Wrestling with God . . . and Winning: John Calvin’s Meditations on Genesis 32:22–32
August 10, 2026
August 10, 2026
Abstract: Taylor Hartley reflects on John Calvin’s meditations on God’s wrestling with Jacob in Genesis 32:22–32 and applies it to the suffering that pastors face. Though it may sound jarring to identify God as the one who brings suffering into our lives, he does this to test his people, as he did with Jacob. The good news for the Christian, though, is that the God with whom we “wrestle” also supplies the strength we need in this fight. And best of all, God himself is our reward, making even the most difficult seasons of suffering worth the pain.
Editor’s Note: This article is taken from Church Matters, the 9Marks journal for pastors, in the issue titled “The Pastor and Suffering.”
There are a dozen or so excerpts from Christian literature which, upon having first read them, I find myself going back to over and over again. John Calvin’s commentary on Genesis 32:22–32 where Jacob wrestles with God is such a text. I bet I’ve read it more than a hundred times over the past fifteen years. Of those times, the majority were prompted by various kinds of trials or suffering, whether my own or that of someone close to me. Let me summarize the story and give you a sampling of Calvin’s insights.
Genesis 32 opens with Jacob readily admitting to God his fear over the imminent encounter he is to have with Esau, his brother whose blessing he stole years earlier. On the night before the two brothers were to meet, Jacob found himself alone. . . alone, that is, until he wasn’t. For the text says that “a man wrestled with him” (Gen. 32:24). As the two were locked in a grapple, Jacob demanded a blessing from his mysterious opponent, a request I never made of my childhood friends when we used to tussle. The man responded to Jacob: “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and man, and have prevailed” (v. 28). When the sun had risen and the man was gone, Jacob reflected on the match and said, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered” (v. 30).
Pretty wild story, right? Now, let’s consider some of Calvin’s takeaways.
After recognizing the uniqueness of Jacob’s experience, Calvin pastorally applied the paradigm to all of God’s servants whom he referred to as “wrestlers.” With whom do they wrestle? Be forewarned—Calvin’s answer may at first seem a bit jolting. He writes:
Wherefore it is right to keep in view this design of the vision, which is to represent all the servants of God in this world as wrestlers; because the Lord exercises them with various kinds of conflicts. Moreover, it is not said that Satan, or any mortal man, wrestled with Jacob, but God himself: to teach us that our faith is tried by him; and whenever we are tempted, our business is truly with him, not only because we fight under his auspices, but because he, as an antagonist, descends into the arena to try our strength.11 .Calvin, John, and John King. Commentary on the First Book of Moses Called Genesis. Vol. 2, Pg. 195. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010. (emphasis mine)
God’s servants, his pastors, wrestle with God himself. So says Calvin. And just so we don’t miss the point, he comes around for it again: “Therefore, what was once exhibited under a visible form to our father Jacob, is daily fulfilled in the individual members of the Church; namely, that, in their temptations, it is necessary for them to wrestle with God.” When we suffer, it is easy to look east and west for explanations when the sure answer comes from the north. Pastors, for example, suffer because the world and its god oppose their message (1 John 3:13); or because their members criticize their preaching (2 Cor. 10:10); or because, like their members, they suffer in a body that is ailed with disease (Gal. 4:13). We can offer various secondary, instrumental causes for pastoral sufferings such as persecution, spiritual warfare, unfounded criticism, disease, loss, relational estrangement, and many other trials. It is totally legitimate to see Satan and sin as actors in bringing about these things in our lives.22 .See, for instance, Doug van Meter’s article, “What Is Satan’s Role in Suffering, and How Should We Respond?”, or Matt Emadi’s article, “Handling Ungodly Criticism”, or Travis Rymer’s article, “Pastoring with Two Cancers: Leading Your People While Fighting for Faith.”
And yet, I want to keep our attention on the primary cause of suffering which is God’s sovereign purpose over every detail of our lives. What comes to us must first pass through his hand.33 .For more Scripture that makes plain God’s sovereignty over all things including suffering, see Lamentations 3:37–38; Isaiah 45:7; Job 1:21; Ephesians 1:11; Romans 8:28. Now, you may at this point be thinking, “Ya know, Taylor, this isn’t the most encouraging way to address the topic of suffering!” Calvin, at least momentarily, appreciates the pushback. He asks:
Who is able to stand against an Antagonist, at whose breath alone all flesh perishes and vanishes away, at whose look the mountains melt, at whose word or beck the whole world is shaken to pieces, and therefore to attempt the least contest with him would be insane temerity.44 .Calvin, John, and John King. Commentary on the First Book of Moses Called Genesis. Vol. 2, Pg. 195. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010.
If God is so powerful that lightning bolts report to him for duty and lions wait for him to hunt their prey (Job 38:35, 39), the obvious question is how can you or I stand in an arena where he descends to oppose? The answer is equally obvious: no one can, at least, not alone. Not even the best-prepared pastor protected by the most biblically robust polity is ready to go one-on-one against this Antagonist.
So you’re suffering, pastor, and it’s under God’s sovereign oversight, and, if you’re alone in the fight, you’re going to lose. What hope do you have? Forgive me for the length of the following quote. It’s too good to cut up. Calvin answers:
For we do not fight against him, except by his own power, and with his own weapons; for he, having challenged us to this contest, at the same time furnishes us with means of resistance, so that he both fights against us and for us. In short, such is his apportioning of this conflict, that, while he assails us with one hand, he defends us with the other; yea, inasmuch as he supplies us with more strength to resist than he employs in opposing us, we may truly and properly say, that he fights against us with his left hand, and for us with his right hand. For while he lightly opposes us, he supplies invincible strength whereby we overcome. It is true he remains at perfect unity with himself: but the double method in which he deals with us cannot be otherwise expressed, than that in striking us with a human rod, he does not put forth his full strength in the temptation; but that in granting the victory to our faith, he becomes in us stronger than the power by which he opposes us.55 .Ibid.
You’re the man behind the pulpit, or in the counseling room, or sitting around the elder table, and opposition surrounds—opposition which has the Lord as its primary cause. If not for the Lord being on your side, you’d be completely without hope. And yet, the Lord is on your side. For whatever he brings against you, more still does he give to your defense. And why not just prevent suffering in the first place? So that “in granting the victory to our faith, he becomes in us stronger. . .”
Remarkably, this design of wrestling with God and winning doesn’t result in a diminished view of God, nor does it produce the kind of self-aggrandized pride a victor often feels after receiving his trophy. Jacob and all the rest of God’s winning wrestlers know that they win only by the “invincible strength” that God supplies. And the prize? The prize is God himself. Pastor, God is accomplishing things in you, through you, and for you amid whatever his hand has brought against you. But he is also with you in the fight. He draws near in order that you might see his face and be blessed.
The sun eventually dawned on Jacob’s face, and the God with whom he wrestled relented, but not before he blessed Jacob and gave him a new name. Jacob was left to walk with a limp, true enough. But my bet is that he wouldn’t have traded that limp for the victory God gave him for anything in the world. How could he? He saw God face to face and yet his life was delivered (Gen. 32:32).
If you’re a suffering pastor, take heart. This is not the end, and you are not alone, not even close.