Calvin's Commentaries, By John Calvin

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Beyond their scholarly usefulness, Calvin’s commentaries are quite pastoral. Nowadays you might find a commentary with all of the scholarly graces of precision, text-critical apparatus, and exhaustive documentation of various theories on offer without the slightest hint that these texts might actually be used in a pulpit someday. As a doctor of the church of Geneva involved in the weekly teaching and preaching duties of the pastorate, Calvin was keenly aware of the needs of pastors on the front lines. While he may have eyed key debates raging in the intellectual world, this view was never divorced from a churchly context. As one of the theological resources of the burgeoning movement of reform, he sought to produce commentaries that would edify the body, not earn academic accolades. All of that means his commentaries are actually useful for preaching and teaching, not just for writing grad papers in seminary.
Calvin’s commentary on the biblical text is also quite devotional and usually broken up into helpful, two-to-four-page chunks that can be studied bit by bit, morning by morning. They are of great doxological value not just for preachers and teachers, but for your own soul.
The following files are in pdf format.


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