John Calvin Motto/Emblem Enamel Pin Set; Latin & Script
Original Sola Gratia Co. design made into a 1.25” hard enamel pin. Comes with metal butterfly backing. Script design features gold-toned metal while the Latin version is silver-toned.
The motto John Calvin fondly repeated was “Cor meum tibi offero, Domine, prompte et sincere”; “My heart I offer to You, promptly and sincerely.” This was the conviction and intentionally in which he strived to live and a challenge to us today.
This convicting motto was combined with the imagery of an open hand offering its heart to God in willing and glad submission.
His own words to a colleague:
“When I remember that I am not my own, I offer up my heart, presented as a sacrifice to the Lord…Therefore I submit my will and my affections, subdued and held-fast, to the obedience of God; and whenever I am at a loss for counsel of my own, I submit myself to those by whom I hope that the Lord himself will speak to me.”
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”
Roman 12:1
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This original design is our take on Luther’s Rose. Martin Luther designed this seal to represent his theological convictions.
In a letter, he explained:
“First, there is a black cross in a heart that remains its natural color. This is to remind me that it is faith in the Crucified One that saves us. Anyone who believes from the heart will be justified (Romans 10:10). It is a black cross, which mortifies and causes pain, but it leaves the heart its natural color. It doesn’t destroy nature, that is to say, it does not kill us but keeps us alive, for the just shall live by faith in the Crucified One (Romans 1:17). The heart should stand in the middle of a white rose. This is to show that faith gives joy, comfort, and peace—it puts the believer into a white, joyous rose. Faith does not give peace and joy like the world gives (John 14:27). This is why the rose must be white, not red. White is the color of the spirits and angels (cf. Matthew 28:3; John 20:12). This rose should stand in a sky-blue field, symbolizing that a joyful spirit and faith is a beginning of heavenly, future joy, which begins now, but is grasped in hope, not yet fully revealed. Around the field of blue is a golden ring to symbolize that blessedness in heaven lasts forever and has no end. Heavenly blessedness is exquisite, beyond all joy and better than any possessions, just as gold is the most valuable and precious metal.”