institutes of the christian religion

so, i had mentioned that i was going to write about the study i am doing on the institutes of the Christian religion by John Calvin. I think that i will pick a small portion of the institutes and then comment on it. that should suffice to give a small peek into what a massive wealth of knowledge of Scripture Calvin possessed.

book one, chapter one, section two

Without Knowledge Of God There Is No Knowledge Of Self;

"On the other hand, it is evident that man never attains to a
true self-knowledge until he have previously contemplated the face
of God, and come down after such contemplation to look into himself.
For (such is our innate pride) we always seem to ourselves just, and
upright, and wise, and holy, until we are convinced, by clear
evidence, of our injustice, vileness, folly, and impurity.
Convinced, however, we are not, if we look to ourselves only, and
not to the Lord also - He being the only standard by the application
of which this conviction can be produced. For, since we are all
naturally prone to hypocrisy, any empty semblance of righteousness
is quite enough to satisfy us instead of righteousness itself. And
since nothing appears within us or around us that is not tainted
with very great impurity, so long as we keep our mind within the
confines of human pollution, anything which is in some small degree
less defiled delights us as if it were most pure just as an eye, to
which nothing but black had been previously presented, deems an
object of a whitish, or even of a brownish hue, to be perfectly
white. Nay, the bodily sense may furnish a still stronger
illustration of the extent to which we are deluded in estimating the
powers of the mind. If, at mid-day, we either look down to the
ground, or on the surrounding objects which lie open to our view, we
think ourselves endued with a very strong and piercing eyesight; but
when we look up to the sun, and gaze at it unveiled, the sight which
did excellently well for the earth is instantly so dazzled and
confounded by the refulgence, as to oblige us to confess that our
acuteness in discerning terrestrial objects is mere dimness when
applied to the sun. Thus too, it happens in estimating our spiritual
qualities. So long as we do not look beyond the earth, we are quite
pleased with our own righteousness, wisdom, and virtue; we address
ourselves in the most flattering terms, and seem only less than
demigods. But should we once begin to raise our thoughts to God, and
reflect what kind of Being he is, and how absolute the perfection of
that righteousness, and wisdom, and virtue, to which, as a standard,
we are bound to be conformed, what formerly delighted us by its
false show of righteousness will become polluted with the greatest
iniquity; what strangely imposed upon us under the name of wisdom
will disgust by its extreme folly; and what presented the appearance
of virtuous energy will be condemned as the most miserable
impotence. So far are those qualities in us, which seem most
perfect, from corresponding to the divine purity."


so in other words, we are self deceiving, self righteous sinners who do not know what is good until we look to God. i love how he talks about the eye that looks on black, when it sees a brown or dirty white it thinks it to be pure white even though it's far from it. so when we look at man our entire lives, a person who has some moral standards tends to look like that pure white. in reality they are nothing more then brown. we need to look to God to see the real white. is this not what we hear over and over again on the streets, "oh yes i'm a good person" "i'm not really any worse then anyone else" or "compared to some people i am really good". well there it is, compared to people a lot of others are good, but compared to God there are none righteous no not one!