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John Calvin - Institutes of the Christian Religion

Prefatory Material

Introduction
Chapter 1: The Printers to the Readers.
Chapter 2: The Original Translator’s Preface.
Chapter 3: Prefatory Address
Chapter 4: The Epistle to the Reader
Chapter 5: Subject of the Present Work
Chapter 6: Epistle to the Reader.
Chapter 7: Method and Arrangement, or Subject of the Whole Work.

Book 1: Of the Knowledge of God the Creator

Argument.
Chapter 1: The Knowledge of God and of Ourselves Mutually Connected. —Nature of the Connection.
Chapter 2: What It Is to Know God,—tendency of This Knowledge.
Chapter 3: The Knowledge of God Naturally Implanted in the Human Mind.
Chapter 4: The Knowledge of God Stifled or Corrupted, Ignorantly or Maliciously.
Chapter 5: The Knowledge of God Conspicuous in the Creation, and Continual Government of the World.
Chapter 6: The Need of Scripture, as a Guide and Teacher, in Coming to God as a Creator
Chapter 7: The Testimony of the Spirit Necessary to Give Full Authority to Scripture. The Impiety of Pretending That the Credibility of Scripture Depends on the Judgment of the Church.
Chapter 8: The Credibility of Scripture Sufficiently Proved in So Far as Natural Reason Admits.
Chapter 9: All the Principles of Piety Subverted by Fanatics, Who Substitute Revelations for Scripture.
Chapter 10: In Scripture, the True God Opposed, Exclusively, to All the Gods of the Heathen.
Chapter 11: Impiety of Attributing a Visible Form to God.—the Setting Up of Idols a Defection From the True God.
Chapter 12: God Distinguished From Idols, That He May Be the Exclusive Object of Worship.
Chapter 13: The Unity of the Divine Essence in Three Persons Taught, in Scripture, From the Foundation of the World.
Chapter 14: In the Creation of the World, and All Things in It, the True God Distinguished by Certain Marks From Fictitious Gods.
Chapter 15: State in Which Man Was Created. The Faculties of the Soul—the Image of God—free Will—original Righteousness
Chapter 16: The World, Created by God, Still Cherished and Protected by Him. Each and All of Its Parts Governed by His Providence.
Chapter 17: Use to Be Made of the Doctrine of Providence.
Chapter 18: The Instrumentality of the Wicked Employed by God, While He Continues Free From Every Taint

Book 2: Of the Knowledge of God the Redeemer, in Christ, as First Manifested to the Fathers, Under the Law, and Thereafter to Us Under the Gospel

Argument.
Chapter 1: Through the Fall and Revolt of Adam, the Whole Human Race Made Accursed and Degenerate. Of Original Sin.
Chapter 2: Man Now Deprived of Freedom of Will, and Miserably Enslaved.
Chapter 3: Every Thing Proceeding From the Corrupt Nature of Man Damnable.
Chapter 4: How God Works in the Hearts of Men.
Chapter 5: The Arguments Usually Alleged in Support of Free Will Refuted.
Chapter 6: Redemption for Man Lost to Be Sought in Christ.
Chapter 7: The Law Given, Not to Retain a People for Itself, but to Keep Alive the Hope of Salvation in Christ Until His Advent.
Chapter 8: Exposition of the Moral Law.
Chapter 9: Christ, Though Known to the Jews Under the Law, Yet Only Manifested Under the Gospel.
Chapter 10: The Resemblance Between the Old Testament and the New.
Chapter 11: The Difference Between the Two Testaments.
Chapter 12: Christ, to Perform the Office of Mediator, Behoved to Become Man.
Chapter 13: Christ Clothed With the True Substance of Human Nature.
Chapter 14: How Two Natures Constitute the Person of the Mediator.
Chapter 15: Three Things Briefly to Be Regarded in Christ—viz. His Offices of Prophet, King, and Priest.
Chapter 16: How Christ Performed the Office of Redeemer in Procuring Our Salvation. The Death, Resurrection, and Ascension of Christ.
Chapter 17: Christ Rightly and Properly Said to Have Merited Grace and Salvation for Us.

