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This is an installment of a series of replies (see the\u00a0Introduction and Master List<\/a>) to much\u00a0<\/em>of Book IV (Of the Holy Catholic Church<\/em>) \u2014 and some of Book III \u2014 of\u00a0Institutes of the Christian Religion<\/a><\/em>, by early\u00a0Protestant leader\u00a0John Calvin<\/a>\u00a0(1509-1564). I utilize the public domain translation of Henry Beveridge, dated 1845, from the 1559 edition in Latin;\u00a0available online<\/a>. Calvin\u2019s words will be in\u00a0blue<\/span>. All biblical citations (in my portions) will be from RSV unless otherwise noted.<\/p>\n Related reading from yours truly:<\/p>\n Biblical Catholic Answers for John Calvin<\/a>\u00a0<\/i>(2010 book: 388 pages)<\/p>\n A Biblical Critique of Calvinism<\/a>\u00a0<\/i>(2012 book: 178 pages)<\/p>\n Biblical Catholic Salvation: \u201cFaith Working Through Love\u201d<\/a>\u00a0<\/i>(2010 book: 187 pages; includes biblical critiques of all five points of \u201cTULIP\u201d)<\/p>\n *****<\/p>\n III, 5:2-5; 8:1\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n But since very many who see the vile imposture, theft, and rapine (with which the dealers in indulgences have hitherto deluded and sported with us), are not aware of the true source of the impiety, it may be proper to show not only what indulgences truly are, but also that they are polluted in every part. They give the name of treasury of the Church<\/em> to the merits of Christ, the holy Apostles and Martyrs. They pretend, as I have said, that the radical custody of the granary has been delivered to the Roman bishop, to whom the dispensation of these great blessings belongs in such a sense, that he can both exercise it by himself, and delegate the power of exercising it to others. Hence we have from the Pope at one time plenary indulgences, at another for certain years; from the cardinals for a hundred days, and from the bishops for forty. These, to describe them truly, are a profanation of the blood of Christ, and a delusion of Satan, by which the Christian people are led away from the grace of God and the life which is in Christ, and turned aside from the true way of salvation. For how could the blood of Christ be more shamefully profaned than by denying its sufficiency for the remission of sins, for reconciliation and satisfaction, unless its defects, as if it were dried up and exhausted, are supplemented from some other quarter? (III, 5:2)<\/span><\/p>\n Catholics believe no such blasphemy. We fully agree with Calvin and Protestants that Christ\u2019s merits are super-sufficient (a trillion times sufficient and efficient) to accomplish any task. At the same time, God chooses to involve creatures in His distribution of grace and salvation: in applying<\/em> what Christ won on the cross.<\/p>\n That\u2019s what prayer is about, and what redemptive suffering on behalf of others is all about; it\u2019s what participating in the redemptive saving power of Christ (in an entirely secondary, derivative sense) by means of our own suffering is about (the last two things having been documented from Scripture earlier in this chapter).<\/p>\n Peter\u2019s words are: \u201cTo him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins,\u201d (Acts 10:43); but indulgences bestow the remission of sins through Peter, Paul, and the Martyrs. \u201cThe blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin,\u201d says John (1 John 1:7). Indulgences make the blood of the martyrs an ablution of sins. \u201cHe has made him to be sin (i.e. a satisfaction for sin) for us who knew no sin,\u201d says Paul (2 Cor. 5:21), \u201cthat we might be made the righteousness of God in him.\u201d Indulgences make the satisfaction of sin to depend on the blood of the martyrs. Paul exclaimed and testified to the Corinthians, that Christ alone was crucified, and died for them (1 Cor. 1:<\/a>13). Indulgences declare that Paul and others died for us. Paul elsewhere says that Christ purchased the Church with his own blood (Acts 20:<\/a>28). Indulgences assign another purchase to the blood of martyrs. \u201cBy one offering he has perfected for ever them that are sanctified,\u201d says the Apostle (Heb. 10:14). Indulgences, on the other hand, insist that sanctification, which would otherwise be insufficient, is perfected by martyrs. John says that all the saints \u201chave washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb,\u201d (Rev. 7:14). Indulgences tell us to wash our robes in the blood of saints. (III, 5:2)<\/span><\/p>\n This is sheer sophistry: classic repeated examples of Calvin\u2019s \u201ceither\/or\u201d reasoning: the creation of false dichotomies. The Bible takes a \u201cboth\/and\u201d approach. It is God who ultimately does all these things, but He utilizes His creatures to help apply it. That overcomes Calvin\u2019s relentless false dichotomies.