kind gestures to the children, or prayers. It simply says, “He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell, and on the third day rose again from the dead.” Nevertheless this contains his whole work. Calvin asserts this in this section of his Institutes. My summary continues.

1. Christ the Redeemer abolished guilt, sin, alienation from God, and obtained righteousness and adoption for his people, “by the whole course of His obedience” (Pg., 507). [Rom 5:19; Gal 4:4-5; Matt 3:15]

2. Scripture does testify that Christ, by his life, death, first advent, and substitutionary sacrifice has redeemed His people [Matt 20:28; Rom 4:25; Jn 1:29; Rom 3:24-25; 5:9-10]. All these works are works of his obedience as God’s elect servant [Phil 2:7-8].

Some adamantly seek to maintain the two categories of the active and passive obedience of Christ. This seems as a matter of semantics to me because all of Christ’s work was active for our salvation.

3. As Calvin writes, “No proper sacrifice to God could have been offered unless Christ, disregarding his own feelings, subjected and yielded himself wholly to his Father’s will” (Pg., 508). [Heb 10:7-9] Calvin explains the obedience of Christ by explaining the Apostles Creed.

4. To what kind of death was he obedient to? It could not be an ordinary death. It had to be an atoning and propitiatory death. “To make satisfaction for our redemption a form of death had to be chosen in which he might free us both by transferring our condemnation to himself and by taking our guilt upon himself” (Pg., 509).

5. In his trial before Pilate, he took the role of a guilty man and an evil criminal.

6. In this trial there are two fulfilled prophecies which directly connect with the atoning work of Christ.

a. Jesus was nailed to the tree between two thieves fulfilling Is 53:12, “He was numbered with the transgressors.” “Why so? Surely that He might die in the place of the sinner, not of the righteous or innocent man. For He suffered death not because of innocence but because of sin” (Pg., 509).

b. Jesus was declared innocent by Pilot three times, fulfilling Psalm 69:4. Calvin explains, “Thus we shall behold the person of a sinner and evildoer represented in Christ, yet from his shining innocence it will at the same time be obvious that he was burdened with another’s sin rather than his own. This is our acquittal: the guilt that held us liable for punishment has been transferred to the head of the Son of God [Is 53:12]” (Pg., 509).