What Does Calvin’s Engagement with Acts Teach Us about God’s Providence?

Abstract

Calvin’s commentarial engagement with Acts makes an important contribution to understanding providence. This is, I argue, the case with respect to the important distinction between divine determination and divine permission. In this article, I unfold how the language of divine determination refers to what is true of God in a substantial sense. God’s determination reflects what God is in se. The language of permission, however, pertains only to evil. Such an inquiry advances systematic thinking on providence, encouraging recognition of how determination and permission have different referents. ‘Determination’ refers to what is of God, ‘permission’ to what is evil. The article also contributes to Calvin scholarship by showing how Calvin’s encounter with Acts generates a more expansive account of providential themes than one finds in the Institutes.