Book 3: Of the Mode of Obtaining the Grace of Christ. The Benefits It Confers, and the Effects Resulting from It

Argument.
Chapter 1: The Benefits of Christ Made Available to Us by the Secret Operation of the Spirit.
Chapter 2: Of Faith. The Definition of It. Its Peculiar Properties.
Chapter 3: Regeneration by Faith. Of Repentance.
Chapter 4: Penitence, as Explained in the Sophistical Jargon of the Schoolmen, Widely Different From the Purity Required by the Gospel. Of Confession and Satisfaction.
Chapter 5: Of the Modes of Supplementing Satisfaction—viz. Indulgences and Purgatory.
Chapter 6: The Life of a Christian Man. Scriptural Arguments Exhorting to It.
Chapter 7: A Summary of the Christian Life. Of Self-Denial.
Chapter 8: Of Bearing the Cross—one Branch of Self-Denial.
Chapter 9: Of Meditating on the Future Life.
Chapter 10: How to Use the Present Life, and the Comforts of It.
Chapter 11: Of Justification by Faith. Both the Name and the Reality Defined.
Chapter 12: Necessity of Contemplating the Judgment-Seat of God, in Order to Be Seriously Convinced of the Doctrine of Gratuitous Justification.
Chapter 13: Two Things to Be Observed in Gratuitous Justification.
Chapter 14: The Beginning of Justification. In What Sense Progressive.
Chapter 15: The Boasted Merit of Works Subversive Both of the Glory of God, in Bestowing Righteousness, and of the Certainty of Salvation.
Chapter 16: Refutation of the Calumnies by Which It Is Attempted to Throw Odium on This Doctrine.
Chapter 17: The Promises of the Law and the Gospel Reconciled.
Chapter 18: The Righteousness of Works Improperly Inferred From Rewards.
Chapter 19: Of Christian Liberty.
Chapter 20: Of Prayer—a Perpetual Exercise of Faith. The Daily Benefits Derived From It.
Chapter 21: Of the Eternal Election, by Which God Has Predestinated Some to Salvation, and Others to Destruction.
Chapter 22: This Doctrine Confirmed by Proofs From Scripture.
Chapter 23: Refutation of the Calumnies by Which This Doctrine Is Always Unjustly Assailed.
Chapter 24: Election Confirmed by the Calling of God. The Reprobate Bring Upon Themselves the Righteous Destruction to Which They Are Doomed.
Chapter 25: Of the Last Resurrection.

Book 4: Of the External Means or Helps by Which God Allures Us into the Society of Christ, and Holds Us in It

Argument.
Chapter 1: Of the True Church. Duty of Cultivating Unity With Her, as the Mother of All the Godly.
Chapter 2: Comparison Between the False Church and the True.
Chapter 3: Of the Teachers and Ministers of the Church. Their Election and Office.
Chapter 4: Of the State of the Primitive Church, and the Mode of Government in Use Before the Papacy.
Chapter 5: The Ancient Form of Government Utterly Corrupted by the Tyranny of the Papacy.
Chapter 6: Of the Primacy of the Romish See.
Chapter 7: Of the Beginning and Rise of the Romish Papacy, Till It Attained a Height by Which the Liberty of the Church Was Destroyed, and All True Rule Overthrown.
Chapter 8: Of the Power of the Church in Articles of Faith. The Unbridled Licence of the Papal Church in Destroying Purity of Doctrine.
Chapter 9: Of Councils and Their Authority
Chapter 10: Of the Power of Making Laws. The Cruelty of the Pope and His Adherents, in This Respect, in Tyrannically Oppressing and Destroying Souls.
Chapter 11: Of the Jurisdiction of the Church, and the Abuses of It, as Exemplified in the Papacy.
Chapter 12: Of the Discipline of the Church, and Its Principal Use in Censures and Excommunication.
Chapter 13: Of Vows. The Miserable Entanglements Caused by Vowing Rashly.
Chapter 14: Of the Sacraments.
Chapter 15: Of Baptism.
Chapter 16: Pædobaptism. Its Accordance With the Institution of Christ, and the Nature of the Sign.
Chapter 17: Of the Lord’s Supper, and the Benefits Conferred by It
Chapter 18: Of the Popish Mass. How It Not Only Profanes, but Annihilates the Lord’s Supper.
Chapter 19: Of the Five Sacraments, Falsely So Called. Their Spuriousness Proved, and Their True Character Explained.
Chapter 20: Of Civil Government.

One Hundred Aphorisms

Intro
Book 1
Book 2
Book 3
Book 4

One Hundred Aphorisms

Intro

One Hundred Aphorisms, Containing, Within A Narrow Compass, The Substance And Order Of The Four Books Of The Institutes of the Christian Religion.

←Chapter 20: Of Civil Government. Book 1→

© Joel Kell 2026 · Copyright