Guillaume Farel persuaded John Calvin to accompany him to Geneva to reform the city. Initially, the city magistrates rejected the reformers’ presence. However, in 1541 Calvin managed to win their acceptance and was thus able to found the Reformed Church. This was to become the center of Calvinism.

Jean Calvin was one of the most brilliant reformers who led a movement that revolutionized the Christian Church in Europe, America, and eventually the rest of the world. Calvin saw salvation differently from Martin Luther or the Roman Catholic Church. According to his theory, God divides humanity into two: the elect, meaning those who will be saved and taken to heaven, and the damned, who will spend eternity in hell. This doctrine he called predestination.

Calvin was born in 1509 in the French town of Noyon into a family on good terms with the town’s bishop. This contact was an opportunity to associate with several noble families and allowed him to develop his aristocratic style.

What did John Calvin teach?

Initially, the city magistrates rejected the reformers’ presence. However, in 1541 Calvin managed to win their acceptance and was thus able to found the Reformed Church. This was to become the center of Calvinism. Jean destroyed his health by immersing himself in studies that included learning Greek and reading extensively in Greek and the Latin of the church fathers. In time, it became clear to Jean’s father that he could no longer be sure of the church dignitaries. No longer convinced that his son could achieve high office, he sent him to Orleans to pursue a career in law.

The teachings of John Calvin influence much of Protestantism to this day, helping to transform medieval society into a modern one.

Clavin’s central teachings are as follows:

• The starting point of the real Christian life is personal conversion, which is the exclusive work of God and not of the human mind.
• Salvation is given to us as a gift, by faith, without merit. Calvin’s faith is an unshakeable trust in divine wisdom, strengthened by studying the Scriptures. Knowledge of God comes from the Word, not from contemplation of nature or philosophy.
• The Bible is the perfect expression of divine revelation. There is no qualitative difference between the Old and New Testaments. Both are normative and complimentary. Israel and the church are two faces of God’s people, with Christ as their spiritual center.

In his seminal work, Institutes of the Christian Religion (Institutio Christianae Religionis), Calvin argues that God has, since the foundation of the world, by decree established two realities: who are those who will be saved and who are those who will be condemned. The conclusion of God’s double choice from the beginning is also the fruit of Calvin’s experience.