Sermons of M. John Calvin upon the Epistle of Saint Paul to the GalatiansSermons of M. Iohn Caluine vpon the Epistle of Saincte Paule to the Galathians

According also as our Lord Jesus Christ declareth sufficiently ⟨p. 262⟩in the third of John.¹ That which is borne of flesh (saith he) is flesh. By the word Spirit he meaneth not the Soul of man, but the grace which God giveth us when he bringeth us back to his obedience, & correcteth our vices & all that is contrary to his word. And the terming of men by the name of Flesh in the holy scripture. is in way of contempt. But yet in this text it is a mark of vice and corruption. Sometimes when the Scripture speaketh of flesh, it saith:² very well, what else are men but flesh? that is too say, but rottenness? Again, all flesh is grass. And again, what are the Egyptians?³ They be flesh and not spirit. Ye see then that under this word flesh, men are taught their own frailty, and done to understand that they be but earth and dust,⁴ worms, and worms meat. And this serves first of all to humble them. But when flesh is matched against Spirit, then are not men taken in their first state as they were created of God: but it serveth too show that they be corrupted and full of infection and wickedness, so as there is no taste at all in them to discern aright, but they are utterly perverted in all their lusts. Ye see then that whereas our Lord Jesus Christ saith we be flesh even from our birth: his meaning is that we be blind wretches, which have no wit at all too come unto God: and that although he have put an understanding in us to discern good & evil: yet notwithstanding we be grown brutish, and cannot come to him, and all the reason that we have, serveth but to make us unexcusable: and finally that we covet nothing but utter evil, & that look how many affections we have, so many are the enemies that fight against all righteousness. Lo how the holy Ghost blazeth our arms, whereas most men brag of their own free will and of their virtues: it is said that there is nothing in us but stark corruption, & that the same is as an enmity against God, and separateth us from his righteousness. True it is, that our Soul or mind is oftentimes called by the name of Spirit: for the word Spirit or Ghost betokeneth an invisible substance, which cannot be seen nor felt as can a body. The Angels are Spirits, and so are the Devils also.