Distinguishing God’s Will and His Precepts: A Brief Study of Calvin’s Biblical-theological Teaching

D. Scott Meadows  John Calvin wrote that “God’s will is . . . the cause of all things, [which makes] his providence the determinative principle for all human plans and works, not only in order to display its force in the elect, who are ruled by the Holy Spirit, but also to compel the reprobate [i.e., the non-elect] to obedience” (Institutes I, xviii, 2, “How does God’s impulse come to pass in men?”).1 To refute his opponents, Calvin wrote, “It is easy to dispose of their first objection, that if

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