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The goal of piety, as well as the entire Christian life, is the glory of God--glory that shines in
God's attributes, in the structure of the world, and in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Glorifying God supersedes personal salvation for every truly pious person.

So Calvin writes to

Cardinal Sadolet: "It is not very sound theology to confine a man's thought so much to himself,
and not to set before him, as the prime motive for his existence, zeal to illustrate the glory of
God.... I am persuaded that there is no man imbued with true piety who will not consider as
insipid that long and labored exhortation to zeal for heavenly life, a zeal which keeps a man
entirely devoted to himself and does not, even by one expression, arouse him to sanctify the name
of God."

The goal of piety--that God may be glorified in us--is that for which we were created. It

thus becomes the goal of the regenerate who yearn to live out the purpose of their original
creation.

The pious man, according to Calvin, confesses, "We are God's: let us therefore live

for him and die for him. We are God's: let his wisdom and will therefore rule all our actions. We
are God's: let all the parts of our life accordingly strive toward him as our only lawful goal."

God redeems, adopts, and sanctifies His people that His glory might shine in them and

deliver them from impious self-seeking.

The pious man's deepest concern therefore is God

Himself and the things of God--God's Word, God's authority, God's gospel, God's truth. He
yearns to know more of God and to commune more with Him.

But how do we glorify God? As Calvin writes, "God has prescribed for us a way in which

he will be glorified by us, namely, piety, which consists in the obedience of his Word. He that
exceeds these bounds does not go about to honor God, but rather to dishonor him."

Obedience

to God's Word means taking refuge in Christ for our forgiveness of sins, knowing Him through
His Word, serving Him with a loving heart, doing good works in gratitude for His goodness, and
exercising self-denial to the point of loving our enemies.

This response involves total surrender

to God Himself, His Word, and His will.

Calvin says, "I offer thee my heart, Lord, promptly and sincerely." That is the desire of

all who are truly pious. However, that desire can only be realized through communion with Christ
and participation in Him, for outside of Christ even the most religious person lives for himself.
Only in Christ can the pious live as willing servants of their Lord, faithful soldiers of their
Commander, and obedient children of their Father.

Theological Dimensions

Piety's Profound Root: Mystical Union
"Calvin's doctrine of union with Christ is one of the most consistently influential features of his
theology and ethics, if not the single most important teaching that animates the whole of his
thought and his personal life," writes David Willis-Watkins.

Calvin did not intend to present theology from the viewpoint of a single doctrine.

Nonetheless, his sermons, commentaries, and theological works are so permeated with the union-
with-Christ doctrine that it becomes the focus for Christian faith and practice.

Calvin says as

much when he writes, "That joining together of Head and members, that indwelling of Christ in
our hearts--in short, that mystical union--are accorded by us the highest degree of importance,
so that Christ, having been made ours, makes us sharers with him in the gifts with which he has
been endowed."

For Calvin, piety is rooted in the believer's mystical union (unio mystica) with Christ.

That union is possible because Christ took on our human nature, filling it with his virtue. Union
with Christ in His humanity is historical, ethical, and personal, but not essential. There is no crass
mixture (crassa mixtura) of human substances between Christ and us. Nonetheless, Calvin states,
"Not only does he cleave to us by an indivisible bond of fellowship, but with a wonderful
communion, day by day, he grows more and more into one body with us, until he becomes
completely one with us."

This union is one of the gospel's greatest mysteries.

Because of the