Day 27 — Institutes I.5.§15 [직강]

Today Chapter 5 closes its doors. Fifteen sections: the bright manifestation (§§1–2), man the microcosm (§§3–4), soul and providence (§§5–10), then the long descent — stupidity, idol-factories, apostasy, and yesterday's funeral: creation's lamps shine in vain for us (§§11–14). So what is §15? The closing argument before the judge. Calvin anticipates the defendant's last move — "If I lacked the power, how can I bear the blame?" — and crushes it: the dullness is within; therefore there is no room for excuse. Then he does what only a master litigator does: he concedes the other side's strongest fact without losing the case. Yes, man is guilty of choking the seed (inexcusable); AND yes, creation's testimony, bare and simple though magnificent, is not sufficient to teach us (insufficient). Two verdicts, one sentence-hinge (S5), zero contradiction — condemnation needs no Scripture; salvation does. That double verdict IS the doorway: tomorrow, Chapter 6, the spectacles come out.

Examiners circle this section for three constructions: a no sooner … than correlative with do-inversion, the archaic subjunctive It were, and the cannot … without V-ing double negative — all three are top-frequency test grammar, and all three are here in their natural habitat.

Today's 3 Big Points — mark them now:

1. No sooner do we … than we … — correlative + do-inversion (S6). Negative adverb no sooner opens the clause → auxiliary do is summoned and flipped before the subject: no sooner do we … obtain some slight knowledge … than we pass by the true God. The partner is always than — never when, never then. This is the single most-tested inversion pattern in existence. Calvin uses it to clock the speed of idolatry: the instant knowledge arrives, corruption overtakes it.
2. It were … a strange defence for man to pretend … — archaic subjunctive (S3). It were = It would be — the old bare subjunctive doing the work of the modal conditional. Frame: It were + adjective + for A + to-infinitive. Don't "correct" it to it was — the meaning is hypothetical ("it WOULD BE a strange defence"), not past.
3. We cannot plead ignorance, without being … convicted — double negative of necessity (S2). cannot X without Y-ing = "every time we X, Y inevitably happens" = X entails Y. Plead ignorance → the plea itself convicts you. The grammar performs the trap it describes.

Three engines. Lock them in. Now read.

But though we are deficient in natural powers which might enable us to rise to a pure and clear knowledge of God, still, as the dullness which prevents us is within, there is no room for excuse. We cannot plead ignorance, without being at the same time convicted by our own consciences both of sloth and ingratitude. It were, indeed, a strange defence for man to pretend that he has no ears to hear the truth, while dumb creatures have voices loud enough to declare it; to allege that he is unable to see that which creatures without eyes demonstrate, to excuse himself on the ground of weakness of mind, while all creatures without reason are able to teach. Wherefore, when we wander and go astray, we are justly shut out from every species of excuse, because all things point to the right path. But while man must bear the guilt of corrupting the seed of divine knowledge so wondrously deposited in his mind, and preventing it from bearing good and genuine fruit, it is still most true that we are not sufficiently instructed by that bare and simple, but magnificent testimony which the creatures bear to the glory of their Creator. For no sooner do we, from a survey of the world, obtain some slight knowledge of Deity, than we pass by the true God, and set up in his stead the dream and phantom of our own brain, drawing away the praise of justice, wisdom, and goodness, from the fountain-head, and transferring it to some other quarter. Moreover, by the erroneous estimate we form, we either so obscure or pervert his daily works, as at once to rob them of their glory and the author of them of his just praise.

