Today’s reading from John Calvin confronts one of the most persistent questions in Christian theology: why should Scripture be trusted? Calvin argues that while fulfilled prophecy, historical preservation, apostolic witness, and even the blood of martyrs all provide powerful external confirmation, none of these can create true faith on their own. Isaiah’s naming of Cyrus long before his birth, Jeremiah’s precise prophecy of the seventy-year exile, Daniel’s sweeping vision of centuries to come, the miraculous survival of the Scriptures through Antiochus’s persecution, and the unlikely authority of untrained apostles all testify that Scripture bears marks no human mind could fabricate (Isaiah 42:9; Daniel 9; 2 Kings 22:8; 2 Chronicles 34:15). Yet Calvin insists that these evidences serve only as supports, not foundations. Scripture finally persuades because it carries God’s own voice—and that voice is recognized only when the Holy Spirit seals its authority in the heart. Until then, even the strongest arguments leave faith suspended; but once the Spirit speaks inwardly, Scripture is received not as probable truth, but as the very Word of God.

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