Friday, February 4, 2011

The cause and the source of all good things

Calvin declares God as the source of all goodness, that is, light, wisdom, power, rectitude, and truth. As the source of these things, and every good thing, God is not only the primary and foundational cause of these things, but he is also the very essence of those things. God is not just the source of truth, though He is that. But he is also truth; things are true as far as they correspond to Him. He is the original cause of wisdom, but He is not just that. He is wisdom; things are wise only so far as they correspond with Him. He is both the mover and disseminater of these things, and He is the very standard of these things, and He is these things.

... we must be persuaded not only that as he once formed the world, so he sustains it by his boundless power, governs it by his wisdom, preserves it by his goodness, in particular, rules the human race with justice and Judgment, bears with them in mercy, shields them by his protection; but also that not a particle of light, or wisdom, or justice, or power, or rectitude, or genuine truth, will anywhere be found, which does not flow from him, and of which he is not the cause ... (Institutes 1.2.1)

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