<\/p>\n Calvin wants to argue that human beings never have anything whatever, by their God-produced merits, to do with salvation. This is quite curious, since the Bible so often contradicts him. Here are many such passages that Calvin, oddly enough, somehow completely overlooked, with additional notes of how Calvin\u2019s own unfinished \u201ceither\/or version\u201d of Scripture (the \u201cEOV\u201d) translated the passages:<\/p>\n Romans 11:13-14<\/strong> . . . I magnify my ministry\u00a0 [14] in order to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save <\/em>some of them.\u00a0 [EOV: \u201cI magnify God, in order that . . . He may save some of them.\u201d]<\/p>\n Romans 15:17-18<\/strong> In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God. [18] For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has wrought through me<\/em> to win obedience from the Gentiles, by word and deed, [EOV: \u201cI have no reason to be proud of my work for God . . . what Christ has wrought through no one else to win obedience from the Gentiles\u201d]<\/p>\n 1 Corinthians 1:21<\/strong> . . . it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save<\/em> those who believe. [EOV: \u201cit pleased God without the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.\u201d]<\/p>\n 1 Corinthians 7:14, 16<\/strong> For the unbelieving husband is consecrated through his wife<\/em>, and the unbelieving wife is consecrated through her husband<\/em>. Otherwise, your children would be unclean, but as it is they are holy. . . . [16] Wife, how do you know whether you will save your husband<\/em>? Husband, how do you know whether you will save your wife<\/em>? [EOV: \u201chow do you know whether God will save your husband<\/em>? . . . whether God will save your wife<\/em>?]<\/p>\n 1 Corinthians 9:19-22<\/strong> For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, that I might win the more<\/em>. [20] To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews<\/em>; to those under the law I became as one under the law \u2014 though not being myself under the law \u2014 that I might win those under the law<\/em>. [21] To those outside the law I became as one outside the law \u2014 not being without law toward God but under the law of Christ \u2014 that I might win those outside the law<\/em>. [22] To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak<\/em>. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some<\/em>. \u00a0\u00a0[EOV: \u201cthat God, not I, might win the more. . . . that God, not I, might by all means save some.\u201d]<\/p>\n 2 Corinthians 5:18<\/strong> All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation<\/em>; [EOV: \u201cand gave no one else the ministry of reconciliation\u201d]<\/p>\n Ephesians 3:2<\/strong> . . . the stewardship of God\u2019s grace<\/em> that was given to me for you, [EOV: \u201cGod\u2019s grace that could not be and was not given to me for you\u201d]<\/p>\n 2 Timothy 2:10<\/strong> Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain salvation<\/em> in Christ Jesus with its eternal glory. [EOV: \u201cI endure nothing for the sake of the elect, that would help them obtain salvation\u201c]<\/p>\n James 5:20<\/strong> . . . whoever brings back<\/em> a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul<\/em> from death . . . [EOV: \u201cWhen God brings back a sinner from the error of his way He will save his soul\u201d]<\/p>\n 1 Peter 3:1<\/strong> . . . some, though they do not obey the word, may be won<\/em> without a word by the behavior of their wives<\/em>, [EOV: \u201cmay be won without a word by the behavior of Jesus\u201d]<\/p>\n 1 Peter 4:10<\/strong> As each has received a gift, employ it for one another, as good stewards<\/em> of God\u2019s<\/em> varied grace<\/em>: [EOV: \u201cGod employs it for others, as a good steward of His varied grace\u201d]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n There is an admirable passage in opposition to their blasphemies in Leo, a Roman Bishop (ad Pal\u00e6stinos, Ep. 81). \u201cAlthough the death of many saints was precious in the sight of the Lord (Ps. 116:15), yet no innocent man\u2019s slaughter was the propitiation of the world. The just received crowns did not give them; and the fortitude of believers produced examples of patience, not gifts of righteousness: for their deaths were for themselves; and none by his final end paid the debt of another, except Christ our Lord, in whom alone all are crucified\u2014all dead, buried, and raised up.