Note on this Edition

This volume presents a new English translation of John Calvin's first complete French edition of the Institutes of the Christian Religion, published in 1541. Calvin translated and adapted it from the substantially enlarged Latin edition of 1539. Unlike the definitive 1559–1560 recension, arranged in four books, the 1541 edition consists of seventeen chapters and preserves the more compact and continuous form of Calvin's earlier theological synthesis.

Although Calvin continued to revise and enlarge the Institutes throughout his life, the 1541 edition is not merely a preliminary sketch. Its fundamental doctrines are fully formed: the knowledge of God and ourselves, the authority of Scripture, humanity's ruin in Adam, salvation through Jesus Christ, justification by faith, the work of the Holy Spirit, election and providence, the sacraments, the church, civil government, and the Christian life.

Calvin intended the Institutes to serve as a guide to Holy Scripture rather than a substitute for it. As he explains in the "Argument of the Present Book," his purpose was to furnish readers with a summary of Christian doctrine that would enable them to read the Old and New Testaments with greater understanding. Readers are therefore encouraged to approach this work as Calvin intended: as an aid to knowing God, resting in Christ, and growing in true godliness.

This translation is based upon the 1911 critical reprint of the 1541 French text prepared under the direction of Abel Lefranc by Henri Châtelain and Jacques Pannier. The spelling and punctuation of the French have been interpreted in light of sixteenth-century usage, while the English has been rendered in a clear and dignified modern style. Every effort has been made to preserve Calvin's theological precision, rhetorical force, and pastoral purpose.