Calvin's Institutes

Section: 1.13.13-17

13. The divinity of Christ is demonstrated by his miracles

How plainly and clearly is his deity shown in miracles! Even though I confess that both the prophets and the apostles performed miracles equal to and similar to his, yet in this respect there is the greatest of differences: they distributed the gifts of God by their ministry, but he showed forth his own power. Indeed, he sometimes used prayer to render glory to the Father [John 11:41]. But for the most part we see his own power shown to us. And why would he not be the real author of miracles, who by his own authority commits the dispensation of them to others? For the Evangelist relates that he gave to the apostles the power of raising the dead, curing lepers, casting out demons, etc. [Matt. 10:8; cf. Mark 3:15; 6:7]. Moreover, they so used that sort of ministry as to show sufficiently that the power came from none other than Christ. “In the name of Jesus Christ,” says Peter, “.. . arise and walk.” [Acts 3:6.] No wonder, then, if Christ offered his miracles to confound the unbelief of the Jews, inasmuch as these were done by his power and thus rendered the fullest testimony of his divinity [John 5:36; 10:37; 14:11].

Moreover, if apart from God there is no salvation, no righteousness, no life, yet Christ contains all these in himself, God is certainly revealed. And let no one object to me that life and salvation have been infused into Christ by God, for Christ is not said to have received salvation, but to be salvation itself. And if no one but God is good [Matt. 19:17], how could a mere man be- I do not say good and just-but goodness and justice itself? Why is it that, by the testimony of the Evangelist, life was in him from the beginning of Creation, and even then existing as life he was the light of men [John 1:4]? Accordingly, relying upon such proofs, we dare put our faith and hope in him, although we know it to be a sacrilegious impiety for anyone to place his trust in creatures. “Do you believe in God?” he asks. “Believe also in me.” [John 14:1 p.] And thus does Paul interpret two passages of Isaiah: “Whoever hopes in him will not be put to shame” [Rom. 10:11; Isa. 28:16]. Also, “There will come from the root of Jesse one who will arise to rule over peoples; in him will the nations hope.” [Rom. 15:12 p.; Isa. 11:10.] And why should we search out more testimonies of Scripture concerning this matter, when we come so often upon this sentence: “He who believes in me has eternal life” [e.g., John 6:47]? Now the prayer that depends upon faith is also due Christ, yet it specially belongs to the divine majesty, if anything else does belong to it. For the prophet says: “Whoever will call upon the name of Jehovah will be saved.” [Joel 2:32, Vg.] Another: “The name of Jehovah is a very strong tower: the righteous will flee to it and be saved.” [Prov. 18:10 p.] But the name of Christ is invoked for salvation; therefore it follows that he is Jehovah. Moreover, we have an example of such invocation in Stephen, where he says, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” [Acts 7:59]- Later in the whole church, as Ananias testifies in the same book, saying, “Lord, thou knowest how many evils this man has inflicted upon all the saints who call upon thy name” [Acts 9:13-14 p.]. And to have it more plainly understood that “the whole fullness of divinity dwells bodily” in Christ [Col. 2:9], the apostle confesses that he introduced no other doctrine among the Corinthians than knowledge of him, and that he has preached nothing but this [I Cor. 2:2].

What wondrous and great thing is this, I ask, that the name of the Son alone is announced to us, when God bade us glory in the knowledge of him alone? [Jer. 9:24]. Who has dared talk of him as a mere creature, when the knowledge of him is our only reason for glorying? Besides this, the salutations prefixed to the letters of Paul pray for the same benefits from the Son as from the Father [Rom. 1:7; I Cor. 1:3; II Cor. 1:2; Gal. 1:3; etc.]. By this we are taught not only that by the Son’s intercession do those things which the Heavenly Father bestows come to us but that by mutual participation in power the Son himself is the author of them. This practical knowledge is doubtless more certain and firmer than any idle speculation. There, indeed, does the pious mind perceive the very presence of God, and almost touches him, when it feels itself quickened, illumined, preserved, justified, and sanctified.