\u201d This sentiment, as it was of a memorable nature, he has elsewhere repeated (Epist. 95). Certainly one could not desire a clearer confutation of this impious dogma. Augustine introduces the same sentiment not less appositely: \u201cAlthough brethren die for brethren, yet no martyr\u2019s blood is shed for the remission of sins: this Christ did for us, and in this conferred upon us not what we should imitate, but what should make us grateful,\u201d (August. Tract. in Joann. 84). (III, 5:3)<\/span><\/p>\n No one is saying otherwise, so this is a perfectly moot, and useless point. Calvin continues to war against a straw man that he seems to think is Catholic teaching. Of course, as always, Augustine and Leo: two of the greatest teachers in the early Catholic Church \u2013, have expressed what we continue to hold today. Nothing has changed.<\/p>\n If Calvin were so utterly confident that the Catholic Church taught such \u201cblasphemies,\u201d surely he could muster up one quotation (but this seems to be quite the novelty for him) from a Catholic dogmatic source? But he doesn\u2019t do so, and there is a very good reason for that: it doesn\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n Indeed, as their whole doctrine is a patchwork of sacrilege and blasphemy, this is the most blasphemous of the whole. (III, 5:3)<\/span><\/p>\n It would be if only we believed<\/em> it, as Calvin vainly imagines and fantasizes. But it\u2019s great copy to sell books and whip up suspicions and hostilities, . . .<\/p>\n Let them acknowledge whether or not they hold the following dogmas: That the martyrs, by their death, performed more to God, and merited more than was necessary for themselves, and that they have a large surplus of merits which may be applied to others; that in order that this great good may not prove superfluous, their blood is mingled with the blood of Christ, and out of both is formed the treasury of the Church, for the forgiveness and satisfaction of sins; and that in this sense we must understand the words of Paul: \u201cWho now rejoice in my sufferings, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body\u2019s sake, which is the Church,\u201d (Col. 1:24<\/a>). What is this but merely to leave the name of Christ, and at the same time make him a vulgar saintling, who can scarcely be distinguished in the crowd? He alone ought to be preached, alone held forth, alone named, alone looked to, whenever the subject considered is the obtaining of the forgiveness of sins, expiation, and sanctification. (III, 5:3)<\/span><\/p>\n We believe in a treasury of merits, because it is plainly described in Scripture, in concept, as shown not far above in no less than eleven explicit passages. Rightly understood, these merits and graces are always derived from, only<\/em> come ultimately from Him. But they are real, and they help others to be saved and to obtain more grace (just as prayer does: perhaps that <\/em>will be Calvin\u2019s target, too?).<\/p>\n Calvin\u2019s mistake in caricaturing Catholic teaching is to imply that we see or draw no distinction whatever between the redemptive suffering and martyrdom and blood of a saint, compared to the passion of Christ, and His crucifixion, and His blood.<\/p>\n Once again, with his fallacious \u201ceither\/or\u201d mindset, he fails to make necessary and crucial distinctions and casually assumes that because God did all, in terms of the origins and cause of grace and salvation, therefore man can do nothing<\/em> at all, even in a cooperative or \u201csecondary vessel\u201d sense (by God\u2019s design). This is not <\/em>what the Bible teaches, as I have shown repeatedly and will continue to demonstrate.<\/p>\n They acknowledge no fruit if Christ is the only propitiation, if he alone died for our sins, if he alone was offered for our redemption. Nevertheless, they say, Peter and Paul would have gained the crown of victory though they had died in their beds a natural death. (III, 5:3)<\/span><\/p>\n Really? This is Straw Man x 1000, and not worthy of the dignity of a rational response.