Without the Gospel...

John Calvin’s preface to Pierre-Robert Olivétan’s 1535 translation of the Bible. “To all those who love Christ and his gospel,” Calvin writes:

Without the gospel

---everything is useless and vain;


without the gospel

---we are not Christians;


without the gospel

---all riches is poverty,

---all wisdom, folly before God;

---strength is weakness, and

---all the justice of man is under the condemnation of God.


But by the knowledge of the gospel we are made

---children of God,

---brothers of Jesus Christ,

---fellow townsmen with the saints,

---citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven,

---heirs of God with Jesus Christ,


by whom

---the poor are made rich,

---the weak strong,

---the fools wise,

---the sinners justified,

---the desolate comforted,

---the doubting sure, and

---slaves free.


The gospel is the Word of life.

HT: Justin Taylor