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Ever stared at John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion on your shelf and thought, “One day I’ll finally read that… but where would I even start?” This podcast is for that moment. Calvin’s Institutes in a Year is a guided, day-by-day journey through one of the most influential works in Christian theology. Together, we read through the entire Institutes over the course of a full year—one manageable section at a time—so that a book many admire from a distance finally becomes something you actually finish. Each daily episode is short, focused, and intentional. We keep the pace steady, the sections approachable, and the explanations clear, helping you follow Calvin’s arguments without feeling buried under the weight of a theological classic. No rushing. No intimidation. Just faithful reading, thoughtful reflection, and steady progress. This is not a lecture series and it’s not a shortcut. It’s a companion for the long walk—designed for pastors, students, Reformed readers, and anyone who wants to understand historic Christian doctrine at a deeper level by actually reading the text. If you want more than just listening, you’re invited to read along with us at ThroughTheChurchFathers.com where you’ll find the full reading schedule, written texts, and the ability to comment and discuss alongside others making the same journey. If the Institutes has always felt important but unreachable, this is your invitation to finally open it—one day at a time. We begin January 1, 2026 Explore the Project: Through the Church Fathers – https://www.throughthechurchfathers.com Patreon – https://www.patreon.com/cmichaelpatton Credo Courses – https://www.credocourses.com Credo Ministries – https://www.credoministries.org

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Check latest episodes from John Calvin's Institutes in a Year podcast

Through Reformation Thought: Novemeber 1

2026/11/01

Erasmus finishes the preface by refusing to measure the truth by a count of votes, and then refusing to hand the meaning of Scripture to a private spirit. He grants that Scripture alone outweighs every human voice, and adds at once that both sides embrace the same Scripture and dispute its sense. Against Wycliffe he does not ask what is left to grace. He asks what is left to our prayers and our endeavor. He will not say these things of Luther in particular, whom he has never seen. He says them of men who demand belief because they claim the evangelical Spirit, though none of them has yet healed a lame horse. The preface ends where he says it ends: half the book is done, and truth may flash from the comparison of Scriptures as fire from the striking of flints. Today’s Readings Desiderius Erasmus — On the Freedom of the Will, A Discussion or Comparison Explore the Project Through the Church Fathers – https://www.throughthechurchfathers.com Patreon – https://www.patreon.com/cmichaelpatton Credo Courses – https://www.credocourses.com Credo Ministries – https://www.credoministries.org #ThroughtheChurchFathers #Erasmus #FreeChoice #Scripture #Reformation

Introduction to Luther and Erasmus

2026/10/31

October 31 is the eve of All Saints. In 1517, on that eve, a Wittenberg professor sent out ninety-five theses on indulgences, and the Western church has marked the day ever since as the start of the Reformation. