
This cartoon of those the theologian Calvin and the Puritan philosopher Hobbes by Nana Matusumoto challenges us on the usual perception of these two men as remarkably dyspeptic men. They are seen as dried up, judgmental, and without any humour. If you read the Life of Calvin, he was accused by his enemies of being corrupt, and loving men far too much.
What both of these men did was explore the nature of our wrongdoing, without fear. Calvin took the ideas of Thomas Aquinas and (before that) Augustine — and pushed them to the edge. As David wrote.
Psalm 51
1Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
2Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment.
5 Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me.
The reformers were forced to confront the fact that they could not get people to live righteously by teaching alone. In fact, they had to deal with the errors in their own teaching — Luther wrote some very intemperate comments about people who revolt against unjust rulers — and in their own behaviour. The reformers were not able to sit in a university chair on in the back room of a monastery and think. They were writing as they ministered in parishes. Their pastoral care informed their thinking. But they were… blunt. This is the short version of how the Heidelberg Catechism manages this issue
Question 1. What is thy only comfort in life and death?
Answer: That I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ; who, with his precious blood, has fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me that without the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation, and therefore, by his Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life, and makes me sincerely willing and ready, henceforth, to live unto him.
Question 2. How many things are necessary for thee to know, that thou, enjoying this comfort, mayest live and die happily?
Answer: Three; the first, how great my sins and miseries are; the second, how I may be delivered from all my sins and miseries; the third, how I shall express my gratitude to God for such deliverance.
Question 3. Whence knowest thou thy misery?
Answer: Out of the law of God.
Question 4. What does the law of God require of us?
Answer: Christ teaches us that briefly, Matt. 22:37-40, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. This is the first and the great commandment; and the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
Question 5. Canst thou keep all these things perfectly?
Answer: In no wise; for I am prone by nature to hate God and my neighbour.
If we do not see ourselves as perfect, but instead see that we by nature will hate and despise others, we have an explanation for the distress, misery and guilt we have when we do wrong. We are not saying here that it is OK to hate our neighbour and God — we are acknowledging that we do this.
And here lies one of the paradoxes. Because I am aware of my own wrongdoing and need for forgiveness I am more tolerant of my neighbour’s weaknesses. I am aware that I probably irritate him more than he irritates me. Again, this does not mean we should not confront evil. But we can separate confronting evil from the person, and be compassionate to the person.
And this allowed the Puritans to not only be seeking righteousness, but to be jolly. Not acknowledging this leads to the a judgmental, hypocritical condemnation of the joys in this life..