A Reader’s Guide to John Calvin

Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. PSALM 119:18

Calvin wrote a great deal: the Institutes, commentaries on most of the Bible, thousands of sermons, treatises, catechisms and letters. All of it is in the public domain in the original French and Latin, and a large part is freely available in older English translations, above all those published by the Calvin Translation Society in Edinburgh in the nineteenth century. The difficulty is not access but choice. What follows is a short map.

Begin here

The Christian life (Institutes 3.6–10). Begin with these five short chapters on self-denial, cross-bearing, meditation on the future life and the right use of this life. They have often been printed on their own, sometimes as The Golden Booklet of the True Christian Life. Nothing Calvin wrote is warmer or more practical.

The sermons in the Ochorus library. Four of Calvin’s sermons are in the Ochorus library, in older English translations: All Scripture Is Given by Inspiration, God Will Have All Men to Be Saved, The Mystery of Godliness and Enduring Persecution for Christ. They show Calvin as his congregation heard him: plain, urgent, sometimes fierce, always pointing to Christ.

The Institutes

Institutes of the Christian Religion. His great work, in its final edition of 1559. It is long, but it is clear and well ordered, and it can be read a chapter at a time. Henry Beveridge’s translation (1845) and John Allen’s (1813) are both in the public domain and freely available. The modern standard edition, translated by Ford Lewis Battles and edited by John T. McNeill (1960), has excellent notes. Read Book 1 on God the Creator and Book 3 on how we receive the grace of Christ first; Book 4 on the church can wait.

The 1536 Institutes. The first edition, much shorter, arranged like a catechism. It is a good introduction to the young Calvin and his defence of the persecuted French believers.

Commentaries and sermons

The Commentaries. Calvin commented on most of the Bible. The Calvin Translation Society edition is freely available. His commentary on the Psalms, whose preface contains the only account he gave of his conversion, is the best place to start; the commentaries on Romans, John and Hebrews are close behind. They are plain, careful and full of devotion.

The Sermons. Calvin preached thousands of sermons, many of which were taken down as he spoke. Sixteenth-century English translations of his sermons on Job, Deuteronomy, Galatians, Ephesians and the pastoral epistles were widely read by the Puritans, and some have been reprinted.

Shorter writings

Reply to Sadoleto (1539). Calvin’s answer to a cardinal who invited Geneva back to Rome. Courteous, clear and one of the best short statements of why the Reformers believed reformation was necessary.

Short Treatise on the Lord’s Supper (1541). His teaching on the Supper, written for ordinary readers, and more irenic than his later polemics.

The Genevan Catechism. His teaching of the faith for children, in question and answer, beginning with the chief end of human life.

His Letters. Collected in several volumes in the nineteenth century, they show the pastor at work, especially his letters to prisoners and persecuted churches in France.

About Calvin

Theodore Beza, his friend and successor, wrote a short Life of Calvin soon after his death; it is admiring but invaluable. Among modern lives, T. H. L. Parker’s John Calvin: A Biography (1975) is clear and sympathetic. Bruce Gordon’s Calvin (2009) is a full and balanced modern study, honest about his faults. William J. Bouwsma’s John Calvin: A Sixteenth-Century Portrait (1988) is searching and more critical. François Wendel’s Calvin: The Origins and Development of His Religious Thought remains a fine guide to his theology.

Approach with care

His writings against Servetus and on the punishment of heretics, and his fiercer polemics against his opponents on the Lord’s Supper, are part of the record and should be read with the cautions raised in this book in mind. So should the chapters on predestination and reprobation (Institutes 3.21–24). Roland Bainton’s Hunted Heretic (1953) tells the story of Servetus from the other side, and every admirer of Calvin should read it.

Three counsels for reading him

Read him slowly. Calvin wrote for people who would ponder each sentence. A chapter a day of the Institutes, read with a Bible open, will take you far.

Read him as a pastor. He wrote as a shepherd of troubled souls and persecuted churches, not as an academic. Look for the comfort in his doctrine; he always meant it to be there.

Read him under Scripture. He would insist on it. He wanted nothing more than that his readers would go from his books to the Bible and find God there. Hold fast what agrees with the Word of God, let go what does not, and give thanks for the one who taught so many to say that they are not their own.

For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven. PSALM 119:89