Seven sentences, two verdicts. First verdict — inexcusable: yes, our natural powers are deficient, but the dullness is within, so no excuse (S1); the very plea of ignorance convicts us of sloth and ingratitude (S2); and the creatures shame us — dumb things have voices, eyeless things demonstrate, reasonless things teach, so "I couldn't hear/see/understand" is a strange defence (S3); therefore, wanderers are justly shut out from every species of excuse, because all things point to the right path (S4). Then the hinge (S5) — second verdict — insufficient: man bears the guilt of corrupting the wondrously deposited seed, AND YET it is most true that creation's bare, simple, magnificent testimony does not sufficiently instruct us. Proof of insufficiency: the speed of corruption — no sooner is a slight knowledge of Deity obtained than we pass by the true God and enthrone the dream and phantom of our own brain, rerouting the praise of justice, wisdom, and goodness away from the fountain-head (S6); and by our erroneous estimate we obscure or pervert even his daily works, robbing the works of their glory and their Author of his praise (S7). Chapter closed. Scripture required.

[VERDICT 1]  deficient powers, BUT dullness is WITHIN → no excuse        (S1)
[PROOF a]    plea of ignorance itself convicts: sloth + ingratitude      (S2)
[PROOF b]    a fortiori from the creatures: dumb→voices / eyeless→
             demonstrate / reasonless→teach = "strange defence"          (S3)
[CLOSE 1]    justly shut out from EVERY species of excuse                (S4)
[HINGE]      guilt is man's (seed corrupted) + STILL testimony
             NOT SUFFICIENT to instruct                                  (S5)
[VERDICT 2]  no sooner slight knowledge THAN phantom of our own
             brain replaces the true God (praise rerouted)               (S6)
[CLOSE 2]    erroneous estimate → works obscured/perverted →
             glory + praise both robbed  (→ Ch.6: Scripture)             (S7)

Examiner's Eye: the killer trap is the relationship between the two verdicts (S1 vs S5). A lazy option will say "Calvin argues that since man lacks natural power, he cannot be blamed" — reversal: the deficiency is within, self-inflicted, so blame stands. The mirror-trap says "Calvin concludes creation's testimony is sufficient, and man's guilt is the only problem" — also wrong: S5 states it is still most true that we are not sufficiently instructed by it. Calvin holds BOTH: guilty for corrupting the seed, AND in need of better teaching. Choose an option that keeps both halves or walk away. Secondary trap: in S3 the creatures' voices are loud enough to declare the truth — creation speaks clearly; any option locating the defect in creation's testimony rather than in man flunks.

Formula 1 — no sooner inversion + correlative than

No sooner + do/does/did + S + V원형 …, than + S + V
= The moment S does X, S does Y.
⚠️ 함정 1: 짝은 반드시 than — when/then이 나오면 그게 오답.
⚠️ 함정 2: 도치 필수 — "No sooner we obtain…"은 틀린 문장.
⚠️ 함정 3: do we (from a survey of the world) obtain처럼
          삽입구가 조동사와 본동사를 갈라놓아도 속지 말 것.

Practice: No sooner does the mind receive a ray of divine light than it bends that light toward an idol.

Formula 2 — archaic subjunctive It were (= It would be)

It were + 형용사/명사구 + for A + to-V
= It would be + … + for A + to-V  (가정·판단, 과거 아님)
⚠️ It was로 "고치면" 오답 — 과거 사실 서술이 아니라 가정법.
⚠️ KJV·고전 영어 상용: "It were better for him that…" (Luke 17:2)

Practice: It were a strange modesty to refuse the knowledge that every creature presses upon us.

Formula 3 — cannot X without Y-ing (double negative of necessity)

S + cannot + V … without + V-ing
= S가 X할 때마다 반드시 Y가 따라온다 (X ⊃ Y)
⚠️ without 뒤는 동명사 — "without be convicted" 형태가 나오면 오답.
⚠️ 이중부정 = 강한 긍정: 배제가 아니라 필연의 공식.

Practice: We cannot inspect the fabric of the world without confessing an architect.

