Description
"I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. . . ." Calvin clearly shows how God is the Creator, Preserver, and Governor of the world and everything within it. He is the sovereign and omnipotent Ruler of the universe.
Though this should be obvious to everyone, Calvin explains that our totla depravity has stifled and corrupted our knowledge of God and His role in the creation. He discusses the manifestations of God in both nture and the Scriptures, and reveals that God exists in three separate persons: the Holy Trinity.
Calvin also shows how the Fall of Man has let to spiritual blindness and confusion. He thoroughly discusses the image of God (in which we were created), free will, and original righteousness. He shows how mankind has wandered far afield from God's original intentions. The book concludes with a full discussion of divine providence.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon wrote, "The longer I live, the clearer does it appear [to me] that John Calvin's system is the nearest to perfection."
John Calvin (French: Jean Calvin, born Jehan Cauvin: 10 July 1509 – 27 May 1564) was an influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism. Originally trained as a humanist lawyer, he broke from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530. After religious tensions provoked a violent uprising against Protestants in France, Calvin fled to Basel, Switzerland, where he published the first edition of his seminal work The Institutes of the Christian Religion in 1536.
