An excerpt from John Calvin’s The Institutes of the Christian Religion with an introduction and annotations by Mark Troughton.
Mark Troughton taught French, Italian and English for 10 years before retraining for church ministry. He went to Switzerland in 1994, where he worked as a pastor, trainer, Bible teacher and church planter. Mark has been pastor of York Evangelical Church since February 2004.
Ideas for further thought and discussion
If you enjoyed this you might like to dip more than a toe into the Institutes. A great way to do that is to read Calvin’s ‘On the Christian Life.’ It’s actually an excerpt from Book 3 of the Institutes that Calvin later published as a stand-alone piece. In it he offers “a summary of the Christian life,” with a striking focus on self-denial as we study the cross; then he offers “some thoughts on meditating on the future life”; and finally a reflection on “how to use the present life, and the comforts of it.” Click here to read a version online.
Primer 