Songs of the Nativity: Selected Sermons on Luke 1 & 2 (Calvin)

Description

All four Gospels bear witness to the supernatural person and work of Jesus Christ, but only the first and third testify explicitly to his supernatural conception and birth. The accounts given in Matthew and Luke are clearly independent of each other, but both unambiguously affirm that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary, through the direct action of the Holy Spirit and without the intervention of a human father.

Luke’s Gospel is notable for its distinctive songs, strikingly reminiscent of the Psalms. Chief among these are Mary’s song, the Magnificat, Zechariah’s song, the Benedictus, the Angels’ song, the Gloria in excelsis, and Simeon’s song, the Nunc dimittis. Together, they have nourished the prayer and mediation of countless Christians, and enriched the church’s worship. They are full of prophetic hope, eager expectation, and joyful thanksgiving. God’s great redemptive work is moving to is climax with the birth of the Saviour, Jesus, Son of the Most High. Luke’s ‘gospel of the incarnation’ was good news to all who, like the representatives of the old Israel, looked for Messiah’s first advent; it is good news to all who, today, look for his second.

Preached in Geneva between October 1559 and March 1560, Calvin’s sermons on the nativity story are the fruit of almost twenty-five years of gospel ministry. Here we see Calvin the faithful pastor-expounding the text and applying it with passion and vigour to his congregation by means of persuasion, exhortation, admonition and rebuke. Robert White’s excellent translation transports the reader back to St. Peter’s Cathedral, Geneva, where Calvin can be heard- or overheard- preaching on issues of perennial importance to all Christian men and women.

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About the Author  

John Calvin (1509-1564) One of the most influential reformers, his work was of significance throughout Europe and beyond. John Calvin was born in Noyon, France on July 10, 1509. His father was the secretary and attorney for the bishopric of Noyon. Calvin was a brilliant scholar and studied law in Paris, Orleans and Bourges. After what he called a "sudden conversion" at the age of 23, Calvin became a fervent Christian and scholar of the Scripture. Calvin did not immediately break with the Roman Catholic Church, but rather worked toward its reform. His pleas for reform soon brought upon him the hatred of the Catholic Church, and in time he was banished from Paris. Calvin fled to Switzerland, broke with the Catholic Church, and joined with the reformers. In 1536 he published his famous Institutes of the Christian Religion, which was a systematic presentation of the Protestant position. In 1559 he founded what later became the University of Geneva. Here he taught his beliefs to thousands of students who in turn carried "Calvinism" back to their homelands throughout Europe. John Calvin died in Geneva, Switzerland on May 27, 1564.