In section 4 Calvin presents his
view of the relationship between the testimonium and other evidence for
the authority of Scripture. Calvin begins by asserting the superiority of the “secret
testimony of the Spirit” to human conjecture. He says:
Hence, the biggest proof of
Scripture is uniformly taken from the character whose word it is . . . Our
conviction of the truth of Scripture must be derived from a higher source than
human conjectures, judgments, or reasons; namely, the secret testimony of the
Spirit. (Calvin, Institutes 1.7.4)
Here Calvin makes it clear that
the testimonium serves as the ultimate and highest ground of certainty
for the believer. The testimonium is not placed over and against reason
as a form of mysticism or subjectivism. Rather, it goes beyond and transcends
reason. Calvin says:
But I answer, that the testimony
of the Spirit is superior to reason. For as God alone can properly bear witness
to his own words, to these words will not obtain full credit on the hearts of
men, until they are sealed by the inward testimony of the Spirit. (Ibid.)
. . . For Calvin the testimonium
is not irrational but transrational. That is, it does not move against
reason but beyond it.
(R. C. Sproul, “The Internal
Testimony of the Spirit,” in Sproul, Scripture Alone: The Evangelical
Doctrine [Phillipsburg, Pa.: Presbyterian and Reformed, 2005], 97, 98)
Further Reading:
