This CD-ROM contains 64
collected works of John Calvin, including his
COMPLETE 45 volume set of Bible
Commentaries on the Old and New Testament,
totaling approx 29,500 pages.
Born in France in 1509,
theologian ecclesiastical statesman John Calvin was
Martin Luther's successor as the preeminent Protestant
theologian. Calvin made a powerful impact on the
fundamental doctrines of Protestantism, and is widely
credited as the most important figure in the second
generation of the Protestant Reformation. He died in
Geneva, Switzerland, in 1564.
Born on July 10, 1509, in Noyon, Picardy, France, John
Calvin was a law student at the University of Orléans
when he first joined the cause of the Reformation. In
1536, he published the landmark text Institutes of the
Christian Religion, an early attempt to standardize the
theories of Protestantism. Calvin's religious teachings
emphasized the sovereignty of the scriptures and divine
predestination—a doctrine holding that God chooses those
who will enter Heaven based on foreknowledge of their
good deeds.
Calvin lived in Geneva briefly, until anti-Protestant
authorities in 1538 forced him to leave. He was invited
back again in 1541, and upon his return from Germany,
where he had been living, he became an important
spiritual and political leader. Calvin used Protestant
principles to establish a religious government; and in
1555, he was given absolute supremacy as leader in
Geneva.
As Martin Luther's successor as the preeminent
Protestant theologian, Calvin was known for an
intellectual, unemotional approach to faith that
provided Protestantism's theological underpinnings,
whereas Luther brought passion and populism to his
religious cause.
While instituting many positive policies, Calvin's
government also punished "impiety" and dissent against
his particularly spare vision of Christianity with
execution. In the first five years of his rule in
Geneva, 58 people were executed and 76 exiled for their
religious beliefs. Calvin allowed no art other than
music, and even that could not involve instruments.
Under his rule, Geneva became the center of
Protestantism, and sent out pastors to the rest of
Europe, creating Presbyterianism in Scotland, the
Puritan Movement in England and the Reformed Church in
the Netherlands.
Death and Legacy
Calvin died on May 27, 1564, in Geneva, Switzerland. It
is unknown where he is buried. Today, Calvin remains
widely credited as the most important figure in the
second generation of the Protestant Reformation.
A towering figure in the
Reformation and prolific scholar and theologian, John
Calvin authored not only his famous Institutes of the
Christian Religion, but commentaries on twenty-four
books of the Old Testament and all of the New Testament
except for 2 and 3 John and Revelation. These classic
commentaries continue to be valued exegetical reference
works for pastors and serious students of the Bible
today.
This set on CD-ROM comprises
of the following books in PDF format:
John Calvin's Complete Commentaries Volume 01
Genesis Vol1
John Calvin's Complete Commentaries Volume 02
Genesis Vol2
John Calvin's Complete Commentaries Volume 03
Harmony of Law Vol 1
John Calvin's Complete Commentaries Volume 04
Harmony of Law Vol 2
John Calvin's Complete Commentaries Volume 05
Harmony of Law Vol 3
John Calvin's Complete Commentaries Volume 06
Harmony of Law Vol 4
John Calvin's Complete Commentaries Volume 07
Joshua
John Calvin's Complete Commentaries Volume 08
Psalms Vol1
John Calvin's Complete Commentaries Volume 09
Psalms Vol2
John Calvin's Complete Commentaries Volume 10
Psalms Vol3
John Calvin's Complete Commentaries Volume 11
Psalms Vol4
John Calvin's Complete Commentaries Volume 12
Psalms Vol5
John Calvin's Complete Commentaries Volume 13
Isaiah Vol1
John Calvin's Complete Commentaries Volume 14
Isaiah Vol2
John Calvin's Complete Commentaries Volume 15
Isaiah Vol3
