Day 3 — Institutes, Book 1, Ch. 1, §3

"THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD AND OF OURSELVES MUTUALLY CONNECTED" Source: source/Institutes_Beveridge_FULL.txt (Beveridge, public domain) · verified · SCHEDULE.md Day 3 (All commentary in English — immersion.)

PART 1 — The Text (Reading)

§3. Hence that dread and amazement with which as Scripture uniformly relates, holy men were struck and overwhelmed whenever they beheld the presence of God. When we see those who previously stood firm and secure so quaking with terror, that the fear of death takes hold of them, nay, they are, in a manner, swallowed up and annihilated, the inference to be drawn is that men are never duly touched and impressed with a conviction of their insignificance, until they have contrasted themselves with the majesty of God. Frequent examples of this consternation occur both in the Book of Judges and the Prophetical Writings; so much so, that it was a common expression among the people of God, "We shall die, for we have seen the Lord." Hence the Book of Job, also, in humbling men under a conviction of their folly, feebleness, and pollution, always derives its chief argument from descriptions of the Divine wisdom, virtue, and purity. Nor without cause: for we see Abraham the readier to acknowledge himself but dust and ashes the nearer he approaches to behold the glory of the Lord, and Elijah unable to wait with unveiled face for His approach; so dreadful is the sight. And what can man do, man who is but rottenness and a worm, when even the Cherubim themselves must veil their faces in very terror? To this, undoubtedly, the Prophet Isaiah refers, when he says (Isaiah 24:23), "The moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of Hosts shall reign;" i.e., when he shall exhibit his refulgence, and give a nearer view of it, the brightest objects will, in comparison, be covered with darkness. But though the knowledge of God and the knowledge of ourselves are bound together by a mutual tie, due arrangement requires that we treat of the former in the first place, and then descend to the latter.

(Reading time: 4–5 min.)

PART 2 — Argument Map

• Claim (proof from Scripture): whenever holy men met God's presence, they were struck with dread — evidence for §2's thesis.
• Inference: we are never truly convinced of our nothingness until we contrast ourselves with God's majesty.
• Examples: Judges & the Prophets ("We shall die, for we have seen the Lord"); Job; Abraham ("dust and ashes"); Elijah (veiled face).
• A fortiori: if the very cherubim veil their faces, what is mortal man — "rottenness and a worm"?
• Scriptural seal: Isa 24:23 — before God's brightness even sun and moon are ashamed.
• Method note (closing the chapter): though the two knowledges are mutual, order requires we treat God first, then descend to ourselves.

PART 3 — Sentence-by-Sentence Deep Analysis ⭐

[S1] "Hence that dread and amazement with which as Scripture uniformly relates, holy men were struck and overwhelmed whenever they beheld the presence of God." - Syntax: A verbless exclamation built on a noun phrase: [head] that dread and amazement + relative [with which … holy men were struck and overwhelmed] + temporal [whenever they beheld the presence of God]. The clause as Scripture uniformly relates is parenthetical ("as Scripture consistently reports"). - Grammar: Hence = "from this (it follows)." Pied-piped relative with which (= "with which dread… they were struck"). Two passive verbs were struck and overwhelmed. whenever = "every time that" (iterative). - Vocabulary: dread (deep fear); amazement (here = stunned terror, not delight); behold (see, gaze on — solemn). - Plain English: Hence the dread and stunned terror with which — as Scripture consistently reports — holy men were struck and overwhelmed every time they saw God's presence. - Style: Opens with the effect (dread) before the cause; uniformly stresses an exceptionless pattern.

[S2] "When we see those who previously stood firm and secure so quaking with terror, that the fear of death takes hold of them, nay, they are, in a manner, swallowed up and annihilated, the inference to be drawn is that men are never duly touched … with a conviction of their insignificance, until they have contrasted themselves with the majesty of God." - Syntax: Long fronted When-clause, then main clause [S] the inference to be drawn [V] is [C] that-clause; inside, never … until governs the timing. - Grammar: so … that result construction: so quaking with terror, that the fear of death takes hold. nay escalates to a stronger description (swallowed up and annihilated). Main predicate nominative is a content clause; within it, men are never … impressed … until they have contrasted themselves with the majesty of God (precondition). - Vocabulary: quaking (trembling); take hold of (seize); in a manner (so to speak); annihilated (reduced to nothing); duly (rightly, properly); insignificance (nothingness). - Plain English: When we see people who once stood firm now trembling so violently that the fear of death grips them — indeed, all but swallowed up and annihilated — the conclusion is this: people are never rightly made aware of their nothingness until they have measured themselves against God's majesty. - Style: The drawn-out When-clause delays the verdict (periodic suspense), landing on the inference … is that….

