The Fifth Sermon on the First Chapter - John Calvin

Ephesians 1:13-14 (KJV)

You also trust in Christ upon the hearing of the word of truth, that is to say, of the glad tidings of your salvation, by believing in which you are also sealed with the Holy Spirit of the promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, unto the redeeming of the purchased possession, to the praise of his glory.

The Ground of Our Salvation

We have seen so far how St. Paul has declared that there is no other ground of our salvation than God’s free goodness, and that we must not look anywhere else for the reason why he chooses one person and forsakes another. For it becomes us to hold ourselves content with his pure will, purpose, and unchangeable decree. Whoever goes any further must inevitably stumble into an abyss through their own rashness, and feel that such as cannot honor God’s majesty and his secret counsel with all lowliness and reverence must remain in confusion. Therefore, whenever we come to search for the cause of our salvation, let us learn to attribute it entirely to God.

It is true that to be God’s children and heirs, we must be of the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is brought about by faith, but we cannot believe the gospel except God draw us by His Holy Spirit. Now we see that He does not deal alike with all men. For He could very well enlighten all the world and bring it to pass that there should be no unbelievers at all, but we see the contrary. Therefore, let us assure ourselves that He chooses whom He pleases. For if a man were to ask the reason why He does it, it would be to lift ourselves up far too high; and that is the very reason why so many presumptuous people break their own necks, for they cannot find in their hearts to grant that God governs men according to His own will, as He has a perfect right to do. Furthermore, St. Paul has also set the Jews and Gentiles on equal footing, which is a matter that requires further treatment. For seeing that God had chosen Abraham’s offspring, it might have been thought that there was some natural worthiness in them. It is true that if we consider the grace that God showed to the Jews, they are much to be preferred above all the rest of the world. But if a man takes them as they are in themselves, he shall find them empty of all righteousness. For we must always come back to this point—that God is not bound or obliged to any man, and His reception of the Jews by free adoption is not because they were more worthy than other men, or in order that they might boast in themselves on account of it. Therefore, you see why St. Paul says expressly that those who believed in Jesus Christ in times past are comprehended under God’s election as well as the others, and that the others cannot boast themselves to be more worthy, or have deserved more than they, but that all must come to this point: both the Jews and Gentiles, God chose whom He pleased, so that nothing should be considered in relation to this but only His mercy, and so that all mouths might be stopped and no man be able to allege that he contributed anything of his own.

The Equality of the Jews and Gentiles Before God

Now, when St. Paul enters into this comparison between the Jews and the Gentiles, he says that if a man has regard to God’s accepting the Jews for His own heritage, they were a holy lineage, and He had given them His law and His promises, by means of which they were in a more excellent and high degree than all the rest whom He had rejected and forsaken. But if we have regard to God, all man’s boasting must be put down. But St. Paul here speaks only of the forgiveness of our sins and of our embracing of God’s grace by faith, which things he shows cannot be attributed to any other cause than simply God’s pitying us. Also, we have seen before in the Epistle to the Galatians how St. Paul said to Peter, “we are Jews by nature [Gal. 2:15]. For since it was a common opinion that the Jews were a holy lineage because they were descended from Abraham’s race, very well (he says), be that as it may, we have no other refuge or assurance of salvation but to believe in Jesus Christ, for he knew that men are utterly ruined and lost in themselves because they bring nothing with them but God’s wrath and curse. Therefore, just as in those passages, St. Paul has shown that men deceive themselves if they imagine they have any merit or worthiness in them. So now, for the better confirmation of the same doctrine and to take away all disputing and to beat back all contradictions, he brings us to this source, namely, that God not only gives faith to whom He pleases, but also has elected and chosen us before the creation of the world. You see, then, that what we have to observe is that all men, from the greatest to the least, are indebted to God, and there is none so holy or excellent that can claim exemption from that general state of men.

God’s Grace to the Ephesians

Now, in the next place, St. Paul magnifies God’s goodness in that the Ephesians were gathered together and made one with those that were held and counted before as God’s people and the household of His church. Before the Ephesians believed the gospel, there was great diversity among them, as will be shown at greater length in the second chapter. But, in spite of the fact that the believing Jews who had already been converted to our Lord Jesus Christ were as brethren to the angels of heaven, since they were members of the Head that was common to them both, whereas, in the meanwhile, the Ephesians were poor wretches, shut out from all hope of salvation, enemies of God, and devoted to destruction, God nevertheless took away that diversity and set them all in one company. God’s goodness, therefore, was so much the more manifest in that He thus rescued them who were plunged into the bottom of hell, to join them with His own children and to make them fellows and heirs of His heavenly kingdom. That, therefore, is the reason why St. Paul, having spoken of those who had believed in Jesus Christ before, tells us expressly that God has gathered and established His church in such a way that it clearly appears that the greatest depend wholly upon Him and have no other thing to rest on than His pure mercy; and that those who were, so to speak, cast away, even hated, have reason to glorify Him, seeing He has delivered them from the confusion they were in.

The Secret of Election Revealed Through Grace

Furthermore, St. Paul shows that what he had said before is proved true to us by the effects of God’s grace. For (as I have said before) our election is a secret thing and even incomprehensible. When men have inquired into it as much as possible, they must surely quail in all their own thoughts if they attempt to enter into the eternal counsel of God. Therefore, it is not lawful for us to seek any further than the Scripture guides us and shows us the way. You see then that God’s choosing of us is hidden in Himself, but yet He gives us evidence of it by the gifts of grace bestowed upon us, such as faith, which is the gift of the Holy Spirit. So much for one point.