<\/p>\n How maliciously they wrest the passage in which Paul says, that he supplies in his body that which was lacking in the sufferings of Christ! (Col. 1:24). That defect or supplement refers not to the work of redemption, satisfaction, or expiation, but to those afflictions with which the members of Christ, in other words, all believers, behave to be exercised, so long as they are in the flesh. He says, therefore, that part of the sufferings of Christ still remains\u2014viz. that what he suffered in himself he daily suffers in his members. Christ so honors us as to regard and count our afflictions as his own. (III, 5:4)<\/span><\/p>\n Calvin actually concedes an important part of the discussion at hand here (whether he is aware of it or not): in his last sentence. Our afflictions are Christ\u2019s. Conversely, His afflictions are, in some mystical sense that we\u2019ll never fully <\/em>understand, our own, too, and if we are part of that, then in a particular, limited sense, we play a role (always infinitely inferior to that of Christ) in the redemption of others as well.<\/p>\n This has already been shown previously in this chapter, in many scriptural passages. Our sufferings can literally help others to be saved, or redeemed; therefore in that lesser sense, we have participated in the redemption of their souls: a thing that always ultimately goes back to Christ, but in which we participate in a more remote fashion. This is not novel Catholic teaching, but explicit biblical teaching:<\/p>\n 2 Corinthians 1:6<\/strong> If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; . . .<\/p>\n 2 Timothy 2:10<\/strong> Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain salvation . . .<\/p>\n 2 Timothy 4:6<\/strong> For I am already on the point of being sacrificed; the time of my departure has come.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Calvin wrote about two of these verses, as follows:<\/p>\n As he elsewhere says, \u201cI endure all things for the elect\u2019s sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory\u201d (2 Tim. 2:10). He also writes to the Corinthians: \u201cWhether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer,\u201d (2 Cor. 1:6). In the same place he immediately explains his meaning by adding, that he was made a minister of the Church, not for redemption, but according to the dispensation which he received to preach the gospel of Christ. (III, 5:4)<\/span><\/p>\n But this doesn\u2019t eliminate the apparent meaning of 1:24:<\/p>\n Colossians 1:24-25<\/strong> Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ\u2019s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, [25] of which I became a minister according to the divine office which was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known,<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Verse 25 is a different clause and topic: Paul\u2019s preaching function, as an apostle (expanded upon in verses 26-29), rather than an explanation of his meaning in verse 24, as Calvin claims. Therefore it doesn\u2019t at all rule out a connection with redemption in 1:24. It\u2019s merely more \u201ceither\/or\u201d reasoning; but in this instance it\u2019s more like a moot point, by appealing to Colossians 1:25 in order to dismiss a \u201cCatholic\u201d interpretation.<\/p>\n Other passages (most already produced above), refer to a mystical \u201ctogetherness\u201d in some fashion between Christ\u2019s suffering and ours, united to his:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Romans 6:8 <\/strong>. . . we have died with Christ<\/em>, . . .\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Romans 8:17 <\/strong>. . . fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him<\/em> in order that we may also be glorified with him.<\/p>\n 1 Corinthians 12:26-27 <\/strong>If one member suffers, all suffer together<\/em>; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. [27] Now you are the body of Christ<\/em> and individually members of it.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n 2 Corinthians 4:10 <\/strong>always carrying<\/em> in the body the death of Jesus<\/em> . . .<\/p>\n Galatians 2:20<\/strong> I have been crucified with Christ<\/em>; . . .<\/p>\n Galatians 6:17<\/strong> . . . I bear on my body the marks of Jesus<\/em>.