"A Soul Brought to Heaven", 1878, by William-Adlophe Bouguereau.
This post is part of my year long study of Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion. To facilitate this course of study, I am following along with Princeton Theological Seminary's "A Year with the Institutes", which also includes an audio reading of the text.
Calvin's Institutes of Religion: 1.15.2
In this section, Calvin continues his instruction on the created being, called man, and enjoins us to understand that man consists of two parts: body and soul.
Furthermore, Calvin wants us to understand that the body is temporal, yet the soul is immortal:
"Furthermore, that man consists of a soul and a body ought to be beyond
controversy. Now I understand by the term "soul" an immortal yet
created essence, which is his nobler part."
To be honest, I have never really given thought to the idea, until recently, that my soul, my created essence, is immortal. It pretty wild, if you force upon yourself to give that some meditation.
Calvin goes on to say that sometimes, the words soul, and spirit are interchanged:
"Sometimes it is called "spirit." For even when these terms are joined
together, they differ from one another in meaning; yet when the word
"spirit" is used by itself, it means the same thing as soul; as when
Solomon, speaking of death, says that then "the spirit returns to God
who gave it" [Eccl. 12:7]. And when Christ commended his spirit to the
Father [Luke 23:46] and Stephen his to Christ [Acts 7:59] they meant
only that when the soul is freed from the prison house of the body, God
is its perpetual guardian. Some imagine the soul to be called "spirit"
for the reason that it is breath, or a force divinely infused into
bodies, but that it nevertheless is without essence; both the thing
itself and all Scripture show them to be stupidly blundering in this
opinion."
He continues that this unique soul, which is apart from the animals, is evident by our ability to even consider God, a judgment, or even an after-life:
"It is of course true that while men are tied to earth more than they
should be they grow dull; indeed, because they have been estranged from
the Father of Lights [James 1:17], they become blinded by darkness, so
that they do not think they will survive death; yet in the meantime the
light has not been so extinguished in the darkness that they remain
untouched by a sense of their own immortality. Surely the conscience,
which, discerning between good and evil, responds to God's judgment, is
an undoubted sign of the immortal spirit. For how could a motion
without essence penetrate to God's judgment seat, and inflict itself
with dread at its own guilt? For the body is not affected by the fear
of spiritual punishment, which falls upon the soul only; from this it
follows that the soul is endowed with essence. Now the very knowledge
of God sufficiently proves that souls, which transcend the world, are
immortal, for no transient energy could penetrate to the fountain of
life." I guess I have not personally been involved in a conversation with a person who does not believe that they posses a soul. I suppose there are a great many, who have never really given it much thought, beyond acknowledging that they have one.
I also now wonder what the atheists believe in this respect. If one believes that we crawled out of primordial soup, and evolved into what we are today, do they believe also that there exists an eternal soul? If so, would not this eternal soul conflict with their belief that we are merely evolved animals? Also, how could anyone possibly deny that a spirit, and/or soul exists in each of us?
Here is Calvin again:
"In short, the many pre-eminent gifts with which the human mind is
endowed proclaim that something divine has been engraved upon it; all
these are testimonies of an immortal essence. For the sense perception
inhering in brute animals does not go beyond the body, or at least
extends no farther than to material things presented to it. But the
nimbleness of the human mind in searching out heaven and earth and the
secrets of nature, and when all ages have been compassed by its
understanding and memory, in arranging each thing in its proper order,
and in inferring future events from past, clearly shows that there lies
hidden in man something separate from the body. With our intelligence
we conceive the invisible God and the angels, something the body can by
no means do. We grasp things that are right, just, and honorable, which
are hidden to the bodily senses. Therefore the spirit must be the seat
of this intelligence."
Furthermore, Calvin believing that the Scriptures are God's breathing, living words, he pulls a great deal of source texts from them to back up his claim:
"Now, unless the soul were something essential, separate from the body,
Scripture would not teach that we dwell in houses of clay [Job 4:19]
and at death leave the tabernacle of the flesh, putting off what is
corruptible so that at the Last Day we may finally receive our reward,
according as each of us has done in the body. For surely these passages
and similar ones that occur repeatedly not only clearly distinguish the
soul from the body, but by transferring to it the name "man" indicate
it to be the principal part. Now when Paul urges believers to cleanse
themselves of every defilement of flesh and spirit [II Cor. 7:1], he
points out the two parts in which the filth of sin resides. Peter,
also, calling Christ "shepherd and bishop of .. . souls" [I Peter
2:25], would have spoken wrongly if there had not been souls on whose
behalf he might fulfill this office. If souls did not have their own
proper essence, there would be no point in Peter's statement about the
eternal "salvation of .. .souls" [I Peter 1:9], or in his injunction to
purify our souls and ascertain that "wicked lusts . . . war against the
soul" [I Peter 2:11 p.]. The same applies to the statement of the
author of Hebrews, that the pastors "stand watch .. .to render account
for our souls" [Heb. 13:17 p.]. The fact that Paul, upon his soul,
calls God to witness [II Cor. 1:23, Vg.] points to the same conclusion,
because it would not become guilty before God unless it were liable for
punishment. This is expressed even more clearly in Christ's words, when
he bids us be afraid of him who, after he has killed the body, can send
the soul into the Gehenna of fire [Matt. 10:28; Luke 12:5]. Now when
the author of The Letter to the Hebrews distinguishes the fathers of
our flesh from God, who is the one "Father of spirits" [Heb. 12:9], he
could not assert more clearly the essence of souls. Besides, unless
souls survive when freed from the prison houses of their bodies, it
would be absurd for Christ to induce the soul of Lazarus as enjoying
bliss in Abraham's bosom, and again, the soul of the rich man sentenced
to terrible torments [Luke 16:22-23]. Paul confirms this same thing,
teaching us that we journey away from God so long as we dwell in the
flesh, but that we enjoy his presence outside the flesh [II Cor. 5:6,
8]. Lest I go any farther in a topic of no great difficulty, I shall
add only this word from Luke, that among the errors of the Sadducees it
is mentioned that they did not believe in spirits and angels [Acts
23:8]."
I am thankful to Calvin for a proper understanding. I suppose my thought has been that I, at the death of the body, would then receive my immortal body and soul. But Calvin proves his point quite clearly, that I now posses immortality, in the essence of my soul, and at a later date, my eternal soul will be linked with an immortal body, at the resurrection of Christ.
Furthermore, the Scriptures teach that if I die, prior to the resurrection, my spirit/soul will ascend to be with Christ, and I get my new duds later!
Here too is another reason for the abortionist to give great pause to what they do. They foolishly presume that because the soul resides in the womb, that it is not life. They foolishly presume that the presence of a physical body, outside of the womb is where life begins.
I am fairly certain that the typical abortionist has no more thought this through, than the man in the moon. Abortion is legal simply because it is convenient, and washes away the responsibility of man's actions.
I wold love to hear some of your thoughts on your immortal soul. Were you taught to believe that at conception, you become an immortal?