John Calvin's Complete Commentaries Volume 16
Isaiah Vol4
John Calvin's Complete Commentaries Volume 17
Jeremiah Vol1
John Calvin's Complete Commentaries Volume 18
Jeremiah Vol2
John Calvin's Complete Commentaries Volume 19
Jeremiah Vol3
John Calvin's Complete Commentaries Volume 20
Jeremiah Vol4
John Calvin's Complete Commentaries Volume 21
Jeremiah Vol5
John Calvin's Complete Commentaries Volume 22
Ezekiel Vol1
John Calvin's Complete Commentaries Volume 23
Ezekiel Vol2
John Calvin's Complete Commentaries Volume 24
Daniel Vol1
John Calvin's Complete Commentaries Volume 25
Daniel Vol2
John Calvin's Complete Commentaries Volume 26
Hosea
John Calvin's Complete Commentaries Volume 27
Joel, Amos, Obadiah
John Calvin's Complete Commentaries Volume 28
Jonah, Micah, Nahum
John Calvin's Complete Commentaries Volume 29
Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai
John Calvin's Complete Commentaries Volume 30
Zechariah, Malachi
John Calvin's Complete Commentaries Volume 31
Matthew, Mark, Luke Vol1
John Calvin's Complete Commentaries Volume 32
Matthew, Mark, Luke Vol2
John Calvin's Complete Commentaries Volume 33
Matthew, Mark, Luke Vol3
John Calvin's Complete Commentaries Volume 34
John Vol1
John Calvin's Complete Commentaries Volume 35
John Vol2
John Calvin's Complete Commentaries Volume 36
Acts Vol1
John Calvin's Complete Commentaries Volume 37
Acts Vol2
John Calvin's Complete Commentaries Volume 38
Romans
John Calvin's Complete Commentaries Volume 39
Corinthians Vol1
John Calvin's Complete Commentaries Volume 40
Corinthians Vol2
John Calvin's Complete Commentaries Volume 41
Galatians and Ephesians
John Calvin's Complete Commentaries Volume 42
Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians
John Calvin's Complete Commentaries Volume 43
Timothy, Titus, Philemon
John Calvin's Complete Commentaries Volume 44
Hebrews
John Calvin's Complete Commentaries Volume 45
Catholic Epistles
John Calvin - General Commentaries
John Calvin - Institutes of the Christian
Religion
John Calvin - Secret Providence
John Calvin - Tracts Relating to the Reformation
Volume 1
John Calvin - Tracts Relating to the Reformation
Volume 2
John Calvin - Tracts Relating to the Reformation
Volume 3
John Calvin- His Life, Letters, and Work, by
Hugh Reyburn
John Calvin, The catechism of the church of
GenevaJohn Calvin's Sermons
Memoirs of the life and writings of John Calvin,
by John Mackenzie
Of Prayer, A Perpetual Exercise of Faith. The
Daily Benefits Derived from It
On the Christian Life
The Letters of John Calvin-Compiled from the
Original Manuscripts and Edited With Historical
Notes, by Dr. Jules Bonnet,
Volume 1
The Letters of John Calvin-Compiled from the
Original Manuscripts and Edited With Historical
Notes, by Dr. Jules Bonnet,
Volume 2
The Letters of John Calvin-Compiled from the
Original Manuscripts and Edited With Historical
Notes, by Dr. Jules Bonnet,
Volume 3
The Letters of John Calvin-Compiled from the
Original Manuscripts and Edited With Historical
Notes, by Dr. Jules Bonnet,
Volume 4
The Life and Times of John Calvin- The Great
Reformer, Volume 1
The Life and Times of John Calvin- The Great
Reformer, Volume 2
The Life of John Calvin |
MORE INFO ON
JOHN CALVIN:
SCRIPTURE:
The first statement
in the Institutes acknowledges its central theme. It
states that the sum of human wisdom consists of two
parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves. Calvin
argues that the knowledge of God is not inherent in
humanity nor can it be discovered by observing this
world. The only way to obtain it is to study scripture.
Calvin writes, "For anyone to arrive at God the Creator
he needs Scripture as his Guide and Teacher." He does
not try to prove the authority of scripture but rather
describes it as autopiston or self-authenticating. He
defends the trinitarian view of God and, in a strong
polemical stand against the Catholic Church, argues that
images of God lead to idolatry.
