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John Calvin Quotes (1509-1564)
Theologian
About John Calvin
John Calvin (10 July 1509 β 27 May 1564) was a major French Protestant theologian during the Protestant Reformation; he is renowned for his teaching and infamous for his role in the execution of Michael Servetus.
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Explore our curated collection of the most famous and impactful John Calvin quotes.
βWe must not only resist, but boldly attack prevailing evils.β
βWhere is our acknowledgement of God if our thoughts are fixed on the glamour of our garments?β
βIt is easy to see how superstition, with its false glosses, mocks God, while it tries to please him.β
βBut a faithful believer will in all circumstances mediate on the mercy and fatherly goodness of God.β
βIf everything proceeded according to their wishes, they would not understand what it means to follow God.β
βDepraved custom is just a kind of general pestilence in which men perish not the less that they fall in a crowd.β
βBeing humbled, we learn to call upon his strength which alone makes us stand up under such a load of afflictions.β
βFor in the cross of Christ, as in a splendid theatre, the incomparable goodness of God is set before the whole world.β
βIf we are minded to affirm Christ's Kingdom as we ought, we must wage irreconcilable war with him who is plotting its ruin.β
βWe should not insist on absolute perfection of the gospel in our fellow Christians, however we may strive for it ourselves.β
βWe should forever keep in mind that we must not brood on the wickedness of man, but realize that he is Godβs image bearer.β
βSince God has revealed himself as a Father, we would be guilty of the basest ingratitude if we did not behave as his children.β
John Calvin Quotes by Topic
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John Calvin on Prayer 6 quotes
βThe ceremony of lifting up our hands in prayer is designed to remind us that we are far removed from God, unless our thoughts rise upward.β
John Calvin on Christianity 5 quotes
βIs it faith to understand nothing, and merely submit your convictions implicitly to the Church?β
John Calvin on Idolatry 5 quotes
βSeeing that this brutish stupidity has overspread the globe, men longing after visible forms of God, and so forming deities of wood and stone, silver and gold, or of any other dead and corruptible matter, we must hold it as a first principle, that as often as any form is assigned to God, his glory is corrupted by an impious lie.β
John Calvin on Superstition 4 quotes
βIt is easy to see how superstition, with its false glosses, mocks God, while it tries to please him.β
John Calvin on Acceptance 3 quotes
βBut a faithful believer will in all circumstances mediate on the mercy and fatherly goodness of God.β
John Calvin on Pride 3 quotes
βThere are people who are known to be very liberal, yet they never give without scolding or pride or even insolence.'β
John Calvin on Sola fide 3 quotes
βLet it be a fixed principle in our hearts, that the kingdom of heaven is not the hire of servants, but the inheritance of sons.β
John Calvin on God 2 quotes
View all 2 quotes on God →John Calvin on Religious text 2 quotes
βFaith has no less need of the word than the fruit of a tree has of a living root.β
John Calvin on Body 2 quotes
βThere is also an old proverb, that they who pay much attention to the body generally neglect the soul.β
John Calvin on Customs 2 quotes
βDepraved custom is just a kind of general pestilence in which men perish not the less that they fall in a crowd.β
John Calvin on Insults 2 quotes
βWe should never insult others on account of their faults, for it is our duty to show charity and respect to everyone.β
What John Calvin Said About Others
Discover personal opinions John Calvin shared regarding contemporaries.
John Calvin on Mary, mother of Jesus 9 quotes
βIt cannot be denied that God in choosing and destining Mary to be the Mother of his Son, granted her the highest honor.β
John Calvin on Pearl S. Buck
John Calvin on Alexander the Great
βWhen he says that in that day all his thoughts perish, or flow away, perhaps under this expression he censures the madness of princes in setting no bounds to their hopes and desires, and scaling the very heavens in their ambition, like the insane Alexander of Macedon, who, upon hearing that there were other worlds, wept that he had not yet conquered one, although soon after the funeral urn sufficed him.β
Quotes About John Calvin
Gain deeper perspective through quotes about John Calvin from others.