[S3] "Frequent examples of this consternation occur both in the Book of Judges and the Prophetical Writings; so much so, that it was a common expression among the people of God, 'We shall die, for we have seen the Lord.'" - Syntax: Main clause [S] examples [V] occur + both … and …; then so much so, that … result, with embedded quotation. - Grammar: Correlative both A and B. so much so that = "to such a degree that." for = "because" (causal conjunction). The quoted clause uses the prophetic future we shall die. - Vocabulary: consternation (dismay, alarm); common expression (a saying in wide use). - Plain English: Such dismay shows up repeatedly in Judges and the Prophets — so much so that "We shall die, for we have seen the Lord" became a stock saying among God's people. - Style: Evidence piled to make the pattern feel like a law.

[S4] "Hence the Book of Job, also, in humbling men under a conviction of their folly, feebleness, and pollution, always derives its chief argument from descriptions of the Divine wisdom, virtue, and purity." - Syntax: [S] the Book of Job [V] derives [O] its chief argument + from …; an inserted participial phrase [in humbling men under a conviction of …] modifies how Job works. - Grammar: in + -ing = "in the course of / by." Triple objects again (folly, feebleness, pollution / wisdom, virtue, purity) set human misery against divine perfection — antithesis. - Vocabulary: feebleness (weakness); pollution (defilement); derive … from (draw from). - Plain English: So the Book of Job too, in humbling people with a sense of their folly, weakness, and defilement, always builds its main case from portrayals of God's wisdom, power, and purity. - Style: The paired triads mirror the man-vs-God contrast running through the section.

[S5] "Nor without cause: for we see Abraham the readier to acknowledge himself but dust and ashes the nearer he approaches to behold the glory of the Lord, and Elijah unable to wait with unveiled face for His approach; so dreadful is the sight." - Syntax: Elliptical Nor without cause (= "And not without reason"); for introduces proof. Note the proportional comparatives: the readier … the nearer ("the more X, the more Y"). Closing inversion: so dreadful is the sight (= "the sight is so dreadful"). - Grammar: the + comparative … the + comparative = correlative proportion. but dust and ashes (but = "only/nothing but"). unable to wait with unveiled face (adjective + infinitive). The final clause inverts subject and complement for emphasis. - Vocabulary: dust and ashes (utter lowliness — Gen 18:27); unveiled (uncovered); dreadful (terrifying). - Plain English: And not without reason: the nearer Abraham comes to behold the Lord's glory, the readier he is to confess himself mere dust and ashes; and Elijah cannot wait with face uncovered for God's approach — so terrifying is the sight. - Style: the readier … the nearer is an elegant proportional structure worth imitating.

[S6] "And what can man do, man who is but rottenness and a worm, when even the Cherubim themselves must veil their faces in very terror?" - Syntax: A rhetorical question with an appositive: man, [man who is but rottenness and a worm], + when-clause. - Grammar: Rhetorical question (expected answer: "nothing"). The repetition what can man do, man who is… is epanalepsis/apposition for pathos. even … themselves is emphatic. in very terror = "in sheer terror" (very = "sheer/real," archaic intensifier). - Vocabulary: but rottenness and a worm (but = only); veil (cover). - Plain English: And what can a human being do — a creature that is mere rot and a worm — when even the cherubim themselves must cover their faces in sheer terror? - Style: A fortiori argument (from greater to lesser): if angels veil their faces, how much more should man tremble.

[S7] "To this, undoubtedly, the Prophet Isaiah refers, when he says (Isaiah 24:23), 'The moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of Hosts shall reign;' i.e., when he shall exhibit his refulgence … the brightest objects will, in comparison, be covered with darkness." - Syntax: Fronted To this … the Prophet Isaiah refers (object fronting); when-clause introduces the quotation; i.e. introduces Calvin's gloss. - Grammar: refer to (the to is fronted with To this). i.e. = id est, "that is." Future shall be confounded … shall reign (prophetic). in comparison = "by comparison." - Vocabulary: confounded (put to shame/thrown into confusion); the Lord of Hosts (YHWH Sabaoth); refulgence (blazing brightness); exhibit (display). - Plain English: No doubt Isaiah means this when he says (Isa 24:23), "The moon will be ashamed and the sun confounded when the LORD of Hosts reigns" — that is, when God shows his blazing brightness up close, even the brightest things look dark by comparison. - Style: Caps the argument with a prophetic citation; the sun/moon image rhymes with §2's sun analogy.

