Calvin began his Institutes with the importance of God as Creator. Humans discern their earliest knowledge of God, he said, in the possibilities and limits of their own created being. As a microcosm of the world, they see God’s glory mirrored in themselves, despite the tarnishing effects of sin.27 Beginning, then, with the experience of creation, Calvin went on to speak of God as Trinity, the need for redemption, and the promise of a restored world. These three themes all emerge from the initial goodness of created life.
