"Just as old and bleary-eyed men and those with weak vision, if you thrust before them a most beautiful volume, even if they recognize it to be some sort of writing, yet can scarcely construe two words�," so is the human without scripture. For Calvin, God is revealed to all humans, and His presence is universal. God the Creator can be known through creation. Universal revelation is central to Calvin's understanding of God and of revelation, and our passage emphasizes this revelation. In the first line of our passage, this revelation in creation is implied in the reference to "a most beautiful volume." Nature is one book of revelation, and is a beautiful and revealing one. This same point is made later in the passage, as Calvin refers to "the otherwise confused knowledge of God in our minds" that is present before Scripture enters into the picture. Nature reveals God the creator.
Universal revelation of God the Creator in nature is central to Calvin's understanding of revelation and Scripture, yet, it must be understood that the revelation of God in nature is certainly not complete or clear. Calvin asserts that this type of knowledge of God is "confused," and that knowledge of God can only be seen in nature as though by "bleary-eyed men." Calvin understands that there truly is revelation of God in nature, but that this revelation is insufficient for "our depraved judgment." God "foresaw that his likeness imprinted upon the most beautiful form of the universe would be insufficiently effective." It may bring about knowledge of God as one who "founded and governs the universe," but cannot give "that other inner knowledge, �which alone quickens dead souls."
Through universal revelation, one may come to recognition of a god who creates, but this knowledge does not bring knowledge of God, the Creator and Redeemer, who gives life. Calvin likens the discovery of God through nature to an "inexpxicable labyrinth." God may be found there, yet this knowledge requires the Word to guide and make clear. Without Scripture, "we shall never reach the goal." Instead, humans fall into error, and Scripture alone brings clarity. As the title of 1.6.4. says, "Scripture can communicate to us what the revelation in creation cannot." Thus, the first important theological assertion made by Calvin in this passage is that God is revealed in nature, but without Scripture, this revelation is unclear and incomplete to humans. This leads us to Calvin's understanding of Scripture, which illuminates the book of Nature, and brings clear knowledge of God.
Scripture Brings Life
For Calvin, Scripture is the lens through which God is clearly revealed. Our passage refers Scripture as "spectacles" that allow one with weak vision to "read distinctly." Scripture also disperses dullness and "clearly shows us the triune God." Scripture thus has the role of clarifying our fuzzy vision in nature, and also brings a clear revelation of God and who God is.
We begin with the clarifying nature of scripture. We have just discussed above the universal revelation of God in nature. For Calvin this revelation is neither sufficient nor clear. As he states, we must come to "the Word, where God is truly and vividly described to us from his works, while these very works are appraised not by our depraved judgment but by the rule of eternal truth." Scripture reveals God's eternal truth, which alone can clarify the revelation of nature, and thus, which alone can truly reveal God. As Calvin writes, "no one can get even the slightest taste of right and sound doctrine unless he be a pupil of Scripture." Scripture is the revelation of the Word of God, revealed to the patriarchs through oracles and visions, and recorded for us in Scripture. It is by this Word of God that nature is made clear.
We now turn to the clear revelation Scripture brings. Calvin makes it clear that Scripture brings revelation not only that there is a god, but brings God's self-revelations of Himself. Scripture takes us beyond what can be found in nature. Calvin points out the crucial role of God's Word by making reference to Jesus' statement to the Samaritan woman that "her people and all other peoples worshiped they knew not what" and "that the Jews alone offered worship to the true God [John 4:22]." He elsewhere describes the Word in Scripture as "a more direct and more certain mark whereby he is to be recognized." Scripture serves to bring certain knowledge of God. It clarifies God's revelation in creation, but it also brings life, in the revelation of who God is, and in the recognition of God as Redeemer. As Calvin says, Scripture "alone quickens dead souls, whereby God is known not only as the Founder of the universe and the sole Author and Ruler of all that is made, but also in the person of the Mediator as the Redeemer." It is through Scripture alone that we may be saved, for it contains the Word of life.
Scriptural Authority
The final theological issue we shall analyze in the selected statement from Calvin concerns the authority of Scripture. In the selection, Calvin writes that Scripture is a "special gift, where God, to instruct the church, not merely uses mute teachers but also opens his own most hallowed lips." As we have seen, Scripture is the special revelation of God, which goes beyond the universal revelation in nature, and directly communicates God's Word. But it is also central to Calvin's understanding to assert that the Scripture is not subordinate to the church, but is instead given "to instruct the church." Calvin takes very strong issue with those who would assert that the church is the arbiter of Scriptural truth, and that it is through the authority of the church that the Scripture receives its authority.
To counter what he views as a false understanding of authority, Calvin very strongly proclaims the witness of the Holy Spirit as that which brings confirmation of the authority and validity of Scripture. It is God who gives Scripture its authority. As Calvin writes "the Scriptures obtain full authority among believers only when men regard them as having sprung from heaven, as if there the living words of God were heard." This leads him to further conclude that Scripture "must have had authority before the church began to exist," and in fact the church is grounded on Scripture, as our passage points out. Calvin does interact with Augustine, and points out that the church does play a role in conveying the certainty of the gospel to the unbeliever, saying, "those who have not yet been illumined by the Spirit of God are rendered teachable by reverence for the church." But he is finally led to assert that the authority of Scripture, though testified to by the church for the unbeliever, comes from God, and it is only through God that certainty comes.
My Own Position
I find Calvin's view on Scripture to be very informative, and very accurate. Reading Calvin's discussion of Scripture and nature, Romans 1:20 seems always to be in view: "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." Nature does truly reveal God. Yet, Romans seems to go beyond Calvin's assertion that nature is a fuzzy and dim revelation of God, to say that it is clear. I would say yes to both Calvin and Romans. Through Scripture and the ministry of the Holy Spirit, nature does clearly convey the truth of God, yet it also rings true that humans as sinners always turn away from God and ignore God's revelation except through the ministry of the Word and the Holy Spirit. So yes, we are without excuse due to the revelation in nature, for it is our sinfulness that has caused us to be blind to it, and yet, God has chosen to reveal Himself in a way that is made clear to sinners in the Word, in Jesus Christ. It is this Word that we find in Scripture, and which mediates God to a sinful humanity.
Calvin also rightly and importantly points out that the Holy Spirit is that which gives authority to Scripture. For it is the Holy Spirit which not only inspired Scripture, but which is involved in our reading and understanding Scripture. As Paul writes,
"�as it is written: 'No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for
those who love him' -but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep
things of God. �The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come fro the Spirit of God, for they
are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned" (1Corinthians
2:9-10, 14).
The Scripture is the Word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16), and testifies to the Word of life, Jesus Christ, through whom God brings salvation. Thus, my own position closely echoes Calvin's position as to the relationship between Scripture and nature, and to the authority of Scripture. I believe this means that there can and should be a close relationship between science and theology, for both can inform our understandings of God, yet we must not seek to elevate science above theology, for the world is a true revelation of God, but is only capable of dimly reflecting God except through Scripture. Thus, there is both a unity of truth between nature and theology, and also a hierarchy of disciplines, necessitating the elevation of theology above science.
The Word of God is given to us in the Scriptures. In their pages, God reveals Himself to us, and makes clear His identity as Creator, but also as Redeemer and Lord. Scripture resonates with the world around us, but without the ministry of the Word and the Spirit, humanity is hopelessly lost in sin, and blinded to God's identity and love.