[S8] "But though the knowledge of God and the knowledge of ourselves are bound together by a mutual tie, due arrangement requires that we treat of the former in the first place, and then descend to the latter." - Syntax: Concessive though-clause + main clause [S] due arrangement [V] requires [O] that-clause (subjunctive that we treat … and then descend). - Grammar: though = "although" (concession). requires that we treat — the mandative subjunctive (base form treat, not "treats"). the former … the latter = the first-mentioned (God) … the second (ourselves). - Vocabulary: mutual tie (reciprocal bond); due arrangement (proper order); descend to (move down to). - Plain English: But although knowledge of God and of ourselves are bound by a mutual tie, proper method requires that we deal with the former (God) first, and then come down to the latter (ourselves). - Style: A methodological hinge closing the chapter: mutuality affirmed, yet order fixed (God first) — pointing to Chapter 2 onward.

PART 4 — Vocabulary

PART 5 — 🏛 Theology (deep)

1. Holiness exposes nothingness. §3 supplies the proof for §2's thesis: encounter with God's majesty is what convicts us of insignificance. The creature's right response to the Holy is dread — what later theology (Rudolf Otto) calls the mysterium tremendum, the "numinous" awe before the wholly Other.
2. A fortiori from the angels. If sinless cherubim veil their faces, fallen man ("rottenness and a worm") has infinitely more cause to tremble — Calvin reasons from greater to lesser to crush self-confidence.
3. God as the measure (continued). As in §2 (God the norma), here self-assessment is impossible in isolation: only "contrasted with the majesty of God" do we know what we are. This is Reformed theocentrism — anthropology done in the light of theology.
4. The methodological hinge (S8). Calvin affirms the mutuality of the two knowledges but fixes the order: God first. This sentence governs the architecture of Book 1 (chs. 2ff. on knowing God the Creator) and answers the question §1 left open.

PART 6 — 📖 Biblical Studies (deep)

• Judges 13:22 — Manoah: "We shall surely die, because we have seen God." This is the very saying Calvin quotes ("We shall die, for we have seen the Lord").
• Genesis 18:27 — Abraham: "I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes" (Heb. עָפָר וָאֵפֶר, aphar va-epher) — the source of S5.
• 1 Kings 19:13 — Elijah "wrapped his face in his mantle" at God's approach — S5's "unveiled face."
• Isaiah 6:2, 5 — the seraphim cover their faces; Isaiah cries "Woe is me… I am undone." (Calvin/Beveridge say "Cherubim"; Isa 6 has seraphim — note the conflation; the point, angels veiling faces, stands.)
• Job — the divine speeches (chs. 38–41) humble Job by parading God's wisdom/power, exactly as Calvin says (S4).
• Isaiah 24:23 — "the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign" — quoted in S7.

PART 7 — 🔁 Translation Comparison (Beveridge vs Battles)

Substance is shared; Beveridge again shows its age in diction — amazement (= terror, not delight), consternation, refulgence, in very terror (very = "sheer"). Battles (1960) modernizes such words and would not write but rottenness and a worm with restrictive but. (1) No theological difference. (2) Register/era only. (3) Today's gain: spotting archaic senses — especially amazement and but — that can mislead a modern reader.

PART 8 — ✅ Check yourself (multiple choice)

Q1 (vocabulary — false friend). In "that dread and amazement … holy men were struck and overwhelmed," amazement here means: A. pleasant wonder B. stunned terror C. curiosity D. boredom

Q2 (grammar). "we see Abraham the readier to acknowledge himself but dust and ashes the nearer he approaches…" — this is: A. a superlative B. a proportional correlative ("the more…, the more…") C. a rhetorical question D. the subjunctive

Q3 (grammar/rhetoric). "what can man do … when even the Cherubim themselves must veil their faces …?" functions as: A. a genuine information question B. a rhetorical question making an a-fortiori point (answer: "nothing") C. a command D. a conditional

Q4 (vocabulary). "man who is but rottenness and a worm" — but here means: A. however B. except C. only / nothing but D. yet

Q5 (theology/comprehension). The main point of §3 is that: A. angels fear God more than humans do B. we recognize our nothingness only when measured against God's majesty C. Job is the most important book D. holy men were physically harmed by God

Q6 (grammar). "due arrangement requires that we treat of the former…" — treat (not "treats") is: A. a typo B. the mandative subjunctive after require that C. an imperative D. past tense

Answer Key: Q1 B — archaic amazement = terror. Q2 B — the + comparative … the + comparative = proportional. Q3 B — rhetorical, arguing greater-to-lesser. Q4 C — restrictive but = "only." Q5 B — conviction of insignificance comes by contrast with God's majesty. Q6 B — subjunctive after require that.

Where we stopped: Book 1, Ch. 1 §3 끝 (Ch.1 완료). 다음은 Ch. 2 §1 (Day 4).