March 28, 2020
Warren Wiersbe -IMHO America’s greatest Bible teacher-went to heaven almost a year ago, two weeks shy of his 90th birthday.
One of his most valuable dictums was:
“Do not forsake the books of the ages for the books of the hour.”
We are reading books now which will not be read 50 years from now.
If they will not be read after our generation we should ask ourselves, “Should we be reading them now?”
The obvious risk in this line of thinking is that we don’t KNOW which books will become classics.
Too strict adherence to the principle may cause us to discard a volume which will prove to have lasting value over time. And even an ephemeral effort may contain a message we need NOW.
Plus, even Pilgrim’s Progress was contemporary during Bunyan’s lifetime.
It should surprise no one that CS Lewis points the way on the question.
He would heartily agree with Warren Wiersbe, and it’s just possible Dr. Wiersbe got the idea from CSL.
Lewis said, “If you must read new books try to read two old books for every one new book.”
I think that’s a plan worthy of adoption.
Which brings me to my suggestion.
Have you ever read Calvin’s ‘Institutes of the Christian Religion?’
Mentioning Calvin’s name will not win me many fans (unless they actually follow through on the recommendation). He’s universally condemned in secular circles and too often abominated even among Evangelicals.
35 years ago I was favored by a correspondence and later an in-home visit with Professor CEB Cranfield of Durham University, one of the greatest New Testament scholars in the world. He wrote a two-volume commentary on Romans which simply stunned me with its perfections.
Professor Cranfield was not quite an Evangelical (he frankly disdained the label) but he wrote much of value to Evangelicals. Sadly he was besotted with Karl Barth (1886-1968) in whose classroom he studied in the Switzerland of the Thirties.
Longing to hear some critical disagreement with Barth I asked Professor Cranfield what he thought were the problems with Barth.
His response?
“The problem is that nobody reads him.”
Well that put me in my place because I only knew Barth from secondary sources.
Though I still think Barth’s writings brought a withering influence we could well do without, Professor Cranfield made his point.
Just so, I think most people who shrink at the name “Calvin” know the great Reformer only through his critics in secondary sources.
The Institutes are not the easiest read, but they are understandable for the average reader who focuses and makes a serious attempt.
On every page you will find profundity, intensity and variety sustained at an astounding consistency for over 1500 pages.
There is also POWER, power almost never found in a non-canonical volume.
Take it in small doses and underline liberally.
Calvin was the Shakespeare of theology.
But it would be more accurate to say that Shakespeare was the Calvin of literature.
Calvin came first.
As a matter of fact, Shakespeare was born the year (1564) Calvin died.
Whether you are almost persuaded to become a Calvinist or not you will find a rich vein of devotional treasure in the Institutes.
I hope you begin soon.
It’ll do you more good than John Grisham (though he is a Christian from my neighborhood).
An excerpt:
“Read Demosthenes or Cicero.
Read Plato, Aristotle, or any others of that class.
I grant that you will be attracted, delighted, moved and enraptured by them in a surprising manner.
But if, after reading them, you turn to the perusal of the Sacred Volume, whether you are willing or unwilling, it will affect you so powerfully, it will so penetrate your heart and impress itself so strongly on your mind that, compared with its energetic influence, the beauties of rhetoricians and philosophers almost entirely disappear .
It is easy to perceive something divine in the sacred Scriptures which far surpass the highest attainments and ornaments of human industry.”
Book 1 Chapter VIII
I think the Institutes were among the highest attainments and ornaments of human industry.
The book was an apologetic for the Protestant Reformation.
When we reflect upon the fact that Calvin wrote those thousand and half pages in his mid-20s (!) -theological genius and spiritual depth apart- we begin to realize that we have witnessed a literary miracle unprecedented in any other book.
It was a miracle wrought by God.
That’s all the more reason why we should avail ourselves of its benefits.
Selah