He was living in Basel in the 1530s, a young Frenchman who had adopted the new Protestant faith.  There he heard news that ‘many faithful and holy persons were burnt alive in France.’  They were Protestant martyrs.  Afterward pamphlets appeared attacking them and justifying their deaths.

Calvin wrote the first edition of his Institutes in response to these things — to vindicate the ‘holy martyrs’ and explain their faith to the world.

When it was then published, it was not that copious and labored work it now is, but only a small treatise containing a summary of the principle truths of the Christian religion; and it was published with no other design than that the peoples might know what was the faith held by those whom I saw basely and wickedly defamed.  (Preface to the Commentary on the Psalms)

Last week at camp I sat on the floor in front of a fireplace.  (The rain had moved our campfire indoors.)  A picture of Jesus rested on the mantle, the paint pealing on the wall above it.  I watched the flames on the wood and thought of the ‘holy martyrs’ whose deaths occasioned the Institutes of the Christian Religion. 

Five broad themes mark this work:

1. The Majesty of God
2. The Frailty of Human Beings
3. The Sufficiency of Christ
4. The Efficacy of the Holy Spirit
5. The Necessity of the Church

But Calvin’s writing shines best, I think, when he speaks of the believer’s union with Christ, whose grace is our light and food in life, and our only hope in death.