Saturday 17 November 2018

2. Not style but content is decisive



How would Calvin react in our world today? He would be bombarded with advertisements for clothing, gadgets (and the like ) -  each of them allegedly demonstrating the style of the product.

So a question about the style of the scriptures is germane today, in the same way as it was in the sixteenth century with the increased availability of printed material due to the invention of the moveable type printing press.  For Calvin the “Holy Spirit did not lack eloquence ” Although for him,  the writings by David and book of Isaiah are “sweet and pleasing” whilst Amos, Jeremiah and Zechariah have “savors of rusticity”.  Calvin’s conclusion is that scripture is “crammed with thoughts that could not be humanly conceived”.  For you which part of scripture would fit that description?