<\/p>\n Philippians 3:10 <\/strong>that I may . . . share his sufferings<\/em>, becoming like him in his death<\/em>,<\/p>\n 2 Timothy 2:11<\/strong> The saying is sure: If we have died with him<\/em>, we shall also live with him<\/p><\/blockquote>\n That\u2019s a lot <\/em>of material on the same theme (and all from St. Paul). Calvin can\u2019t possibly dismiss all of it. In fact, he writes eloquently about Philippians 3:10:<\/p>\n How powerfully should it soften the bitterness of the cross, to think that the more we are afflicted with adversity, the surer we are made of our fellowship with Christ; by communion with whom our sufferings are not only blessed to us, but tend greatly to the furtherance of our salvation. (III, 8:1)<\/span><\/p>\n But usually his passages of this sort tend to contra-Catholic rhetoric:<\/p>\n Far be it from us to imagine that Paul thought any thing was wanting to the sufferings of Christ in regard to the complete fulness of righteousness, salvation, and life, or that he wished to make any addition to it, after showing so clearly and eloquently that the grace of Christ was poured out in such rich abundance as far to exceed all the power of sin (Rom. 5:15). (III, 5:4)<\/span><\/p>\n Of course, Paul didn\u2019t think anything was (strictly speaking) lacking in the sufferings of Christ, because he was thinking in a \u201cboth\/and\u201d mode. He doesn\u2019t see any contradiction between what he says and the sufferings of Christ on our behalf. For Paul it is a \u201cprimary\u201d and \u201csecondary \/ derivative:\u201d scenario, without the latter contradicting the former in the slightest.<\/p>\n But for Calvin and his dichotomous thinking, the latter would contradict the former. In order to avoid what he falsely thinks is a contradiction, he seeks to vainly explain the passage away and then express outrage at the straw man of the Catholic Church supposedly disparaging the work and merits of our Lord Jesus Christ. He doesn\u2019t have a solid argument, so he caricatures and rails against his opponent, referring to \u201cmonstrous dogmas,\u201d etc.<\/p>\n Moreover, to say nothing of these abominations, who taught the Pope to enclose the grace of Jesus Christ in lead and parchment, grace which the Lord is pleased to dispense by the word of the Gospel? Undoubtedly either the Gospel of God or indulgences must be false. . . . indulgences, bringing forth some portion of the grace of God from the armory of the Pope, fix it to lead, parchment, and a particular place, but dissever it from the word of God. When we inquire into the origin of this abuse, it appears to have arisen from this, that when in old times the satisfactions imposed on penitents were too severe to be borne, those who felt themselves burdened beyond measure by the penance imposed, petitioned the Church for relaxation. The remission so given was called indulgence. But as they transferred satisfactions to God, and called them compensations by which men redeem themselves from the justice of God, they in the same way transferred indulgences, representing them as expiatory remedies which free us from merited punishment. The blasphemies to which we have referred have been feigned with so much effrontery that there is not the least pretext for them. (III, 5:5)<\/span><\/p>\n Indulgences, in Catholic teaching, are simply the remission of temporal penalties for sin, imposed by the Church. This is all a rather straightforward application of clear Scripture, stemming from the prerogative of the Church to \u201cbind and loose\u201d: that is, to impose penance, and to grant absolution, or free someone from a penalty:<\/p>\n Matthew 16:19<\/strong> I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.<\/p>\n Matthew 18:17-18<\/strong> If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. [18] Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.<\/p>\n John 20:23<\/strong> If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The biblical meaning of \u201cbinding and loosing\u201d is explained by a standard Protestant reference dictionary as follows:<\/p>\n These are technical terms describing things forbidden or permitted by decisions of the scribes. . . . The terms are used in Mt. xviii. 18 in a context which defines the Church\u2019s power to excommunicate and reconcile the sinner. . . . Power to remit and retain sins is vested in the whole Spirit-filled community in Jn. xx. 23.