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July 23, 2008

Cyprian Echoed in Calvin Regarding the Church

I recently wrote a post entitled, The Local Church: A Necessity, not an Option. In it I said that John Calvin often echoed the quote of Cyprian, "You cannot have God as your Father if you do not have the church as your mother." A good friend sent one of these occasions in which Calvin employed this great quote. Here it is:

Shut up as we are in the prison house of our flesh, we have not yet attained angelic rank. God, therefore, in his wonderful providence accommodating himself to our capacity, has prescribed a way for us, though still far off, to draw near to him. (And that way is the) church, into whose bosom God is pleased to gather his sons, not only that they may be nourished by her help and ministry as long as they are infants and children, but also that they may be guided by her motherly care until they mature and at last reach the goal of faith. "For what God has joined together, it is not lawful to put asunder,"  so that, for those to whom He is Father the church may also be Mother. (Institutes, IV.1.1, "The Necessity of the Church.")

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