Calvin's Institutes: March 22
John Calvin's Institutes in a Year by Christopher Michael Patton
Episode notes
In this section of the Institutes, Calvin presses the argument even further: the hope of eternal life was not a late Christian invention but a reality already known under the Old Covenant. The saints of the Old Testament endured suffering because they believed that God’s favor outlasts every earthly trial—“His anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life” (Psalm 30:5). Calvin points to Job’s bold confession—“I know that my Redeemer liveth”—as a clear testimony that faith looked beyond the grave to resurrection and vindication. As revelation unfolded through Moses, the Psalms, and the Prophets, the light grew brighter: Ezekiel’s valley of dry bones, Isaiah’s promise that the dead will arise, and Daniel’s vision of many awakening from the dust all testify that God’s covenant was never merely about land, prosperity, ...