Now, although it were only such a gift as when He makes His sun to shine both upon the good and the bad, or as when He causes the earth to bring forth fruit for all men without exception, it nevertheless ought also to be counted among God’s gifts and benefits. But faith is a special gift which is not bestowed upon all men in common, but is reserved by God as a treasure to be given just as He pleases. And what is the reason for it? We are all of us the children of Adam, and we are all of the same stock. Why then does He enlighten some and leave the others alone in their blindness? There is no other reason but His election. So then, although we cannot conceive either by argument or reason how God has elected us before the creation of the world, yet we know it by His declaring it to us; and experience itself vouches for it sufficiently when we are enlightened in the faith. What is the reason why I receive the gospel and cleave to it, and meanwhile, others remain in their beast-like stupidity, or are even embittered against the doctrine of salvation? If I imagine that it is due to my own skill, I am guilty of sacrilege. For we must always come back to that which we have seen already and say, “Who is he that has made you more excellent than others?” [1 Cor. 4:7]

The Seal of the Holy Spirit

St. Paul, then, in that saying pulls down all man’s pride, in order that no man should put himself forward or affirm that he has anything of his own. We must not think (he says) that we have any worthiness of ourselves, but that all comes and proceeds from God. Therefore, in this text, St. Paul shows from experience how the Ephesians had been elected by God and that it behooved them to have their whole faith grounded upon that—that is to say, upon God’s free goodness. And you have the proof of it (he says) in that you have heard the doctrine of the gospel and believed it. But how did that come to pass? He shows that they had to be sealed by the Holy Spirit. Now, if they were sealed, it was indeed necessary for the Holy Spirit to work beforehand. And so it is useless to enter into so deep a labyrinth as God’s eternal counsel. For He shows us, as it were with His finger, how He has elected us, at least if we are not ungrateful to Him, but acknowledge the good He has done us and are fully persuaded and resolved in ourselves that there is no other reason for it than that He has set His seal upon us from all eternity; in other words, that He has reserved us for Himself as His own children. We see, then, St. Paul’s meaning, and therefore let us learn not to make long preambles when it is a question simply of confessing that we have all only through the pure mercy of God. For the faith that we have shows it well enough, because (as I have said before) it does not come from our own wit, but as a gift from above, and such a one as God communicates not to all indifferently, but only to such as He pleases.

The Role of the Holy Spirit in Our Salvation

Furthermore, here are many words well worth weighing. For, on the one hand, St. Paul intends to magnify the grace of the Holy Spirit by showing that we can have no part or lot in our Lord Jesus Christ, or in any of the benefits He has purchased for us, except God put us in possession of our salvation by His Holy Spirit. That, therefore, is one point. And yet, St. Paul does not fail to show as well the inestimable benefit that we have by the gospel in that he terms it “the word of truth” and “the gospel of salvation.” For, first of all, he meant to assure us, in order that we might have an infallible warrant to call upon God without doubting or scruple of conscience. For so long as we are in doubt whether God loves or hates us, it is impossible for us to pray truly to Him, and so by that means, you see how our salvation is utterly defeated, according to what is said by the prophet Joel [Joel 2:32]. And it is a common doctrine in the holy Scripture that we cannot obtain salvation except by seeking refuge in God through prayers and supplications. But we should be shut out from that if we did not have the assurance spoken of, as we shall see more fully in the third chapter.

Therefore, it is necessary for us to be fully assured that God is our Father, and that He accepts us as His children. And how shall we be sure of that unless the doctrine of the gospel is so certain in all points that it is not lawful for us to call it into question? That, therefore, is the reason why St. Paul says that it is the word of truth. No doubt, there are other truths also, for even when God threatens us, He does not do it in pretense, or in vain, for both His promises and His threatenings have their sure and certain fulfillment. But, since the present case concerns the correcting of all unbelief in us, to which we are so much inclined, St. Paul has termed the gospel the doctrine of truth; as if he should say, “My friends, God is a faithful witness to you of His own will, for the gospel is as much as if He showed His heart to you.” Therefore, rest yourselves upon it.

Conclusion

Therefore, in accordance with St. Paul’s exhortation, let us learn to rest in such a way upon the doctrine of the gospel, that it may be as if God showed Himself visibly to us, and that the heavens were opened to us. Let us always bear in mind how it is pronounced by the mouth of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself that, whenever sins are forgiven men by the preaching of the gospel, the same is there and then ratified in heaven [Matt. 16:19; Jn. 20:23]. Thus, you see what certainty we ought to have, so that we are no more doubtful whether God will hear us or not. But just as the gospel teaches us to believe, so also St. Paul shows us that we ought to prize it as an incomparable treasure, since it is the power of God unto salvation to all that believe, as he says in the first chapter to the Romans [Rom. 1:16]. Seeing then that we are lost and undone of ourselves, and there is no other means to call us back again to God but by the gospel, let us greatly value that treasure and see to it that we profit by it. And in so doing, let us fearlessly despise both the devil himself and all his temptations which he practices against us, seeing that God has called us and given us sufficient evidence of His fatherly love and good will towards us.

Prayer of Humility

Now let us cast ourselves down before the majesty of our good God with acknowledgment of our faults, praying Him to make us feel them more and more, even so far as to bring us to utter revulsion from the rottenness that is in us, so that we, finding that there is nothing in us but a bottomless pit of all kinds of iniquity, may learn to resort to His righteousness, and to seek it at the source, and to acknowledge that He has shown Himself a merciful Father towards us, not doubting that thereby He meant also to assure us that He had adopted us before the beginning of the world, in order that we should continue to call upon Him with true steadfastness and never cease so to do.

And so let us all say, Almighty God, heavenly Father.

John Calvin