Hilaire Belloc on John Calvin
βThe Servetus Controversy" on John Calvin
βIt is true that Calvin and his fellow pastors in Geneva were involved in the death of Servetus.However, it would be difficult to find any church leader in the 16th century who advocated a more gentle approach. Luther called for attacks on German peasants and wrote an angry tract against the Jews, called βOn the Jews and their Lies'. Zwingli, the Reformer of Zurich, supported the execution by drowning of the Anabaptist leader, Felix Manz. Sir Thomas More, England's Catholic Lord Chancellor, presided over the execution of those he viewed as βhereticsβ in England during the reign of Henry the VIII. Each country of Europe in the sixteenth century felt that defending its religious views involved taking strong measures against those who disagreed. Toleration and acceptance of doctrinal differences were simply not sixteenth Βcentury concepts.β
Γmile Doumergue on John Calvin
Will Durant on John Calvin 2 quotes
βIt is remarkable, how much of Roman Catholic tradition and theory survived in Calvin's theology.β
Elizabeth I on John Calvin
βBut seeing the source from which this book came forth, the majesty of the matter surpasses all human eloquence, being privileged and having such force within it that a single sentence has power to ravish, inspire, and give knowledge to the most stupid and ignorant beings alive in what way God wishes to be known, seen, and heard.β
Max Horkheimer on John Calvin
βCalvin's theocentric irrationalism eventually revealed itself as the cunning to technocratic reason which had to shape its human material. Misery and the poor laws did not suffice to drive men into the workshops of the early capitalistic era. The new spirit helped to supplement external pressures.β
Adam Mitchell Hunter on John Calvin 3 quotes
βWhatever Calvin was or was not, he was a man to whom religion was the very breath of life. His piety was as profound as it was constant. All that was best, noblest and most influential in him (RΓ©nan calls him the most Christian man of his generation) is traceable to its true source in a heart that was wholly given to God. Never has a more genuinely consecrated life been lived than his.β
Jae Jerkins on John Calvin 3 quotes
βCalvin states that Muhammad is βthe companion of the Pope who has done his very best to seduce those poor people who were enraged and saturated and poisoned by his false doctrineβ. Calvin condemns Muhammad and the Pope as the two horns of the Antichrist described in Danielβs prophetic seventh chapter. For Calvin, both the Pope and Muhammad seduced potential Protestant Christians away from the true path through false teachings and idolatrous practices.β
Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn on John Calvin
βApart from a few poets we see these followers of Calvin contributing very little to the arts and letters. They lacked painters, musicians, architects of originality; hilarity was for them suspect and their humor was limited. In their political activities they displayed strange and disquieting tendencies; in North America they brought the Indians, with the help of bullets, whisky, and infected blankets, almost to a vanishing point. In England they led the first great attack against the institution of monarchy in Christian history, in Ireland they displayed their homicidal talents in the most brutal type of warfare, in South Africa they established republics in which the institution of slavery survived till the threshold of the twentieth century, in Hungary they allied themselves with the pagan Turks and in Japan with the Shintoists against the Catholics.β
Misattributed Quotes
Quotes mistakenly credited to John Calvin
βWhere many of you only have an understanding of the eyes. What you see is division and separation, it is indeed troubling that God would share his power with Lucifer and allow him to fight against him, and bring about discontent. You will say that Lucifer must have a vehement disposition and ungovernable impetuosity; as if that was enough to break the power of God. Now with this understanding it is impossible to accept Lucifer as independent from God without falling into the Paganism of Persia and Indiana. This paganism has infiltrated the hearts of Christians and has caused them to forget the power of God, saying he does not have control over all. Now from this we can conclude that Lucifer, who you incorrectly call a Devil, is a loyal servant of God.β
About John Calvin
John Calvin (10 July 1509 β 27 May 1564) was a major French Protestant theologian during the Protestant Reformation; he is renowned for his teaching and infamous for his role in the execution of Michael Servetus.