John Calvin was a French theologian, clergyman, and reformer in Geneva.
Born in Noyon, France, on July 10, 1509, Jean Calvin was raised in a devout Catholic family, with his father working for the local bishop.
young Calvin studied in Paris and Orleans, where he engaged with reform-minded individuals and eventually embraced the Reformed faith.
After a brief law study, he began theological work, distancing himself from Catholicism.
Calvin spent years in Geneva, contributing significantly to the Reformation through preaching, writing and developing theological treatises.
He left an indelible mark on Christianity before passing away on May 27, 1564.
Below you will find the top quotes by John Calvin.
Best John Calvin Quotes
Human will does not by liberty obtain grace, but by grace obtains liberty. ~ John Calvin.
Peace is not to be purchased by the sacrifice of truth. ~ John Calvin.
If God were not to test us, there would be no patience. ~ John Calvin.
There is no knowing that does not begin with knowing God. ~ John Calvin.
I gave up all for Christ, and what have I found? Everything in Christ. ~ John Calvin.
Man’s nature, so to speak, is a perpetual factory of idols. ~ John Calvin.
The glory of God shines, indeed, in all creatures on high and below, but never more brightly than in the cross. ~ John Calvin.
There is nothing in afflictions which ought to disturb our joy. ~ John Calvin.
Our hearts are enfeebled by prosperity so that we cannot make an effort to pray. ~ John Calvin.
Faith does not proceed from ourselves, but is the fruit of spiritual regeneration. ~ John Calvin.
True faith is ever connected with hope. ~ John Calvin.
My heart I give you, Lord, eagerly and entirely. ~ John Calvin.
To make intercession for men is the most powerful and practical way in which we can express our love for them. ~ John Calvin.
Famous John Calvin Quotes
If we believe heaven to be our country, it is better for us to transmit our wealth thither, than to retain it here, where we may lose it by a sudden removal. ~ John Calvin.
It is a most blessed thing to be subject to the sovereignty of God. ~ John Calvin.
You cannot imagine a more certain rule or a more powerful suggestion than this, that all the blessings we enjoy are divine deposits which we have received on this condition that we distribute them to others. ~ John Calvin.
There can be no courage in men unless God supports them by his Word. ~ John Calvin.
Faith alone saves, but the faith that saves is not alone. ~ John Calvin.
Seeing that a Pilot steers the ship in which we sail, who will never allow us to perish even in the midst of shipwrecks, there is no reason why our minds should be overwhelmed with fear and overcome with weariness. ~ John Calvin.
Faith is like an empty, open hand stretched out towards God, with nothing to offer and everything to receive. ~ John Calvin.
Top John Calvin Quotes
When God wants to judge a nation, He gives them wicked rulers. ~ John Calvin.
Faith is not a distant view, but a warm embrace of Christ. ~ John Calvin.
Our assurance, our glory, and the sole anchor of our salvation are that Christ the Son of God is ours, and we in turn are in him sons of God and heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven, called to the hope of eternal blessedness by God’s grace, not by our worth. ~ John Calvin.
We are surrounded by God’s benefits. The best use of these benefits is an unceasing expression of gratitude. ~ John Calvin.
The Human heart is an idol factory. ~ John Calvin.
Christ is much more powerful to save, than Adam was to destroy. ~ John Calvin.
You must submit to supreme suffering in order to discover the completion of joy. ~ John Calvin.
Whatever a person may be like, we must still love them because we love God. ~ John Calvin.
Wherever we see the Word of God purely preached and heard, there a church of God exists, even if it swarms with many faults. ~ John Calvin.
Popular John Calvin Quotes
All the arts come from God and are to be respected as divine inventions. ~ John Calvin.
Only those who have learned well to be earnestly dissatisfied with themselves, and to be confounded with shame at their wretchedness truly understand the Christian gospel. ~ John Calvin.
We must make the invisible kingdom visible in our midst. ~ John Calvin.
For what is idolatry if not this: to worship the gifts in place of the Giver himself? ~ John Calvin.
Where riches hold the dominion of the heart, God has lost His authority. ~ John Calvin.
When I took the leap, I had faith I would find a net; Instead I learned I could fly. ~ John Calvin.
When pain and suffering strike, our faith is well founded if it is standing on the promises of God. For all of God’s promises have strong confirmation in Christ. ~ John Calvin.
The grace of God has no charms for men till the Holy Spirit gives them a taste for it. ~ John Calvin.
The surest source of destruction to men is to obey themselves. ~ John Calvin.
