Chuck Colson in his BreakPoint commentary yesterday highlighted the The Institutes of Christian Religion by John Calvin which is an incredibly important read for serious students of theology. Colson shared a passage on piety and remarked that Calvin’s definition of piety and our own would differ. Calvin wrote:
I call piety that reverence joined with love of God which the knowledge of His benefits induces. For until men recognize that they owe everything to God, that they are nourished by His Fatherly care, that He is the author of their every good, that they should seek nothing beyond Him, they will never yield Him willing service.
To many piety = drudgery, but to Calvin it is a delight. True piety isn’t focused on our works, but on God’s grace and goodness. True piety is not rooted in duty, but in our love of God.
