“For if our Lord spoke only of things that are obscure and beyond our reach, we might have cause to complain that we were wasting time on speculations which required much hard work, which in the end did us no good and left us no wiser than before. In that case it would be right for us to feel annoyed. When, however, our Lord condescends to our ignorance and teaches us in so intimate a way, as a father instructs his children or as a nursing mother stammers to her immature infant so that he will understand—when, I say, God treats us so graciously and makes sure that there is nothing superfluous in his word—nothing which does not yield good fruit for our salvation—when we see that, must we not be mad and naturally wilful if we fail to profit by it?”
—John Calvin, trans. Robert White, Sermons on Titus (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2015), 269-270. Calvin said this while preaching on Titus 3:8-15.
S.W.F. Knecht 