Of course John Calvin is in the presence of the Lord and isn’t interested in our attention today but that doesn’t matter, we can celebrate for him! Today we celebrate the 500th birthday of John Calvin because he was one of the preeminent theologians of his day and he has greatly impacted the church and the world with his teaching. His teaching has withstood the test of time and is still accepted by many in the church today.
In my life, Calvin has made a huge impact. Calvinism has been a welcome help in enabling me to understand the Scriptures. I came to it by “accident” (as a Calvinist, you realize that nothing is by accident :-). My husband had been listening to R.C. Sproul on the radio (Sproul reminded him of Alan Watts) and while at the bookstore, I found one of his many books, “Chosen by God.” My husband read it and then shared with me what he got out it. When he told me that we are chosen by God and not the other way around, it opened my eyes to what the Scriptures had been saying and I couldn’t understand because of the theology of the guys I was listening to on the radio (Charles Stanley and Chuck Swindoll).

I had just finished struggling through Romans and was reading John and I now had a much better understanding of what I was reading. John 6 made so much more sense when read in the light of Calvinism:

John 6:37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” 41 So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” 43 Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me– 46 not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” 52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59 Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum. 60 When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” 61 But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? 62 Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) 65 And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” 66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 67 So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” 70 Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the Twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.” 71 He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the Twelve, was going to betray him.

As I read this I realized that Jesus was saying that God the Father draws us and Jesus promises to raise us on the last day (judgment day). The Father alone grants who can come to Jesus. This becomes very clear once you understand that God chooses us, we don’t choose him.
This teaching opened up my eyes and gave me a much better appreciation of the gift that God had given me. It was all of grace from start to finish. I was on the road to destruction and God picked me up and opened my eyes and gave me an understanding of him that lead to faith. I’m so thankful for that understanding since it led to a new life in Christ. One I’m deeply thankful for and will be eternally grateful.
I’m also thankful for all the theologians who have followed in the footsteps of Calvin and of Calvin himself for giving me a much better understanding of the God of the Bible. Here’s one of my favorite passages from the Institutes:

Nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves. But, while joined by many bonds, which one precedes and brings forth the other is not easy to discern. In the first place, no one can look upon himself without immediately turning his thoughts to the contemplation of God, in who he “lives and moves” (Acts 17:28). For quite clearly, the mighty gifts with which we are endowed are hardly from ourselves; indeed, our very being is nothing but subsistence in the one God. Then, by these benefits shed like dew from heaven upon us, we are led as by rivulets to the spring itself. Indeed, our very poverty better discloses the infinitude of benefits reposing in God. The miserable ruin, into which the rebellion of the first man cast us, especially compels us to look upward. Thus, not only will we, in fasting and hungering, seek thence what we lack; but in being aroused by fear, we shall learn humility. For as a veritable world of miseries is to be found in mankind, and we are thereby despoiled of divine raiment, our shameful nakedness exposes a teeming horde of infamies. Each of us must, then, be so stung by the consciousness of his own unhappiness as to attain at least some knowledge of God. Thus, from the feeling of our own ignorance, vanity, poverty, infirmity, and–what is more–depravity and corruption, we recognize that the true light of wisdom, sound virtue, full abundance of every good, and purity of righteousness rest in the Lord alone. To this extent we are prompted by our own ills to contemplate the good things of God, and we cannot seriously aspire to him before we begin to become displeased with ourselves. For what man in all the world would not gladly remain as he is–what man does not remain as he is–so long as he does not know himself, that is while content with his own gifts and either ignorant or unmindful of his own misery? Accordingly, the knowledge of ourselves, not only arouses us to seek God, but also, as it were, leads us by the hand to find him.

Celebrating around the blogosphere:
Jim West is posting 24 Calvin posts in 24 hours. Here’s number one, you’re on your own for the rest.
The misunderstood Calvin, here, here and here.
Something from the Calvin500 website. And their links from around the blogosphere.
On Twitter, those celebrating (or those who are not) are using the #Calvin500 hashtag.
And here’s an anti-celebration, a very unoriginal thought, I’ve read it in the comments enough times on this blog. You knew someone had to say it, never mind that the context really is important. Stand in judgment, babe. That’s what Christians are known for, isn’t it? Forget that each of us reflects the spirit of the age. I agree with this comment. (BTW, I get that people are going to think that I’m for killing heretics, it’s silly but they will. Just to set the record straight: I’m not for killing heretics)