Book I, Chapter VI & VII, Book II, Chapter IX): Since the human mind, through its weakness, was altogether unable to come to God if not aided and upheld by his sacred word, it necessarily followed that all mankind inasmuch as they sought God without the Word, were labouring under vanity and error.(Calvin 1964:67) our conviction of the truth of Scripture must be derived from a higher source than human conjectures, judgements, or reasons; namely, the secret testimony of the Spirit.(Calvin 1964:71) By the Gospel, I understand the clear manifestation of the mystery of Christ.(Calvin 1964:364)The Reformation saw man primarily from the perspective of the essential sinfulness of humanity, the Fall, and man's inability to save himself. The Reformation broke with Thomas Aquinas's hermeneutics of a two-fold approach of nature and grace in a combination of Greek philosophy (Aristotle) and Biblical theology. The Reformation therefore rejected Aquinas's optimistic view of the abilities of human reason and made people conscious of their lost condition as sinners.A preoccupation with human depravity may also, for some, lead to non-involvement in mission on the part of man, because humans are, in any event, unable to change the reality in which they find themselves.Calvin's threefold understanding of history opposed any notion of human non-involvement. He discerned three stages in the progression of the church: The first stage was during the time of the apostles, when the Gospel was offered to the whole inhabited world. The second stage was a time of constantly being under threat of the antichrist, a time that also occasioned the life of Calvin. The third stage would mark the great expansion of the church. What could have been expected was that when, for instance, the later Puritans accepted Calvin's understanding of history, they saw themselves as being at the beginning of the third period and they were convinced of their own role in the great expansion. But then, being more radical, they had their own ideas and agendas (cf. Bosch 2004:260, 313).It is important that the mission of the church in Calvin's theocratic mind needs to be comprehended in the period between the ascension and the parousia of Christ as 'an inaugurated eschatology' (Bosch 2004:515). This means the church is involved in the world and in the future. In Calvin's understanding of history and the future (eschatology), salvation history is not opposed to profane history, nor grace to nature. Subsequently, what follows is a positive attitude of Christian involvement towards what may be achieved in this world (Bosch 2004:516). With this view, Christ's order of life and society is something that progresses throughout the world, and the church and Christians are instrumental in the furtherance of faith and the values of Christ's reign within this unjust world (cf. Bosch 2004:516).Calvin does not interpret God's initiative and saving act in Christ in any way that would exclude human responsibility and involvement. Human responsibility and involvement are indeed part of the mission of the church in this world.The subjective dimension of salvationPart of Reformation theology is the emphasis on the subjective dimension of salvation. With