you will doubt me but you should trust me

you will doubt me but you should trust me

I expect a skeptical reaction when I recommend John Calvin’s commentaries.

‘Sure, you probably like them because you have been to Seminary and everything, but I wouldn’t really get into them’ is the usual response.

But I wish I had kept track of the number of people through the years (Sunday School teachers, youth leaders, deacons, elders, women’s Bible study leaders…) who have come back to me with glowing reviews about how helpful Calvin ended up being.

You can usually bet that Calvin is more helpful and readable than the nearest Calvinist.

So here is bit from his commentary on Hebrews 2 that I read recently. I hope it sends you to the source.

Hebrews 2:1-3

Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him.

Note in this first section how he illustrates the grammatical contrast in the passage by means of a sturdy mug vs. a spaghetti strainer.

Lest at any time we should let them slip, or, “lest we should at any time flow abroad,” in reality there is not much difference. The true sense is to be gathered from the contrast; for to give heed, or to attend and to let slip, are opposites; the first means to hold a thing, and the other to let off like a sieve, or a perforated vessel, whatever may be poured into it.

We ought, as I have said, to regard the contrast between attention and flowing out; an attentive mind is like a vessel capable of holding water; but that which is roving and indolent is like a vessel with holes.

This second section powerfully motivates toward gratitude by exalting the gospel from God’s perspective.

If we neglect so great a salvation, etc. Not only the rejection of the Gospel, but also its neglect, deserves the heaviest punishment, and that on account of the greatness of the grace which it offers; hence he says, so great a salvation. God would indeed leave his gifts valued by us according to their worth. Then the more precious they are, the baser is our ingratitude when we do not value them. In a word, in proportion to the greatness of Christ will be the severity of God’s vengeance on all the despisers of his Gospel.