Calvin on Loving Others

I have been reading through parts of Calvin's Institutes of Christian Religion, and recently have been in his assessment of the Law. I came across some very good quotes that I would like to share. The Law, as Christ said, can be summed up in two commands: love God and love your neighbor. In these quotes, Calvin is focusing on the second of these two commands. The goal of Institutes was to make theology practical to Christian life, and here I think we clearly see this.

"It is not hard now to discover the whole purpose of the whole Law. It is the fulfillment of righteousness, so that men may model their lives on the example of divine purity."

"Our minds must be completely filled with love to God, and then this love must flow out to our neighbors."

"Conscience and genuine faith comes first; in other words, true godliness. Brotherly love springs from it."

"The Lord does not (as some theologians have stupidly imagined) give first place to self-love and the second to love of others. Rather, he transfers to others the love we naturally feel for ourselves. So the apostle maintains that love 'is not self-seeking' (1 Cor. 13:5)."

"Our basic principle must always be that, whatever a person may be like, we must still love him, because we love God."