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General Introduction

CALVIN AS BIBLICAL COMMENTATOR

IN THESE TRANSLATED SELECTIONS FROM THE Biblical Commentaries of Calvin, we have tried to produce a readable version of a representative part of his work in this field. The Commentaries were translated into English soon after they were published in the second half of the sixteenth century. (They were retranslated about the middle of the nineteenth century, by the Calvin Translation Society, Edinburgh, and have been reprinted in this second version.) They were also translated immediately into French and somewhat later into Dutch and German. Calvin's Commentaries profoundly influenced the churches of the Reformed tradition; and there can be little doubt that a renewed interest in them and study of them would not only contribute to a better understanding of Calvin, but would also have a profound influence on the mind and life of the church today. Our primary interest in preparing this volume has been to present Calvin as a Biblical commentator, with the hope that many will be induced to turn to the Commentaries themselves in search of the light Calvin throws upon the meaning of the Scriptures.

We concur in the judgment of many before us that Calvin was, for various reasons, a unique and extremely illuminating commentator. His education as a humanist, his extensive knowledge of the work of other interpreters of the Bible, his classical and patristic erudition, his insights as a Reformer and churchman, and his exegetical competence and grasp of the Biblical mind -- all these make him an endlessly fresh and eye-opening interpreter.

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