Why §15 exists. Chapter 5 has been running two ledgers side by side since §11: the objective ledger (creation's testimony — bright, universal, unretracted) and the subjective ledger (man's reception — dull, idolatrous, bankrupt). §15 is where Calvin formally reconciles the books, and he does it with a lawyer's precision. Verdict one: the failure of reception cannot be pleaded as a defence, because the failure is internal and culpable — the dullness which prevents us is within. This is Romans 1:20 doing its work: the purpose of natural revelation, post-fall, is inexcusability. Verdict two: precisely because reception always fails, the testimony as pedagogy is insufficient — we are not sufficiently instructed. Note carefully: insufficiency attaches to us-with-the-testimony, never to God's workmanship. Calvin's adjectives guard the line: bare and simple, but magnificent.

The a fortiori of the creatures (S3) has a long pedigree. Isaiah 1:3 — the ox knows its owner, the ass its master's crib, but Israel doth not know; Jeremiah 8:7 — the stork keeps her appointed times, but my people know not the judgment of the LORD. The prophets summon animals as witnesses against reasoning man, and Calvin inherits the whole courtroom scene: dumb creatures with voices (Ps 19's paradox — no speech nor language, their voice is not heard, yet their line goes out through all the earth), eyeless demonstrators, reasonless teachers (Job 12:7 — ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee). The rhetorical form — if the lesser succeeds, the greater has no plea — you've seen Calvin run at §5 (a fortiori triple) and §7; here it closes the case.

The two-verdict settlement is the hinge of the whole doctrine of Scripture. I.6.1 opens by cashing exactly this cheque: the mirror of the works leaves the whole human race without excuse, therefore another and better help must be given — the Word, the spectacles. Keep the order straight: Scripture is not added because creation's witness is defective, but because we are; the remedy matches the disease's location (in us), which is why the remedy will include not just an external book but internal illumination (I.7, the testimonium). §15's S5 is thus the precise coordinate where Barth and Brunner both plant flags — Brunner reading magnificent testimony + human guilt as warrant for a point of contact; Barth reading not sufficiently instructed + the phantom-factory as its demolition. Calvin, as usual, is doing something neither needs him to do: prosecuting man while praising the works, so that Scripture arrives not as Plan B but as grace.

Limit-line (과대해석 방지): don't make §15 say that natural knowledge contributes a first storey on which Scripture builds a second (the medieval nature-grace scheme Calvin is quietly dismantling). The seed never matures into anything; the slight knowledge is passed by the instant it arrives (S6). Scripture doesn't top up a partial success; it rescues a total pedagogical failure that is nonetheless a total forensic success.

1. Rom. 1:20 (ἀναπολογήτους, "without excuse") — S1, S4. There is no room for excuse and shut out from every species of excuse are Calvin's double echo of Paul's ἀναπολογήτους — the verdict-word of the entire chapter (cf. §1, §14). Calvin uses Paul not as proof-text but as courtroom procedure: revelation's post-fall function IS the removal of the plea.
2. Ps. 19:1–3 — S3. Dumb creatures have voices loud enough to declare it: the heavens declare the glory of God with no speech nor language. Calvin lifts the psalm's paradox (speechless speech) and weaponizes it against man's "no ears" plea.
3. Isa. 1:3 / Jer. 8:7 / Job 12:7 — S3. The prophetic animal-witnesses: ox and ass know their master, the stork her seasons, and the beasts shall teach thee. Calvin's all creatures without reason are able to teach compresses this whole tradition into one clause.
4. Matt. 13:3–7, 22 (the sower) — S5. The seed … preventing it from bearing good and genuine fruit: the parable's grammar of seed choked before fruit — Calvin has been running the semen religionis through the sower's field since §4 (not one in a hundred cherishes it).
5. Rom. 1:21–23 — S6. Pass by the true God, and set up in his stead the dream and phantom of our own brain = they glorified him not as God … and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image. The exchange (μετήλλαξαν) is Calvin's "transfer": praise rerouted from fountain-head to figment.
6. Jas. 1:17 — S6. The fountain-head of justice, wisdom, and goodness: every good gift descends from above, from the Father of lights — the fons omnium bonorum of I.2.1 closing the chapter as it opened it.

