Tuesday, June 3, 2025

Calvin on vocation

John Calvin draws the following inferences on vocation from Jesus's parable of the workers in the vineyard who were all paid the same even though they started at different times (Matthew 20:1-16):

- [M]en were created for activity and... each has his divinely appointed station, so that he shall not sink into laziness... 
- [O]ur whole life is useless and we are justly condemned of laziness until we frame our life to the command and calling of God.
- [T]hey labour in vain who thoughtlessly take up this or that kind of life and do not wait for God's calling.
- [O]nly they are pleasing to God who work for the advantage of their brethren.

Let me restate these in a positive way:
- We were created for activity
- We each have our divinely appointed station
- Our whole life becomes useful when we frame it to the command and calling of God
- We will not labor in vain if we thoughtfully wait for God's calling and then take up this or that kind of life that he calls us to
- We are pleasing to God when we work for the advantage of others

Source:
John Calvin, A Harmony of the Gospels Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Volume 2, pp. 265-266. Translated by T.H.L. Parker. (Calvin's Commentaries.) Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972.
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