Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin

First published:Christianae religionis institutio, 1536 (English translation, 1561)

Edition(s) used:Institutes of the Christian Religion, edited by John T. McNeill and translated by Ford Lewis Battles. 2 vols. Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press, 1960

Genre(s): Nonfiction

Subgenre(s): Theology

Core issue(s): Calvinism; conversion; Protestants and Protestantism

Overview

In 1534, French monarch Francis I resolved to purge his realm of heretics and initiated persecution of evangelicals. John Calvin, a recent adherent to the Reformation, fled to Basel and there composed a summary of Protestant beliefs addressed to Francis I with an appeal for an end to the repression. Calvin hoped for a positive response to his plea, but that did not occur, despite the eloquence of the admonitory preface that introduces the material of his Institutes of the Christian Religion.

Although Calvin would be duly remembered as an outstanding defender of the Protestant cause, he won his reputation principally as a theological scholar and exponent of Christian piety. He composed five Latin editions of his masterpiece and translated or supervised four translations into French, his purpose being to provide a guidebook for readers of Scripture to promote godly living. The first edition reflects the influence of Martin Luther’s Klein Katechismus (1529; Luther’s Small Catechism, 1893) and thereafter Calvin often cited the Wittenberg reformer. The Apostles’ Creed was the model for the arrangement of Luther’s work, and Calvin followed him in composing the Institutes of the Christian Religion.

Calvin’s magnum opus is both catechetical and apologetic in character, in that it offers instruction in Christian doctrine while defending Protestant teaching against its critics. As it became clear that Francis I would not stop persecuting, Calvin concentrated more on instructing his disciples than on rebutting accusations from their enemies, a trend visible in later versions of his work.

Believing the proper knowledge of God and of one’s self are inseparable, Calvin began by explaining the biblical teaching of how humans may acquire that knowledge and why their sinful condition prevents them from doing so. He magnified the role of the Holy Spirit in enabling people to grasp revealed truth by regenerating them and convincing them that Scripture is the Word of God. From the creation of the world to the end of time, the Holy Spirit is at work calling sinners to Christ and empowering them to respond positively.

Calvin saw Christ as the capstone of revelation and the only redeemer, the one who is the heart of the Bible. The reformer explained how sinners receive the benefits of Christ’s saving work and thereby become members of his spiritual body, the church. For Calvin the doctrine of the church was of immense importance, so he explained the New Testament teaching on that subject and contrasted it sharply with what he perceived to be the erroneous view of the papacy. This included his understanding of the sacraments and his plan for church government.

Throughout his learned expositions of theology, Calvin emphasized the practicality of a clear understanding of doctrine as an asset in the Christian’s pursuit of personal piety. Calvin was not a detached academic theologian writing only for other scholars. He was a pastor concerned for the eternal and temporal well-being of fellow believers, and his extensive treatment of the Holy Spirit’s person and work reflects this concern. His objective was to assist Christians to attain, maintain, and strengthen spirituality throughout their lives, for he knew they faced a continual struggle with temptation that would not end until they joined Christ in heaven.

The first printing of the Institutes of the Christian Religion sold in less than a year, so in 1539 while a pastor in Strasbourg, Calvin produced a much expanded version. This edition contains fuller coverage of the Trinity, the connection between the Old and New Testaments, and major doctrines relating to salvation. What had been a primer, in its second edition became an exposition of faith in the manner of medieval summae. A Latin edition in 1543 and a French one in 1545 enlarged his work further, as did versions in 1550 and 1551.

The definitive rendering of the Institutes of the Christian Religion appeared in 1559, a work of four volumes and eighty chapters. In this superbly organized edition it became the most influential book of the Reformation, a work that enabled the Reformed faith (Calvinism) to supersede Lutheranism as academically and intellectually the preeminent form of Protestantism and to make Calvin one of the foremost evangelical theologians of all time. Abridgments of the work began appearing in the sixteenth century.

Although Calvin, like other great thinkers, modified his views at times, succeeding editions of his book show remarkable consistency compared with the editions of the works of other theologians. Changes that do appear show the author’s responses to issues as they arose. Calvin, like Luther, perceived the Christian life as a pilgrimage toward spiritual perfection to be completed only in eternity, and the various editions of his Institutes of the Christian Religion reflect his own spiritual and intellectual growth.

In addition to his affection for and reliance on Luther, Calvin drew heavily from the works of Saint Augustine (354-430 c.e.), perhaps as a way to demonstrate that his own doctrine was not novel. He showed, for example, how Augustine’s understanding of human sinfulness and consequent depravity corresponded to Reformed teaching. Saint John Chrysostom (347-407 c.e.) also exerted much influence on Calvin, especially Chrysostom’s exegesis of Scripture. During his stay in Strasbourg (1538-1541), Calvin learned much from Martin Bucer, the major Protestant reformer there. Areas of learning were in the matters of prayer and church government as well as in the composition of his view of predestination.