Calvin viewed Scripture as being both majestic and
simple. According to Ford Lewis Battles, Calvin had
discovered that "sublimity of style and sublimity of
thought were not coterminous."
PROVIDENCE:
At the end of the first book of the Institutes, he
offers his views on providence, writing, "By his Power
God cherishes and guards the World which he made and by
his Providence rules its individual Parts.[9] Humans are
unable to fully comprehend why God performs any
particular action, but whatever good or evil people may
practise, their efforts always result in the execution
of God's will and judgments."
SIN:
The second book of the Institutes includes several
essays on the original sin and the fall of man, which
directly refer to Augustine, who developed these
doctrines. He often cited the Church Fathers in order to
defend the reformed cause against the charge that the
reformers were creating new theology. In Calvin's view,
sin began with the fall of Adam and propagated to all of
humanity. The domination of sin is complete to the point
that people are driven to evil. Thus fallen humanity is
in need of the redemption that can be found in Christ.
But before Calvin expounded on this doctrine, he
described the special situation of the Jews who lived
during the time of the Old Testament. God made a
covenant with Abraham, promising the coming of Christ.
Hence, the Old Covenant was not in opposition to Christ,
but was rather a continuation of God's promise. Calvin
then describes the New Covenant using the passage from
the Apostles' Creed that describes Christ's suffering
under Pontius Pilate and his return to judge the living
and the dead. For Calvin, the whole course of Christ's
obedience to the Father removed the discord between
humanity and God.
ATONEMENT:
R. T. Kendall has argued that Calvin's view of the
atonement differs from that of later Calvinists,
especially the Puritans. Kendall interpreted Calvin as
believing that Christ died for all people, but
intercedes only for the elect.
Kendall's thesis has been disputed by Paul Helm, who
argues that "both Calvin and the Puritans taught that
Christ died for the elect and intercedes for the elect."
UNION WITH CHRIST:
In the third book of the Institutes, Calvin describes
how the spiritual union of Christ and humanity is
achieved. He first defines faith as the firm and certain
knowledge of God in Christ. The immediate effects of
faith are repentance and the remission of sin. This is
followed by spiritual regeneration, which returns the
believer to the state of holiness before Adam's
transgression. However, complete perfection is
unattainable in this life, and the believer should
expect a continual struggle against sin. Several
chapters are then devoted to the subject of
justification by faith alone. He defined justification
as "the acceptance by which God regards us as righteous
whom he has received into grace." In this definition, it
is clear that it is God who initiates and carries
through the action and that people play no role; God is
completely sovereign in salvation. According to Alister
McGrath, Calvin provided a solution to the Reformation
problem of how justification relates to sanctification.
Calvin suggested that both came out of union with
Christ. McGrath notes that while Martin Bucer suggested
that justification causes (moral) regeneration, Calvin
argued that "both justification and regeneration are the
results of the believer's union with Christ through
faith."
PREDESTINATION:
Near the end of the Institutes, Calvin describes and
defends the doctrine of predestination, a doctrine
advanced by Augustine in opposition to the teachings of
Pelagius. Fellow theologians who followed the
Augustinian tradition on this point included Thomas
Aquinas and Martin Luther, though Calvin's formulation
of the doctrine went further than the tradition that
went before him.[20] The principle, in Calvin's words,
is that "All are not created on equal terms, but some
are preordained to eternal life, others to eternal
damnation; and, accordingly, as each has been created
for one or other of these ends, we say that he has been
predestinated to life or to death."
The doctrine of predestination "does not stand at the
beginning of the dogmatic system as it does in Zwingli
or Beza", but, according to Fahlbusch, it "does tend to
burst through the soteriological-Christological
framework."[22] In contrast to some other Protestant
Reformers, Calvin taught double predestination. Chapter
21 of Book III of the Institutes is called "Of the
eternal election, by which God has predestinated some to
salvation, and others to destruction".