The church is the gathering of God’s children, where they can be helped and fed like babies and then guided by her motherly care, grow up to manhood in maturity of faith. ~ John Calvin.
We may rest assured that God would never have suffered any infants to be slain except those who were already damned and predestined for eternal death. ~ John Calvin.
Wise John Calvin Quotes
Without knowledge of self there is no knowledge of God. ~ John Calvin.
True wisdom consists in two things: Knowledge of God and Knowledge of Self. ~ John Calvin.
The Holy Spirit is the bond by which Christ efficaciously unites us to himself. ~ John Calvin.
When the Bible speaks, God speaks. ~ John Calvin.
We should ask God to increase our hope when it is small, awaken it when it is dormant, confirm it when it is wavering, strengthen it when it is weak, and raise it up when it is overthrown. ~ John Calvin.
Free will is an empty term. ~ John Calvin.
There is not one blade of grass, there is no color in this world that is not intended to make us rejoice. ~ John Calvin.
Joy is a quiet gladness of heart as one contemplates the goodness of God’s saving grace in Christ Jesus. ~ John Calvin.
The human heart has so many crannies where vanity hides, so many holes where falsehood works, is so decked out with deceiving hypocrisy, that it often dupes itself. ~ John Calvin.
All truth is God’s truth. ~ John Calvin.
The world was no doubt made, that it might be a theatre of the divine glory. ~ John Calvin.
The evil in our desires typically does not lie in what we want, but that we want it too much. ~ John Calvin.
Thought-Provoking John Calvin Quotes
How do we know that God has elected us before the creation of the world? By believing in Jesus Christ. ~ John Calvin.
The whole gospel is contained in Christ. ~ John Calvin.
We must resist wandering thoughts in prayer. Raising our hands reminds us that we need to raise up our minds to God, setting aside all irrelevant thoughts. ~ John Calvin.
The word “hope” I take for faith; and indeed hope is nothing else but the constancy of faith. ~ John Calvin.
Justification by faith is the hinge on which all true religion turns. ~ John Calvin.
There is no work, however vile or sordid, that does not glisten before God. ~ John Calvin.
Those who fall away have never been thoroughly imbued with the knowledge of Christ but only had a slight and passing taste of it. ~ John Calvin.
Humility is the beginning of true intelligence. ~ John Calvin.
Inspiring John Calvin Quotes
Joy and thanksgiving expressed in prayer and praise according to the Word of God are the heart of the Church’s worship. ~ John Calvin.
Man is never sufficiently touched and affected by the awareness of his lowly state until he has compared himself with God’s majesty. ~ John Calvin.
Lawful worship consists in obedience alone. ~ John Calvin.
A perfect faith is nowhere to be found, so it follows that all of us are partly unbelievers. ~ John Calvin.
Prayer doesn’t change things – God changes things in answer to prayer. ~ John Calvin.
Faith and patience are exceptional virtues in those that suffer. Patience is the fruit and evidence of faith. ~ John Calvin.
The Scriptures should be read with the aim of finding Christ in them. Whoever turns aside from this object, even though he wears himself out all his life in learning, he will never reach the knowledge of the truth. ~ John Calvin.
Scripture is like a pair of spectacles which dispels the darkness and gives us a clear view of God. ~ John Calvin.
If a preacher is not first preaching to himself, better that he falls on the steps of the pulpit and breaks his neck than preaches that sermon. ~ John Calvin.
Holiness is not a merit by which we can attain communion with God, but a gift of Christ, which enables us to cling to him, and to follow him. ~ John Calvin.
Profound John Calvin Quotes
There is no worse screen to block out the Spirit than confidence in our own intelligence. ~ John Calvin.
All the blessings we enjoy are Divine deposits, committed to our trust on this condition, that they should be dispensed for the benefit of our neighbors. ~ John Calvin.
This is what entertainment is all about- idiots, explosives and falling anvils. ~ John Calvin.
If we are proud of our talents we betray our lack of gratitude to God. ~ John Calvin.
The torture of a bad conscience is the hell of a living soul. ~ John Calvin.
The excellence of the Church does not consist in multitude but in purity. ~ John Calvin.
Christ is the most perfect image of God, into which we are so renewed as to bear the image of God, in knowledge, purity, righteousness, and true holiness. ~ John Calvin.
So these were the 82 top John Calvin quotes and sayings.
If you like these quotes and sayings, then you can also read my other posts on Marjory Stoneman Douglas quotes and Judith Butler quotes.