14. The divinity of the Spirit is demonstrated in his work

Accordingly, we ought to seek from the same source proof of the deity of the Spirit. Indeed, that testimony of Moses in the history of the Creation is very clear, that “the Spirit of God was spread over the deeps” [Gen. 1:2, cf. Vg.], or formless matter; for it shows not only that the beauty of the universe (which we now perceive) owes its strength and preservation to the power of the Spirit but that before this adornment was added, even then the Spirit was occupied with tending that confused mass. And men cannot subtly explain away Isaiah’s utterance, “And now Jehovah has sent me, and his Spirit” [Isa. 48:16, cf. Comm.], for in sending the prophets he shares the highest power with the Holy Spirit. From this his divine majesty shines forth. But the best confirmation for us, as I have said, will be from familiar use. For what Scripture attributes to him and we ourselves learn by the sure experience of godliness is far removed from the creatures. For it is the Spirit who, everywhere diffused, sustains all things, causes them to grow, and quickens them in heaven and in earth. Because he is circumscribed by no limits, he is excepted from the category of creatures; but in transfusing into all things his energy, and breathing into them essence, life, and movement, he is indeed plainly divine.

Again, if regeneration into incorruptible life is higher and much more excellent than any present growth, what ought we to think of him from whose power it proceeds? Now, Scripture teaches in many places that he is the author of regeneration not by borrowing but by his very own energy; and not of this only, but of future immortality as well. In short, upon him, as upon the Son, are conferred functions that especially belong to divinity. “For the Spirit searches … even the depths of God” [I Cor. 2:10], who has no counselor among the creatures [Rom. 11:34]; he bestows wisdom and the faculty of speaking [I Cor. 12:10], although the Lord declares to Moses that it is his work alone [Ex. 4:11]. Thus through him we come into communion with God, so that we in a way feel his life-giving power toward us. Our justification is his work; from him is power, sanctification [cf. I Cor. 6:11], truth, grace, and every good thing that can be conceived, since there is but one Spirit from whom flows every sort of gift [I Cor. 12:11]. Especially worth noting is this saying of Paul’s: “Although there are divers gifts” [I Cor. 12:4] and manifold and varied distribution [cf. Heb. 2:4], “but the same Spirit” [I Cor. 12:4 p.]; because this makes him not only the beginning or source, but also the author. This Paul also more clearly expresses a little later in these words: “One and the same Spirit apportions all things as he will” [I Cor. 12:11 p.]. For if the Spirit were not an entity subsisting in God, choice and will would by no means be conceded to him. Paul, therefore, very clearly attributes to the Spirit divine power, and shows that He resides hypostatically in God.

15. Express testimonies for the deity of the Spirit

Nor, indeed, does Scripture in speaking of him refrain from the designation “God.” For Paul concludes that we are the temple of God from the fact that his Spirit dwells in us [I Cor. 3:1617; 6:19; II Cor. 6:16]. We are not lightly to pass over this fact. For, while God indeed frequently promises that he will choose us as a temple for himself, this promise is not otherwise fulfilled than by his Spirit dwelling in us. Certainly, as Augustine very clearly states: “If we are bidden to make a temple for the Spirit out of wood and stone, because this honor is due to God alone, such a command would be a clear proof of the Spirit’s divinity. Now, then, how much clearer is it that we ought not to make a temple for him, but ought ourselves to be that temple?” And the apostle himself sometimes writes that “we are God’s temple” [I Cor. 3:16-17; II Cor. 6:16], at other times, in the same sense, “the temple of the Holy Spirit” [I Cor. 6:19]. Indeed, Peter, rebuking Ananias for lying to the Holy Spirit, says that he has lied not to men but to God [Acts 5:3-4]. And where Isaiah introduces the Lord of Hosts speaking, Paul teaches that it is the Holy Spirit who speaks [Isa. 6:9; Acts 28:25-26]. Indeed, where the prophets usually say that the words they utter are those of the Lord of Hosts, Christ and the apostles refer them to the Holy Spirit [cf. II Peter 1:21]. It therefore follows that he who is pre-eminently the author of prophecies is truly Jehovah. Again, where God complains that he was provoked to anger by the stubbornness of his people, Isaiah writes that “his Holy Spirit was grieved” [Isa.63:10 p.]. Finally, if blasphemy against the Spirit is remitted neither in this age nor in the age to come, although he who has blasphemed against the Son may obtain pardon [Matt. 12:31; Mark 3:29; Luke 12:10], by this his divine majesty, to injure or diminish which is an inexpiable crime, is openly declared. I deliberately omit many testimonies that the church fathers used. They thought it justifiable to cite from David, “By the word of the Lord the heavens were established, and all their power by the spirit of his mouth” [Ps. 33:6 p.], to prove that the universe was no less the work of the Holy Spirit than of the Son. But since it is common practice in The Psalms to repeat the same thing twice, and since in Isaiah “spirit of the mouth” means the same thing as “the word” [Isa. 11:4], that was a weak reason. Thus I have chosen to touch only a few things upon which godly minds may securely rest.

