John Calvin for Postmoderns

Our day is one in which people tend to believe only those things that can be demonstrated, proved, or shown by some empirical method; we have become a "Show Me" culture. Long before such proofs became popular, the 16th century reformer, John Calvin, recognized some of the problems with people subjecting Truth to such tests (even if it remains a valid method for scientific discovery). The other day I came across some of what he had to say and was encouraged to find that the nature of Christian faith hasn't changed much. In fact, it's as relevant as ever (all excerpts are from Book 1, chapters 7 & 8).

To ask for proofs other than God's personal testimony is to "mock the Holy Spirit", as though some other method or person could better persuade us of God's truth; it is to expect God to speak without being present:

They mock the Holy Spirit when they ask: Who can convince us that these writings came from God? Who can assure us that Scripture has come down whole and intact even to our very day?

"But how does one know when it is God who speaks?" the critic/cynic may ask. To this Calvin responds,

Whence will we learn to distinguish light from darkness, white from black, sweet from bitter? Indeed Scripture exhibits fully as clear evidence of its own truth as white and black things do of their color, or sweet and bitter things do of their taste.

He even names this quality of Scripture, and shows why it is good, both for us and for God, that his Word be "self-authenticating":

Scripture indeed is self-authenticated; hence, it is not right to subject it
to proof and reasoning. And the certainty it deserves with us, it attains by the
testimony of the Spirit. By this power [of the Spirit's witness to Scripture's
self-authenticating authority and truthfulness] we are drawn and inflamed,
knowingly and willingly, to obey him, [and, in fact,] more vitally and more
effectively than [we could ever be drawn] by mere human willing or knowing!

Truth is cleared of all doubt when, not sustained by external props, it serves as its own support.

And those who persist in seeking after incontrovertible proof (in contrast to particular evidences) of Scripture's truth and authority simply don't have a taste for truth:

Consequently, those for whom prophetic doctrine is tasteless ought to be thought of as lacking taste buds.

As Jesus put it, "I am he who bears witness of myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness of me," and "You know neither me, nor my Father; if you knew me, youwould now my Father also." (John 8:18, 19) And perhaps most difficult of all to hear, "He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear, because you are not of God." (John 8:47) Ironically, this is merely the negative way of saying, as he did in John 10, that the sheep of the shepherd recognize their shepherd - and ignore a stranger - by his voice, and not some external, objective testimony apart from the shepherd himself. For this would detract from the shepherd's authority and truthfulness and place it in the evidence itself, rather than the shepherd.

No wonder Jesus said repeatedly, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

BHT