Sermon 41, Job 10:18-22
Job is closing his response to Bildad and returns to the theme of wanting to not exist. He wishes that he had either never been created or that he would swiftly die.
Calvin states some things very clearly in this sermon. First, Calvin is obviously strongly opposed to abortion or euthanasia. His reasoning is very simple and it is that these are both acts of ingratitude, denying God the ability for his image and glory to be displayed.
“Now, if we are taken from this world as if we had never existed, we are deprived of the blessing of knowing that God wants to be our eternal Saviour and that he is giving us some indication of his love while we are pilgrims on this earth. It would be an intolerable act of ingratitude if men should want to be abolished as if they had never lived.”
Second, Calvin is insistent that just thinking evil thoughts, or the act of being tempted, even if no sinful actions results, is still a sin. Why? Because we are instructed to love God with all of our efforts and if our focus is not on him 100% of the time we are disobedient. Thinking evil isn’t our fault, we are corrupted.
This leads to an interesting question that Calvin unpacks, namely given that this world is broken shouldn’t we want to die? Here, death means passing into a perfect relationship with God.
Yes, it does. We should hate this life. Which is reassuring because I kinda do. But we have to think about that hatred carefully.
Calvin tells us a few useful things that pertain to this:
We are only even partially aware of our sins because of Gods righteousness and grace. The fact that we have to rely on God to show us our sins is itself a sin of ignorance demonstrated by us. So if it is a correct awareness of sin that wants us to leave this life then this is a blessing.
we can want this life to end for the wrong reasons. It’s likely that we are fed up, and it’s highly likely that we are fed up because we don’t get what we perceive as wanting. About these people Calvin writes “They do not hate the evil that is in them or that corruption of their nature which they practice, but they are sorely grieved that God does not give them the license to do as they please and sustain them in their delights and pleasures in accordance with their inclinations”.
Even if you want to die for the right reasons(!) Calvin warns that we should exercise restraint. We are in this world for a reason, God’s reason, and wanting to die too much is ignoring any purpose God has for us on earth in this life.
In closing, I need to think more about heaven. Calvin says that we have “forgotten the excellence of our first creation.” This might seem like a non-sequioter but I need to focus on the excitement of death, in a healthy way and to enjoy the trials I am put through while alive trusting that they will better prepare me for salvation.