ECCLESIOLOGY AND
SACRAMENTS:
The final book of the Institutes describes what he
considers to be the true Church and its ministry,
authority, and sacraments. He denied the papal claim to
primacy and the accusation that the reformers were
schismatic. For Calvin, the Church was defined as the
body of believers who placed Christ at its head. By
definition, there was only one "catholic" or "universal"
Church. Hence, he argued that the reformers "had to
leave them in order that we might come to Christ." The
ministers of the Church are described from a passage
from Ephesians, and they consisted of apostles,
prophets, evangelists, pastors, and doctors. Calvin
regarded the first three offices as temporary, limited
in their existence to the time of the New Testament. The
latter two offices were established in the church in
Geneva. Although Calvin respected the work of the
ecumenical councils, he considered them to be subject to
God's Word found in scripture. He also believed that the
civil and church authorities were separate and should
not interfere with each other.
Calvin defined a sacrament as an earthly sign associated
with a promise from God. He accepted only two sacraments
as valid under the new covenant: baptism and the Lord's
Supper (in opposition to the Catholic acceptance of
seven sacraments). He completely rejected the Catholic
doctrine of transubstantiation and the treatment of the
Supper as a sacrifice. He also could not accept the
Lutheran doctrine of sacramental union in which Christ
was "in, with and under" the elements. His own view was
close to Zwingli's symbolic view, but it was not
identical. Rather than holding a purely symbolic view,
Calvin noted that with the participation of the Holy
Spirit, faith was nourished and strengthened by the
sacrament. In his words, the eucharistic rite was "a
secret too sublime for my mind to understand or words to
express. I experience it rather than understand it."
In common with other Protestant Reformers, Calvin
believed that there were only two sacraments, baptism
and the Lord's Supper. Calvin also conceded that
ordination could also be called a sacrament, but
suggested that it was a "special rite for a certain
function."
Calvin believed in infant baptism, and devoted a chapter
in his Institutes to the subject.
Calvin believed in a real spiritual presence of Christ
at the Eucharist. For Calvin, union with Christ was at
the heart of the Lord's Supper.
According to Brian Gerrish, there are three different
interpretations of the Lord's Supper within non-Lutheran
Protestant theology:
Symbolic memorialism, found in Zwingli, which sees the
elements merely as a sign pointing to a past event;
Symbolic parallelism, typified by Bullinger, which sees
the sign as pointing to “a happening that occurs
simultaneously in the present” alongside the sign
itself; and
Symbolic instrumentalism, Calvin's view, which holds
that the Eucharist is “a present happening that is
actually brought about through the signs.”
Calvin's sacramental theology was criticized by later
Reformed writers. Robert L. Dabney, for example, called
it “not only incomprehensible but impossible.”
CONTROVERSIES:
Joachim Westphal disagreed with Calvin's theology on the
eucharist.
Calvin's theology was not without controversy. Pierre
Caroli, a Protestant minister in Lausanne accused Calvin
as well as Viret and Farel of Arianism in 1536. Calvin
defended his beliefs on the Trinity in Confessio de
Trinitate propter calumnias P. Caroli. In 1551
Jérôme-Hermès Bolsec, a physician in Geneva, attacked
Calvin's doctrine of predestination and accused him of
making God the author of sin. Bolsec was banished from
the city, and after Calvin's death, he wrote a biography
which severely maligned Calvin's character. In the
following year, Joachim Westphal, a Gnesio-Lutheran
pastor in Hamburg, condemned Calvin and Zwingli as
heretics in denying the eucharistic doctrine of the
union of Christ's body with the elements. Calvin's
Defensio sanae et orthodoxae doctrinae de sacramentis (A
Defence of the Sober and Orthodox Doctrine of the
Sacrament) was his response in 1555. In 1556 Justus
Velsius, a Dutch dissident, held a public disputation
with Calvin during his visit to Frankfurt, in which
Velsius defended free will against Calvin's doctrine of
predestination. Following the execution of Servetus, a
close associate of Calvin, Sebastian Castellio, broke
with him on the issue of the treatment of heretics. In
Castellio's Treatise on Heretics (1554), he argued for a
focus on Christ's moral teachings in place of the vanity
of theology, and he afterward developed a theory of
tolerance based on biblical principles.
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