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Institutes of the Christian Religion (Books I–III)

John Calvin, 1559

Calvin's great summary of the faith: the knowledge of God the Creator, of God the Redeemer in Christ, and of how we receive His grace. John Allen's translation (1813).

1. Chapter I. The Connection Between the Knowledge of God and the Knowledge of Ourselves
2. Chapter II. The Nature and Tendency of the Knowledge of God
3. Chapter III. The Human Mind Naturally Endued with the Knowledge of God
4. Chapter IV. This Knowledge Extinguished or Corrupted, Partly by Ignorance, Partly by Wickedness
5. Chapter V. The Knowledge of God Conspicuous in the Formation and Continual Government of the World
6. Chapter VI. The Guidance and Teaching of the Scripture Necessary to Lead to the Knowledge of God the Creator
7. Chapter VII. The Testimony of the Spirit Necessary to Confirm the Scripture, in Order to the Complete Establishment of its Authority. The Suspension of its Authority on the Judgment of the Church, an Impious Fiction
8. Chapter VIII. Rational Proofs to Establish the Belief of the Scripture
9. Chapter IX. The Fanaticism Which Discards the Scripture, Under the Pretence of Resorting to Immediate Revelations, Subversive of Every Principle of Piety
10. Chapter X. All Idolatrous Worship Discountenanced in the Scripture, by its Exclusive Opposition of the True God to All the Fictitious Deities of the Heathen
11. Chapter XI. Unlawfulness of Ascribing to God a Visible Form. All Idolatry a Defection from the True God
12. Chapter XII. God Contradistinguished from Idols, That He May Be Solely and Supremely Worshipped
13. Chapter XIII. One Divine Essence, Containing Three Persons; Taught in the Scriptures from the Beginning
14. Chapter XIV. The True God Clearly Distinguished in the Scripture from All Fictitious Ones by the Creation of the World
15. Chapter XV. The State of Man at his Creation, the Faculties of the Soul, the Divine Image, Free Will, and the Original Purity of his Nature
16. Chapter XVI. God’s Preservation and Support of the World by his Power, and his Government of Every Part of It by his Providence
17. Chapter XVII. The Proper Application of This Doctrine to Render It Useful to Us
18. Chapter XVIII. God Uses the Agency of the Impious, and Inclines their Minds to Execute his Judgments, Yet Without the Least Stain of his Perfect Purity
19. Chapter I. The Fall and Defection of Adam the Cause of the Curse Inflicted on All Mankind, and of their Degeneracy from their Primitive Condition. The Doctrine of Original Sin
20. Chapter II. Man, in his Present State, Despoiled of Freedom of Will, and Subjected to a Miserable Slavery
21. Chapter III. Every Thing That Proceeds from the Corrupt Nature of Man Worthy of Condemnation
22. Chapter IV. The Operation of God in the Hearts of Men
23. Chapter V. A Refutation of the Objections Commonly Urged in Support of Free Will
24. Chapter VI. Redemption for Lost Man to Be Sought in Christ
25. Chapter VII. The Law Given, Not to Confine the Ancient People to Itself, but to Encourage their Hope of Salvation in Christ, Till the Time of his Coming
26. Chapter VIII. An Exposition of the Moral Law
27. Chapter IX. Christ, Though Known to the Jews Under the Law, Yet Clearly Revealed Only in the Gospel
28. Chapter X. The Similarity of the Old and New Testaments
29. Chapter XI. The Difference of the Two Testaments
30. Chapter XII. The Necessity of Christ Becoming Man in Order to Fulfil the Office of Mediator
31. Chapter XIII. Christ’s Assumption of Real Humanity
32. Chapter XIV. The Union of the Two Natures Constituting the Person of the Mediator
33. Chapter XV. The Consideration of Christ’s Three Offices, Prophetical, Regal, and Sacerdotal, Necessary to our Knowing the End of his Mission from the Father, and the Benefits Which He Confers on Us
34. Chapter XVI. Christ’s Execution of the Office of a Redeemer to Procure our Salvation. His Death, Resurrection, and Ascension to Heaven
35. Chapter XVII. Christ Truly and Properly Said to Have Merited the Grace of God and Salvation for Us
36. Chapter I. What Is Declared Concerning Christ Rendered Profitable to Us by the Secret Operation of the Spirit
37. Chapter II. Faith Defined, and its Properties Described
38. Chapter III. On Repentance
39. Chapter IV. The Sophistry and Jargon of the Schools Concerning Repentance, Very Remote from the Purity of the Gospel. On Confession and Satisfaction
40. Chapter V. Indulgences and Purgatory. The Supplements to their Doctrine of Satisfactions
41. Chapter VI. The Life of a Christian. Scriptural Arguments and Exhortations to It
42. Chapter VII. Summary of the Christian Life. Self‐Denial
43. Chapter VIII. Bearing the Cross, Which Is a Branch of Self‐Denial
44. Chapter IX. Meditation on the Future Life
45. Chapter X. The Right Use of the Present Life and its Supports
46. Chapter XI. Justification by Faith. The Name and Thing Defined
47. Chapter XII. A Consideration of the Divine Tribunal, Necessary to a Serious Conviction of Gratuitous Justification
48. Chapter XIII. Two Things Necessary to Be Observed in Gratuitous Justification