Calvin: Commentaries - NTSLibrary

1 Calvin: Commentaries by John Calvin About Calvin: Commentaries Title: Calvin: Commentaries URL: Author(s): Calvin, Jean Haroutunian, Joseph (Editor/Translator). Publisher: Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library Print Basis: 1958. Rights: Public Domain CCEL Subjects: All; Bible; Classic Calvin: Commentaries John Calvin Table of Contents About This Book.. p. ii Title Page.. p. 1. General Editors' Preface.. p. 2. Preface.. p. 3. General Introduction.. p. 5. I. The Bible.. p. 48. II. The Knowledge of God.. p. 78. III. Jesus Christ.. p. 94. IV. The Christian Life.. p. 130. V. Faith.. p. 152. VI. Providence.. p. 178. VII. Election and Predestination.. p. 198. VIII. Ethics and the Common Life.

2 P. 215. IX. The Church.. p. 249. General Index.. p. 282. Indexes.. p. 283. Index of Scripture References.. p. 283. Greek Words and Phrases.. p. 286. Latin Words and Phrases.. p. 287. French Words and Phrases.. p. 287. Index of Pages of the Print Edition.. p. 288. iii Calvin: Commentaries John Calvin iv Calvin: Commentaries John Calvin CALVIN: Commentaries . THE LIBRARY OF CHRISTIAN CLASSICS. Volume XXIII. Newly translated and edited by JOSEPH HAROUTUNIAN, , Cyrus H. McCormick Professor of Systematic Theology, McCormick Theological Seminary, Chicago, Illinois In collaboration with LOUISE PETTIBONE SMITH, , Professor of biblical History, Emeritus, Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts PHILADELPHIA.

3 THE WESTMINSTER PRESS. First published MCMLVIII. Library of Congress Catalog Card No.: 58 5060. 9. Calvin: Commentaries John Calvin GENERAL EDITORS' PREFACE. The Christian Church possesses in its literature an abundant and incomparable treasure. But it is an inheritance that must be reclaimed by each generation. THE LIBRARY OF CHRISTIAN. CLASSICS is designed to present in the English language, and in twenty-six volumes of convenient size, a selection of the most indispensable Christian treatises written prior to the end of the sixteenth century. The practice of giving circulation to writings selected for superior worth or special interest was adopted at the beginning of Christian history.

4 The canonical Scriptures were themselves a selection from a much wider literature. In the Patristic era there began to appear a class of works of compilation (often designed for ready reference in controversy) of the opinions of well-reputed predecessors, and in the Middle Ages many such works were produced. These medieval anthologies actually preserve some noteworthy materials from works otherwise lost. In modern times, with the increasing inability even of those trained in universities and theological colleges to read Latin and Greek texts with ease and familiarity, the translation of selected portions of earlier Christian literature into modern languages has become more necessary than ever; while the wide range of distinguished books written in vernaculars such as English makes selection there also needful.

5 The efforts that have been made to meet this need are too numerous to be noted here, but none of these collections serves the purpose of the reader who desires a library of representative treatises spanning the Christian centuries as a whole. Most of them embrace only the age of the Church Fathers, and some of them have long been out of print. A fresh translation of a work already translated may shed much new light upon its meaning. This is true even of Bible translations despite the work of many experts through the centuries. In some instances old translations have been adopted in this series, but wherever necessary or desirable, new ones have been made. Notes have 10 been supplied where these were needed to explain the author's meaning.

6 The introductions provided for the several treatises and extracts will, we believes furnish welcome guidance. JOHN BAILLIE. JOHN T. MCNEILL. HENRY P. VAN DUSEN. 11. 2. Calvin: Commentaries John Calvin PREFACE. In making this selection from Calvin's biblical Commentaries , our first intention was to use the translations of the Calvin Translation Society. However, it soon became clear that we had to make one of our own. For this there were two very good reasons. The older translation is about a hundred years old, and its style is no longer our own. Calvin's Commentaries were composed by way of either lecture or dictation. Their Latin style, although uneven, has the vividness and directness of the spoken word.

7 It is the style of a master of the language, and it is neither strange nor archaic. Therefore, it seemed to us unjust both to Calvin and to the reader to perpetuate English versions of the Commentaries that are both out of date and to us stilted. We have tried to make a translation which is at once true to the original and in good and vivid present-day English. It is too much to hope that we have succeeded in every passage we have selected. Any translator knows that fidelity in expressing the meaning and feeling of an author in another tongue is a subtle and risky business. We only hope that we have produced a readable translation without doing Calvin undue violence. We wanted the reader to enjoy Calvin as well as understand him.

8 We hope we have met with some, even if uneven, success. The older translations are from the hands of a number of scholars. Their English styles are different, and not of the same quality. Besides, the exegetical and theological predilections of the several translators have understandably colored their versions of the Latin text. In a selection like ours we would have had to put together, in immediate succession, passages with different styles and different adequacy as translations. This would have produced a book with a garbled and bewildering style. We made a new translation to avoid such an intolerable defect. 14 We must say a word as to why we offer the reader this particular volume out of the vast body of Calvin's Commentaries .

9 We had no single principle of selection. We took what we liked rather, a small fraction of what we liked and would have included if we had had the space. We were intent upon giving the reader good specimens of Calvin's way of explaining biblical texts, to bring out his qualities as an exegete. We wanted to show his concern with literary and historical questions, his understanding of Scripture both as the Word of God and as a human document, his constant preoccupation with the upbuilding of the church. We could not and did not ignore present-day issues in the interpretation of the Bible in theology and practical church life. We did the best we could to include material in which Calvin can be of some help to the church today.

10 We did our selecting with such interests in mind. However, we do hope that this book has a certain continuity which will convey a proper sense of the integrity of Calvin's mind. Our organization of the material is one of many possible. The one we adopted seemed natural to us. We have not given special chapters to Calvin's teachings on man, sin, the Holy Spirit, eschatology, politics. We had to choose between depth and spread, and we chose depth. We have much more material in hand, and someday we may be able to use it, especially if there is sufficient demand for it. I wish to express my gratitude to Prof. Louise P. Smith who collaborated with me, especially in preparing the Old Testament passages.