Calvin’s critics no less than his friends and historical predecessors influenced his thinking, as he replied to assaults on his teachings. The Anabaptist Michael Servetus, for example, repudiated the doctrine of the Trinity, a denial that aroused Calvin to defend it vigorously. The reformer of Geneva (his final residence) engaged proponents of medieval Catholicism on one hand and revolutionary radicals on the other. Calvin’s procedure was to demonstrate the historic orthodoxy of Protestants by relating their beliefs to the teaching of Scripture and the fathers of the ancient church. He insisted always on the supremacy of Scripture and did not hesitate to rebuke the fathers where he perceived they had deviated from biblical teaching. Despite his fondness for Augustine, Calvin objected to that saint’s allegorical, rather than literal, method of interpreting the Bible.

Calvin made his mark as an author in French, as his 1539 translation of the Institutes of the Christian Religion attests. Many specialists in the French language hail it as the first great literary work in that tongue. Roman Catholic authorities, however, held a public burning of his work in Paris. With rigorous logic and rhetorical skill, Calvin communicated his expositions of Scripture, but his purpose was not to demonstrate eloquence but to inform and fortify the faith of believers.

Christian Themes

Although Calvin wrote little about himself, insights into his thinking can be gained by observing how he responded to his critics and by noting the spiritual advice he gave to fellow believers. Autobiographical references appear in the Institutes of the Christian Religion, as Calvin often related his own condition to that of figures in the Bible. He emphasized Christians’ dependence on the Holy Spirit for the proper understanding of Scripture and their reliance on the Spirit to empower godly living. More than any reformer of his era, Calvin organized the biblical data about the Third Person of the Trinity and so became the theologian of the Holy Spirit.

Not content to produce a work of detached erudition, the reformer presented his Institutes of the Christian Religion as primarily a summary of piety or spirituality. The book affirms God’s right to rule all he has made, and it calls readers to lives of devotion through following Jesus’ example. Along with learned exegesis of Scripture in its original languages are profuse expressions of praise and gratitude to God and admonitions to love him and to obey his commandments. Calvin never regarded scholarship as an end in itself. Truth must be applied to life. He made this clear in his address to Francis I, and he closed his work with a treatise about the God-given role of civil government. Divine revelation conveys the correct knowledge of God, and it specifies the proper relationship between them.

Perhaps because Calvin defended the doctrine of predestination so vigorously against those who denied it, it has become common to regard that principle as the defining feature of his theology. Such, however, is not the case. His view of that subject was not unique, for Saint Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and especially Martin Luther had written extensively about that subject. On the doctrines pertaining to salvation Calvin echoed Luther’s teaching and promoted it with equal fervor and greater erudition than the Wittenberg theologian had. Like Luther, Calvin considered saving faith a gift from God, and he too defined faith as personal trust in Christ, not merely assent to doctrinal propositions. Christocentricity was the grand theme in Wittenberg and Geneva, where scholars and preachers proclaimed salvation as a divine gift, not a human achievement. The objective work of God’s grace through Christ leads to subjective faith in the efficacy of Jesus’ redeeming work. Both the objective and subjective aspects of salvation are equally prominent in the Institutes of the Christian Religion. Contrary to common misconceptions, the reformer of Geneva did not have a heart of ice and a countenance of stone. Numerous statements in the work reflect a pastor’s deep concern for the spiritual well-being of his people.

Sources for Further Study

Calvin, John. Calvin’s “Institutes”: A New Compend. Edited by Hugh T. Kerr. Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press, 1989. This masterful abridgment of 180 pages provides the essence of the final edition and is an excellent means to obtain a knowledge of Calvin quickly.

Calvin, John. Institutes of the Christian Religion. Edited by John T. McNeill. Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press, 1960. This definitive translation includes a large introduction replete with helpful information about the author and his major beliefs.

McGoldrick, James Edward. “John Calvin, Practical Theologian: The Reformer’s Spirituality.” In Reformed Spirituality, edited by Joseph A. Pipa, Jr., and J. Andrew Wortman. Taylors, S.C.: Southern Presbyterian Press, 2003. This essay corrects the stereotype of Calvin as an unfeeling scholar detached from ordinary Christians and their struggles.

McGrath, Alister E. A Life of John Calvin. 1990. Reprint. Oxford, England: Blackwell, 2000. This scholarly and thorough biography examines Calvin’s beliefs and relates them to events of his time in a succinct manner.

Wendel, François. Calvin: Origins and Development of His Religious Thought. Translated by Philip Mairet. 1963. Reprint. Durham, N.C.: Labyrinth Press, 1987. A fine intellectual biography of great value, this work covers every major aspect of Calvin’s theology in a readable format.