Calvin's Limits and Possibilities

The teaching of justification is outside of us. It’s beyond any human reach, for we are justified by Christ alone.  Being justified indicates that we need external help to have a right standing before God. “The theology of justification is saying that sin and death set limits to our lives, and the only way to overcome them is by relying on a source of deliverance outside ourselves—the grace of God.”[1] The teaching of justification shows us that we are limited in the first place. When we face what it seems impossible, we can have hope because our hope has been rested on the One who justified us. When we meet our limits, we are assured by the external reality, which is Christ’s righteousness.

The teaching of sanctification reminds us that life is filled with possibilities—what is not yet to come. The concept of sanctification indicates that “every situation, no matter how difficult, also contains some opportunities to act. When we act in these circumstances, we create possibilities where there were only limitations before. When we do this, we are living by sanctification.”[2] Thus, the path of sanctification is the path of exploring new possibilities. I call this “sanctified spirit.” When we stop to explore what is not yet to come, we stop making progress in the path of sanctification. Without a “sanctified spirit,” we are stagnant. However, the concept of sanctification is meant to encourage us to continue to search in the midst of searching, not to discourage us to stop searching in the midst of waiting and confusion.

“In all of life there are things we cannot do for ourselves, as well as things that only we can do.”[3]

This is Johnson’s application of John Calvin’s doctrine of twofold grace of God.[4]

[1] William Stacy Johnson, John Calvin, Reformer for the 21^st Century (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), p. 28.

[2] Ibid., p. 28.

[3] Ibid., p. 28.

[4] John Calvin wrote, “Christ was given to us by God’s generosity, to be grasped and possessed by us in faith. By partaking of him, we principally receive a double grace: namely, that being reconciled to God through Christ’s blamelessness, we may have in heaven instead of a Judge a gracious Father; and secondly, that sanctified by Christ’s spirit we may cultivate blamelessness and purity of life.” (Institutes, 3.11.1)

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