John Calvin-Life,Legacy and Theology

JOHN CALVIN : LIFE, LEGACY AND THEOLOGY -
PROF. M. M. NINAN
Several chapters are then devoted to the subject of justification by faith alone. He defined justification as "the
acceptance by which God regards us as righteous whom he has received into grace." In this definition, it is
clear that it is God who initiates and carries through the action and that people play no role; God is completely
sovereign in salvation.
Near the end of the book, Calvin describes and defends the doctrine of predestination, a doctrine advanced by
Augustine in opposition to the teachings of Pelagius. Fellow theologians who followed the Augustinian tradition
on this point included Thomas Aquinas and Martin Luther, though Calvin's formulation of the doctrine went
further than the tradition that went before him. The principle, in Calvin's words, is that "All are not created on
equal terms, but some are preordained to eternal life, others to eternal damnation; and, accordingly, as each
has been created for one or other of these ends, we say that he has been predestinated to life or to death."
Contents of Book III
1. The Things Spoken Concerning Christ Profit Us by the Secret Working of the Spirit.
2. Faith: Its Definition Set Forth, and Its Properties Explained.
3. Our Regeneration by Faith: Repentance.
4. How Far from the Purity of the Gospel Is All That the Sophists in Their Schools Prate About Repentance;
Discussion of Confession and Satisfaction.
5. The Supplements That They Add to Satisfactions, Namely, Indulgences and Purgatory.
6. The Life of the Christian Man; and First, by What Arguments Scripture Urges Us to It.
7. The Sum of the Christian Life: The Denial of Ourselves.
8. Bearing the Cross, a Part of Self-denial.
9. Meditation on the Future Life.
10.How We Must Use the Present Life and Its Helps.
11.Justification by Faith: First the Definition of the Word and of the Matter.
12.We Must Lift Up Our Minds to God's Judgment Seat that We May Be Firmly Convinced of His Free
Justification.
13.Two Things to Be Noted in Free Justification.
14.The Beginning of Justification and Its Continual Progress.
15.Boasting About the Merits of Works Destroys Our Praise of God for Having Bestowed Righteousness,
as Well as Our Assurance of Salvation.
16.Refutation of the False Accusations by Which the Papists Try to Cast Odium Upon This Doctrine.
17.The Agreement of the Promises of the Law and of the Gospel.
18.Works Righteousness Is Wrongly Inferred from Reward.
19.Christian Freedom.
20.Prayer, Which is the Chief Exercise of Faith, and by Which We Daily Receive God's Benefits.
21.Eternal Election, by Which God Has Predestined Some to Salvation, Others to Destruction.
22.Confirmation of This Doctrine from Scriptural Testimonies.
23.Refutation of the False Accusations with Which This Doctrine Has Always Been Unjustly Burdened.
24.Election Is Confirmed by God's Call; Moreover, the Wicked Bring Upon Themselves the Just
Destruction to Which They Are Destined.
25.The Final Resurrection.
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