Friday, March 20, 2009

dead and deadly letter?!?

For certain giddy men have lately appeared, who, while they make a great display of the superiority of the Spirit, reject all reading of the Scriptures themselves, and deride the simplicity of those who only delight in what they call the dead and deadly letter. But I wish they would tell me what spirit it is whose inspiration raises them to such a sublime height that they dare despise the doctrine of Scripture as mean and childish. ~ John Calvin, Institutes, Book 1, Chapt 9, Sec. 1

2 comments:

ScottH said...

I recall someone quoting Luther. In Martin's day he called these people "enthusiasts." Luther said, "these people think they've swallowed the Holy Ghost feathers and all!" I think Bob Liichow quoted Luther,not sure. Sounds like Calvin ran into these people as well. Nothing new under the sun huh?

Anonymous said...

...oh those people! The ones that are more deistic than Christian. I really wonder what "spirit" they are speaking from, because it's certainly not from sound doctrine.