16. Oneness

Moreover, because God more clearly disclosed himself in the coming of Christ, thus he also became known more familiarly in three persons. But of the many testimonies this one will suffice forus.35 aFor Paul so connects these three-God, faith, and baptism [Eph. 4:5]-as to reason from one to the other: namely, because faith is one, that he may thereby show God to be one; because baptism is one, that he may thence show faith also to be one. Therefore, if through baptism we are initiated into the faith and religion of one God, we must consider him into whose name we are baptized to be the true God. Indeed, there is no doubt that Christ willed by this solemn pronouncement to testify that the perfect light of faith was manifested when he said, “Baptize them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” [Matt. 28:19 p.]. For this means precisely to be baptized into the name of the one God who has shown himself with complete clarity in the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Hence it is quite clear that in God’s essence reside three persons in whom one God is known.

Indeed, faith ought not to gaze hither and thither, nor to discourse of various matters, but to look upon the one God, to unite with him, to cleave to him. From this, then, it is easily established that if there are various kinds of faith, there must also be many gods. Now because Baptism is the sacrament of faith, it confirms for us the unity of God from the fact that it is one. Hence it also follows that we are not permitted to be baptized except into the one God, because we embrace the faith of him into whose name we are baptized. What, then, did Christ mean when he commanded that Baptism should be in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, except that we ought with one faith to believe in the Father, the Son, and the Spirit? What else is this than to testify clearly that Father, Son, and Spirit are one God? Therefore, since that there is one God, not more, is regarded as a settled principle, we conclude that Word and Spirit are nothing else than the very essence of God. The Arians used to prate most foolishly when, in confessing the divinity of the Son, they took away the substance of God from him. A like madness tormented the Macedonians, who by “Spirit” wanted to understand only those gifts of grace poured out upon men. For, as wisdom, understanding, prudence, fortitude, and fear of the Lord proceed from him, so is he the one Spirit of wisdom, prudence, fortitude, and godliness [cf. Isa. 11:2]. And he is not divided according to the distribution of gifts, but however diversely they may be divided; yet, says the apostle, he remains “one and the same” [I Cor. 12:11].

17. Threeness

Again, Scripture sets forth a distinction of the Father from the Word, and of the Word from the Spirit. Yet the greatness of the mystery warns us how much reverence and sobriety we ought to use in investigating this. And that passage in Gregory of Nazianzus vastly delights me: “I cannot think on the one without quickly being encircled by the splendor of the three; nor can I discern the three without being straightway carried back to the one.” Let us not, then, be led to imagine a trinity of persons that keeps our thoughts distracted and does not at once lead them back to that unity. Indeed, the words “Father,” “Son,” and “Spirit” imply a real distinction-let no one think that these titles, whereby God is variously designated from his works, are empty-but a distinction, not a division. The passages that we have already cited [e.g., Zech. 13:7] show that the Son has a character distinct from the Father, because the Word would not have been with God unless he were another than the Father, nor would he have had his glory with the Father were he not distinct from the Father. In like manner he distinguishes the Father from himself when he says that there is another who bears witness to him [John 5:32; 8:16; and elsewhere]. And with this agrees what is said elsewhere: that the Father created all things through the Word [John 1:3; Heb. 11:3]. This he could not have done without being somehow distinct from the Word. Furthermore, it was not the Father who descended upon the earth, but he who went forth from the Father; the Father did not die, nor did he arise again, but rather he who had been sent by the Father. Nor did this distinction have its beginning from the time that he assumed flesh, but before this also it is manifest that he was the only-begotten “in the bosom of the Father” [John 1:18]. For who would take upon himself to assert that the Son did not enter into the bosom of the Father until he descended from heaven to assume humanity? Therefore he was in the bosom of the Father before, and held his own glory in the presence of the Father [John 17:5]. Christ implies the distinction of the Holy Spirit from the Father when he says that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father [John 15:26; cf. ch. 14: 26]. He implies the distinction of the Holy Spirit from himself as often as he calls the Spirit “another,” as when he announces that he will send another Comforter [John 14:16], and often elsewhere.