Calvin on the Hope of Future Life

In a remarkable section in his Institutes devoted to “meditation on the future life” (3.9.1-6), John Calvin exhorts Christians to give up all undue attachments to the things of this world which pale in light of the next. This section has been described as Calvin’s stress upon the Christian life in part as a pilgrimage anchored in our meditation on the future life.[1]

At the same time, the struggles associated with life in a fallen world also must be considered in light of the unshakable hope given by God to struggling believers through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and his ascension to the Father’s right hand (Institutes 3.25.1-12). Calvin says “when, therefore, with our eyes fast fixed on Christ we wait upon heaven, and nothing on earth hinders them from bearing us to the promised blessedness, the statement is truly fulfilled `that where our treasure is, our heart is’ (Matt. 6:21).”[2] Calvin writes that believers are to await patiently the final restoration of all things at Christ’s return just as a sentry faithfully guards his post until recalled by his commander.[3] Calvin, who suffered from all sorts of painful physical maladies, describes this struggle as that of a life lived in exile far away from one’s beloved homeland.

Let the aim of believers in judging mortal life, then, be that while they understand it to be of itself nothing but misery, they may with greater eagerness and dispatch betake themselves wholly to meditate upon that eternal life to come. When it comes to a comparison with the life to come, the present life can not only be safely neglected but, compared to the former, must be utterly despised and loathed. For, if heaven is our homeland, what else is the earth but our place of exile?[4]

In his commentary on Paul’s first letter to Timothy (1 Tim. 6:14), Calvin adds, “the only remedy for all these difficulties is to look forward to Christ’s appearing and always to put our trust in it.”[5] Exiles endure their pilgrimage by keeping the joy of returning home ever before their eyes.

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[1] David Hall W. Hall and Peter Lillback, A Theological Guide to Calvin’s Institutes (Phillipsburg: P & R, 2008), 446, 457-459.

{2] Inst. 3.25.1.

[3] Inst., 3.9.4.

[4] Inst., 3.9.4.

[5] Calvin’s comment on 1 Timothy 6:14, in Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries, eds., David W. Torrance and Thomas F. Torrance (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1964), 10.279.