Giants of the Reformation (8)

“Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name. And with this the words of the prophets agree…” Acts 15.14, 15

Institutes of the Christian Religion
John Calvin (1509-1564)
“…whenever a decree of any council is brought forward, I should like men first of all diligently to ponder at what time it was held, on what issue, and with what intention, what sort of men were present; then to examine by the standard of Scripture that it dealt with – and to do this in such a way that the definition of the council may have its weight and be like a provisional judgment, yet not hinder the examination which I have mentioned.”

Calvin believed everything should be evaluated by the Word of God, even the decisions made by church bodies or ministry teams within churches. Unless our doctrines, definitions, decisions, and determinations can be shown to be in line with Scripture, and for the furthering of Christ’s Kingdom, we have no grounds to suppose that the Lord’s blessing will abide with or bless what we intend. This comes down to our daily actions and all the work of ministry we do as well, our walk with and work for the Lord. To have a good conscience before the Lord, we must review and assess all we do, to determine whether we have departed from the will of God in any way (Ps. 139.23, 24). And then we must make haste to bring everything in our lives back into line with the plain teaching of God’s Word (Ps. 119.59, 60).

Do you have a system for reviewing the use of your time and your activities in ministry that fulfills this requirement?

T. M. Moore

Prayer for Revival
We invite you to join us in October as men gather online from around the country to pray for revival. Using a psalm to guide us, we seek the Lord to bring increased spiritual vitality to our lives and churches, and to awaken the lost world to the Good News of Christ and His Kingdom. To learn more about praying for revival – why, how, and to what ends – write to me. I’ll send you a free copy of my book, Restore Us! Our Revival Prayer Groups meet online, so all you have to do is click in at the appointed time. If you’d like to participate in this monthly prayer effort, drop me a line at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. I’ll send you the details.

The Fellowship of Ailbe is supported through the generous and faithful gifts of those who benefit from and believe in our work. Does the Lord want to use you in this way? Please look to Him in prayer over this question. You can contribute to The Fellowship of Ailbe by using the Contribute button at our website, or by sending your gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, 19 Tyler Drive, Essex Junction, VT 05452. Thank you.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.All quotations from John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, John T. McNeill, ed., Ford Lewis Battles, tr. (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1960), Vol. 2, Book IV, pp. 1012ff.