Journal: Westminster Theological Journal
Volume: WTJ 55:2 (Fall 1993)
Article: Stoic Elements in Calvin’s Doctrine of the Christian Life Part II. Mortification
Author: Peter J. Leithart

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WTJ 55:2 (Fall 1993) p. 191

Stoic Elements in Calvin’s Doctrine of the Christian Life
Part II. Mortification

Peter J. Leithart

In the first installment of this series of articles, I examined Calvin’s teaching concerning fallen man’s capacity to know God and the natural law, the order of the soul, and the relationship between sin and the passions, and found evidence that Calvin was to some extent influenced by the Stoic teaching on these subjects. In this article, I turn to an examination of Calvin’s doctrine of mortification per se, again with the goal of determining whether or how Stoicism shaped his teaching.

IV. Mortification

The Christian life is a life of continual repentance. To repent is to turn to God from a fear of his judgment, and to live a life of mortification of the flesh and vivification in the Spirit.1 Both of these elements of repentance are achieved only by faith, which the Spirit creates in us in order to unite us to Christ, “for if we truly partake in his death, ‘our old man is crucified by his power, and the body of sin perishes’ [Rom. 6:6], that the corruption of original nature may no longer thrive. If we share in his resurrection, through it we are raised up into newness of life to correspond with the righteousness of God.”2 The goal of the life-long process of repentance is restoration to the image of God.3

The restoration of the image of God is rooted in the redemption accomplished by Christ in his death and resurrection. On the cross, Jesus defeated Satan, sin, and death. As a result, “there has been an astonishing change of things, the condemnation of all men has

WTJ 55:2 (Fall 1993) p. 192

been manifested, sin has been blotted out, salvation has been restored to men; and, in short, the whole world has been renewed, and everything restored to good order.”4 Calvin, thus, taught that the work of Christ has cosmic effects. As Richard has noted, “At the very core of Calvin’s eschatology [and, indeed, of his entire theology] was the belief that the coming of God’s Kingdom transforms the created world.”5 Believers are saved insofar as they participate in the kingdom of the crucified and resurrected Christ. Moreover, the Christian is not only a renewed creature, but an agent of renewal. Thus, at bottom, Calvin’s emphasis was on “cosmic redemption,” an emphasis fundamentally opposed to the Stoic idea of “cosmic resignation.”6<...

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