\u00a0(\u201cBinding and Loosing,\u201d in The New Bible Dictionary<\/em>, edited by J. D. Douglas, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1962, 153-154)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The binding aspect, should be uncontroversial, for anyone familiar with the Bible. Penance is merely an example of a category of imposed penalties: the most serious of which are explicitly noted in the Bible:\u00a0 excommunication, or separation of a person from the church community (Rom 16:17; 2 Thess 3:6; 1 Tim 1:20; Tutus 3:10) and anathemas, or curses \u2014 not damnation to hell \u2013 (1 Cor 16:22; Gal 1:8-9). Indulgences are summed up in two Pauline passages. In the first, the Apostle \u201cbinds\u201d or imposes a penance, or temporal punishment:<\/p>\n 1 Corinthians 5:1-5<\/strong> It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and of a kind that is not found even among pagans; for a man is living with his father\u2019s wife. [2] And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. [3] For though absent in body I am present in spirit, and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment [4] in the name of the Lord Jesus on the man who has done such a thing. When you are assembled, and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, [5] you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Later, St. Paul \u201clooses\u201d or grants what is identical conceptually to an indulgence: taking away a temporal penalty that he himself imposed. He forgives the person, and asks the Corinthian church to do so also, even though the offense was not committed against either party. He acts as God\u2019s representative:<\/p>\n 2 Corinthians 2:5-11<\/strong> But if any one has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure \u2013not to put it too severely \u2014 to you all. [6] For such a one this punishment by the majority is enough; [7] so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. [8] So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him. [9] For this is why I wrote, that I might test you and know whether you are obedient in everything. [10] Any one whom you forgive, I also forgive. What I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, [11] to keep Satan from gaining the advantage over us; for we are not ignorant of his designs.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Ironically, Calvin himself, in part of his commentary on this passage (2:6), essentially agrees with Catholics; even using the word \u201cindulgence\u201d (in a general way):<\/p>\n He now extends kindness even to the man who had sinned more grievously than the others, and on whose account his anger had been kindled against them all, inasmuch as they had connived at his crime. In his showing indulgence even to one who was deserving of severer punishment, the Corinthians have a striking instance to convince them, how much he disliked excessive harshness. . . .<\/p>\n He refers to the man who had defiled himself by an incestuous marriage with his mother-in-law. As the iniquity was not to be tolerated, Paul had given orders, that the man should be excommunicated. He had, also, severely reproved the Corinthians, because they had so long given encouragement to that enormity by their dissimulation and patient endurance. It appears from this passage, that he had been brought to repentance, after having been admonished by the Church. Hence Paul gives orders, that he be forgiven, and that he be also supported by consolation.\u00a0(Calvin\u2019s Commentaries<\/em>, Edinburgh: Calvin Translation Society, 1846-1851)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n ***<\/span><\/p>\n (originally 2012)<\/span><\/p>\n Photo credit:<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong>Historical mixed media figure of John Calvin produced by artist\/historian George S. Stuart and photographed by Peter d\u2019Aprix: from the<\/span>\u00a0George S. Stuart Gallery of Historical Figures archive<\/a>\u00a0[Wikimedia Commons<\/a>\u00a0\/\u00a0Creative Commons<\/a>\u00a0Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported<\/a>\u00a0license]<\/span><\/p>\n ***<\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This is an installment of a series of replies (see the\u00a0Introduction and Master List) to much\u00a0of Book IV (Of the Holy Catholic Church) \u2014 and some of Book III \u2014 of\u00a0Institutes of the Christian Religion, by early\u00a0Protestant leader\u00a0John Calvin\u00a0(1509-1564). I utilize the public domain translation of Henry Beveridge, dated 1845, from the 1559 edition in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2331,"featured_media":50535,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,206,50],"tags":[148,3821,557,244,342,2355,1210,3816,2341,243,1207],"class_list":["post-50689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-john-calvin","category-saints-purgatory-penance","category-salvation-justification","tag-calvinism","tag-co-laborers","tag-distribution-of-grace","tag-grace","tag-institutes-of-the-christian-religion","tag-john-calvin","tag-merit","tag-monergism","tag-salvation","tag-soteriology-2","tag-synergy"],"yoast_head":"\n