How Calvin uses Scripture here: not one verse is cited by name — the entire section is woven from biblical fabric (psalm, prophet, parable, epistle) without a single footnote. That's the deepest kind of quotation: Scripture as native language, not as ornament.

Problem 1 — 어법. 밑줄 친 부분 중 어법상 틀린 것은?

No sooner ①does the mind obtain, from a survey of the world, some slight knowledge of Deity, ②when it passes by the true God, ③setting up in his stead a phantom of its own brain, and ④transferring his praise to some other quarter.

✨ 답안 보기 (클릭)정답: ②. No sooner의 짝은 than이다 — when도 then도 아니다 (Formula 1, 함정 1). ①은 부정어 문두 도치로 정상(does the mind obtain), ③④는 결과를 잇는 분사구문으로 정상. 출제 의도: no sooner ~ than 상관어 고정쌍을 아는가 — 이 유형 오답률 1위가 바로 when 함정이다.

Problem 2 — 내용일치. 본문의 내용과 일치하는 것은?

(a) Calvin argues that since man's natural powers are deficient, his ignorance of God is excusable. (b) Calvin holds that creation's testimony is defective in itself, which is why a better teacher must be given. (c) Calvin maintains both that man is guilty of corrupting the seed of divine knowledge and that creation's testimony does not sufficiently instruct us. (d) Calvin claims that with sustained effort, the slight knowledge gained from surveying the world matures into pure knowledge of God.

✨ 답안 보기 (클릭)정답: (c) — S5의 두 평결 그대로. (a)는 S1의 방향 뒤집기: 결핍은 within이므로 변명 불가. (b)는 결함의 위치 조작: 증언은 magnificent, 결함은 수신자. (d)는 S6 정면 반박: slight knowledge는 성숙하기는커녕 no sooner … than 즉시 phantom으로 대체된다. 출제 의도: 두 평결(inexcusable + insufficient)을 한 선지에 온전히 담은 것만이 정답 — 반쪽 선지는 전부 함정.

Problem 3 — 영작. 다음을 오늘의 공식으로 영작하라.

"우리는 세계를 살펴보면서 동시에 우리 자신의 양심에 의해 유죄 판결을 받지 않을 수 없다."

✨ 답안 보기 (클릭)모범답안: We cannot survey the world without being at the same time convicted by our own consciences.

(Formula 3: cannot X without Y-ing. 채점 포인트 ① cannot + 동사원형, ② without + being convicted 동명사 수동형, ③ at the same time 삽입 위치. without to be convicted·without we are convicted는 0점.)

One-line summary: Chapter 5 closes with a double verdict — the dullness is within, so man is inexcusable (the creatures themselves out-speak, out-see, out-teach him), and yet creation's bare and simple, but magnificent testimony leaves us insufficiently instructed, since no sooner does knowledge arrive than the brain enthrones its own phantom — grammar engines: no sooner do we … than, It were = it would be, cannot … without V-ing.

Homework (10 min):

1. Structure restoration: S6을 도치 없는 평서문으로 복원하라. (힌트: We obtain some slight knowledge of Deity from a survey of the world, and immediately we pass by… — no sooner를 as soon as절로 바꿔도 좋다.)
2. Composition: Formula 2로 한 문장 — "피조물이 가르치는 것을 배우기를 거부하는 것은 이상한 겸손일 것이다"를 It were…로 영작해 보라.
3. Preview: 내일은 Book 1, Chapter 6, §1 — 드디어 안경이 등장한다: Therefore, though the effulgence which is presented to every eye… — 자연계시의 이중 평결 위에 성경이 "another and better help"로 주어지는 장면. 첫 단어 Therefore가 오늘 §15 전체를 받는다.

Where we stopped: Book 1, Ch. 5, §15 끝 — Chapter 5 완료. 다음은 Book 1, Ch. 6, §1 (The Need of Scripture).