What's in a name???

Calvin: We chose the name Calvin after the reformer John Calvin, who was one of the great reformers of the 16th century (along with Luther and Zwingli). Calvin was arguably the most influential of all of the reformers and expanded upon and refined the theological doctrines that were being espoused by his contemporaries. John Calvin lived from July 10, 1509 - May 27, 1564. Calvin was a lawyer by training, but some time after his conversion he had more interest in pursuing Godliness than law, "God by a sudden conversion subdued and brought my mind to a teachable frame…. Having thus received some taste and knowledge of true godliness I was immediately inflamed with so intense a desire to make progress therein, that although I did not altogether leave off studies, I yet pursued them with less ardor." Calvin used his high degree of education along with his personal piety to advance God's kingdom on earth. He was a prolific writer editing scholarly works in several areas, however he is mostly known for his brilliant exegesis, which can be found in his commentaries (writing on almost every book of the Bible) and his systematic exposition of the Christian faith, which can be found in his magnum opus, The Institutes of the Christian Religion (of which he had already published editions by the age of 26! In French and Latin!). Unfortunately, however, Calvin (or maybe you may think Calvinism) has gained an unfair reputation as a cold hearted man who made God out to be a tyrannical unloving ruler. If this is your general impression, then please ask yourself...from where did you gain this impression? Was it from your own studies of his life and doctrine, or did you hear it second hand from someone who had probably never read a word that Calvin had written, but only heard his words filtered and distorted through his later opponents? If this is the case please read his Institutes. Truth be told Calvin had his faults, as do we all, but he was a man who saw a loving sovereign God, who elected and justified undeserving sinners, not based upon their own merit, of which there is none, but upon God's gracious provision of His Son Jesus Christ. This is a heritage in which we desire our son to live.

"It were cold and lifeless to represent God as a momentary Creator, who completed his work once for all, and then left it. Here, especially, we must dissent from the profane, and maintain that the presence of the divine power is conspicuous, not less in the perpetual condition of the world than in its first creation. For, although even the wicked men are forced, by the mere view of the earth and sky, to rise to the Creator, yet faith has a method of its own in assigning the whole praise of creation to God...because, without proceeding to his Providence, we cannot understand the full force of what is meant by God being the Creator, how much soever we may seem to comprehend it with our mind, and confess it with our tongue. The carnal mind, when once it has perceived the power of God in the creation, stops there, and, at the farthest, thinks and ponders on nothing else than the wisdom, power, and goodness, displayed by the Author of such a work...But faith must penetrate deeper. After learning that there is a Creator, it must forthwith infer that he is also a Governor and Preserver, and that not by producing a kind of general motion in the machine of the globe as well as in each of its parts, but by a special Providence sustaining, cherishing, and superintending, all the things which he has made, to the very minutest, even to a sparrow." Institutes, Book 1, chapter 16, section 1.

"It is true, indeed, that that faith has respect to God only; but to this we should add, that it acknowledges Jesus Christ whom he hast sent. God would remain far off, concealed from us, were we not irradiated with his only begotten Son, in order that he might manifest himself in him, and thus by the communication of blessings express the true image of his glory." Institutes, Book 3, chapter 2, section 1.

Moses: We have decided upon Moses as the middle name of our child. Many may cringe at this "untraditional" name, however, let us show you why we have chosen this name to represent our child. To be sure, there are few biblical figures that should command our respect as much as Moses, the Lord's chosen vessel, to deliver Israel out of the hand of Pharaoh and the Egyptians. In this, Moses is seen as one of first, if not the pivotal, human representative of God's deliverance and salvation...a type of the One to come. Moses was Israel's human leader, prophet, and lawgiver, under the sovereign rule of God. He was the deliverer of the covenant love of God to two generations of Israelites (those in Egypt and those about to enter the land of promise). Moses was in many respects, Israel's savior. It was said of Moses, "Since that time no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, for all the signs and wonders which the Lord sent him to perform in the land of Egypt against Pharaoh, all his servants, and all his land, and for all the mighty power and for all the great terror which Moses performed in all the sight of Israel." Moses, was also considered to be the most humble man that had ever lived, a virtue which is seriously lacking in our day (we are not exempting ourselves from this vice). But, as was alluded to earlier, Moses was a figure who pointed to One who was to come. Moses said, "The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, and you shall listen to him." This prophet was Christ, the Prophet, Priest and King of the church. He is our hope and in whom we place all of our trust for deliverance, not from Egypt, but from a different foe, sin and death. He does not offer us a temporary deliverance and a covenant which is flawed, but through his perfect life, sacrificial death, and resurrection from the dead, and as he now intercedes for us at the right hand of God in glory, we have eternal hope, eternal life and an eternal covenant, which cannot be shaken.

"He [Christ] was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house. For He has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. Now Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later; but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house--whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end." Hebrews 3:2-6