The Shadow of Religion

In Calvin’s Institutes, his 2,000 page summary of the cardinal teaching of the Bible, he begins with how it is we know God and what God has done for us. Knowledge of God, and that alone, will help us understand how we know ourselves in the light of God’s Self revelation. While reading the Institutes I found a phrase that captivated my attention. (Vol 1.section 1. part 4, the fourth paragraph which Battles entitles "Hypocrisy") I like to read two English translations of the Latin and French versions.The strength of Battles’ translation lies in its clarity and Beveridges’ in his beautiful language. I must leave it to those who are truly scholars to judge which of the two is the most faithful to Calvin’s meaning.

In his translation of this section of book one, Beveridge translates a term as the “shadow of religion” while Battles renders it the “semblance of religion.” This is where Calvin gives a kind of sociology of religion. He speaks of the false church and its bogus leaders. Since he is dealing here with anthropology and not ecclesiology, it is my extension of this thought that applies what is in the corrupted, unregenerate, person to what happens when such persons take over a portion of the visible Church.

This part of the Institutes treats our fallen nature and our helplessness to find God. There is a Divinely revealed knowledge that meets  faith with an enlightenment given by the Holy Spirit to illuminate our darkened and willful hearts This knowledge is supplied entirely by God in and through the Bible. It is especially manifest in the person of Jesus Christ himself. It is the Holy Spirit that does a kind of cataract surgery. The Spirit removes that which all but blinds us from a clear view of God and of ourselves. The loss of spiritual vision is the product of our sin.

This section uncovers the way sin blinds the lost. Calvin exposes the religion of the lost. It is not true religion but a shadow or semblance of true religion. When the unregenerate control a once great denomination they turn that which was once of substance into what is a mere semblance of the true Church. They create what John the Revelator calls “synagogues of Satan.”

Calvin returns to this theme throughout the Institutes, but it is here he begin with the wicked heart of the individual religionist. The signs are first hypocrisy. This is manifested in elaborate rituals, which are merely shows without substance. I once became acquainted with a Presbyterian pastor who was a closeted homosexual and an alcoholic. His was a tragic life that sadly ended when he contracted HIV and died from it devastating effects. His worship bulletins were six pages long. He threw in every liturgical device he would find from antiphons to collects. He wrote a new hymn weekly roughly based on his sermon text. One of his congregates said in a weary tone, “By the end of worship we were exhausted.” Was this an example of the shadow of religion Calvin speaks of here?

The next sign of the unregenerate is moral. Calvin writes, they “take pleasure in iniquity, choosing rather to indulge their carnal propensities than to curb them with the bridle of the Holy Spirit.” We live in a day where right and wrong are viewed as beyond the scope of religion. God may want us to live well, but his love does not accord with any moral restraint. (Apart from saving the whales and establishing a womb to tomb international welfare state - and, o yes, the use of general inclusive language, sexual liberation, and "no religion too.") In the eyes of these religionists, it is God’s view that “my kids can do whatever makes them happy.” It is as though God was a liberal parent who says, “As long as they don’t get hurt, I will delight in their every endeavor to find their bliss.” Many say of sexual license, “As long as they are happy what does it matter what the Bible (God) says about it?”

The reason Calvin is classic and is still selling tens of thousands of books and whose expositions of the Gospel still inspire men and women in our generation is because his thoughts accord with the truth of God which he declares without compromise.