Institutes of the Christian Religion: The First English Version of the 1541 French Edition

by John Calvin

www.eerdmans.com Contents INTRODUCTION, by Elsie Anne McKee

If you ever considered reading John Calvin as a devotion, Rev. Dr. Elsie McKee’s translation of this “French” version of the Institutes will meet such a desire.

additions is the doctrine of the church, including practical expansion of the teaching on ministries, in part through the influence of Martin Bucer.

Attractive as the 1536 is, because it is the first and arguably the freshest, and because it presents the clearest picture of his initial catechetical purpose, it is not adequate as a means of studying Calvin's whole theology.

That is natural; the contents include not only a complete guide to Calvin's biblical theology (how to understand scripture as a whole and how to practice the Christian faith in the church and the world), but also how to defend this teaching against heresy and schism in terms of sixteenth-century controversies.

it provides access to the text as he revised his first "catechetical" version for the new purpose of teaching theology students.

Perhaps most important is that this text has a conversational, pastoral quality.

It was an apologia as well as catechism-cum-confession

By the time this edition was published, Calvin was experiencing the responsibility of serving a congregation of religious refugees who shared his own ...

Calvin's 1541 French Institutes was also more than simply a translation of a Latin original; it was serious theology in a language which previously was not considered fitting as a vehicle for serious subjects, and thus it is also recognized as one of the founding documents of the modern French language.

All seventeen chapters of the 1539 Latin are present but the French alters the order in the later part of the book. What is chapter 16 in 1539, on the five false sacraments, becomes

chapter 13 in 1541, following the exposition of the sacraments (general discussion, baptism, and the Lord's Supper) in chapters 10-12. No reason is given but it is possible that it seemed more logical for laity to have true and false sacraments side-by-side, as they had been in the first Institutes (as chapters 4 and 5). Like these revised discussions of sacraments there are also fuller developments of the other four chapters of 1536 in this 1541 edition: law and the ten commandments (previously 1, now 3), faith and the Apostles' Creed (previously 2, now 4), prayer (previously 3, now 9). The three subjects which were once gathered in chapter 6 in 1536 are now separated in 1541: Christian freedom (14), ecclesiastical polity (15), and civil government (16). The important additions to the editions of 1539-41 are distinct new chapters on the knowledge of God (1) and ourselves (2), penitence (5), justification by faith (6), the similarities and differences between Old and New Testaments (7), predestination and providence (8), and the Christian life (17).

justification by faith and penitence were clearly evident in the first edition of...

they have fuller, individual treatment. Others, such as the knowledge of God and ourselves, were briefly stated with less development in 1536; still others, such as predestination, were impl...

If someone cannot understand everything he should not despair and give up but continue to go on,

Above all, let the reader turn to the scripture to weigh the testimonies which I claim.

the first ought to show us not only that there is only one God whom all must worship and honor, but also that the same One is the fountain of all truth, wisdom, goodness, righteousness, judgment, mercy, power, and holiness, so that we may learn to expect and ask everything from Him, and also to acknowledge with praise and thanksgiving that all these things come from Him.

and to distrust and hate ourselves; and then kindles in us a desire to seek for God, since in Him lies all the good of which we are empty and naked.

that we immediately raise our eyes to God and reach at least some knowledge of Him. Thus by the f...

We cannot ardently desire God before we have begun to be completely dissa...

For this pride is rooted in all of us, that it always seems to us that we are just and truthful,

what is a little less dirty is received by us as very pure,

Nevertheless, however it is that the knowledge of God and the knowledge of ourselves are mutually joined together, still order requires that we put the knowledge of God first and then descend to the other.

The Lord has breathed into all people some understanding of His majesty,

may be condemned by their own testimony for not having honored Him and devoted their...

the most likely place to find an instance of such a person would be among the most ignorant people, and the ones most distant...

Is this true today ? Has our society's "Affluenza" made the brightest in the culture the most deaf, or dumb to the Triune God?

Those who seem not to differ from brute beasts in any other aspect of life nevertheless always retain some seed of religion, so that this universal concept has taken roo...

Calvin's response to my earlier question.

that there is a sense of divinity engraved in the hea...

it is apparent how intense this imprint of the divine majesty is; it cannot be erased from the human spirit - it would be easier to d...

I certainly admit that some delicate and deceitful people among the pagans have forged many things in religion to make naive people afraid and cause them scru...

but they would not have succeeded in this if people's spirits had not first been fixed on the firm pe...

We do not read of anyone who was ever more audacious or extreme in scorning God than the Roman emperor Caius Caligula. Yet no one ever trembled more wretchedly every time some sign of God's wrath appeared, so despite himself he was terrified of God, whom he consciously attempted to...

They look for every possible hiding place to get away from the presence of God, and try to wipe out the memory...

This statement has new relevance in this Digital age.

that if they have any relief from anxiety of conscience it is scarcely different from the sleep of drunkards or madmen who (even in sleeping) do not rest peacefully since they are conti...

First, in order to teach us to fear and revere God; and then in order to teach us that we must seek all good in Him, and that...

If this is so, it clearly follows that your life is wickedly corrupt unless it is ruled in ...

Instead of the obligation to please Him by holiness and innocence of heart, we put together some kind of worthless nonsense and ceremonies,

our trust completely fixed on Him as it ought to be, it rests on us or other creatures.

The second error that people commit is that they are compelled willy-nilly to think about God; they are not moved by the fear which comes from reverence for His majesty, but only by fear of His judgment: which terrifies

When the faithful heart knows Him according to His will, because it understands that He governs all things by His providence it counts on Him as its Teacher and Protector, and therefore entrusts

Since it is persuaded of His goodness and good will, the faithful heart rests with sureness in His mercy and does not fear that it will not always, by His mercy, have appropriate remedy for all troubles. Because it recognizes Him as Lord and Father,

Moreover the heart is not held back from sinning only by fear of His punishment, but because it loves and reveres Him as its Father, and fears Him as its Savior; even if there were no hell it would hate to offend Him. So

you see what pure and true religion is: faith joined with sincere fear of God, so that under the word "fear" are comprehended both

God willed the chief goal of the happy life to be the knowledge of His name;

no part of the world so small that at least some spark of His glory does not shine there.

Particularly you cannot look around and contemplate this beautiful masterpiece of the whole world, in its breadth and width, without (in a manner of speaking)

Psalm 8

Among these are not only those which are difficult to comprehend and which can be understood only by the means of astronomy,3

It is indeed true that those who

are educated in the liberal arts, or who have tasted something of them, have a special help for entering more profoundly into contemplati...

Although He leaves the wicked and evildoers for a time unpunished, and on the contrary allows

good and innocent to suffer more than a few afflictions and even be oppressed by the wickedness of the wicked, still the constant