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

by John Calvin

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).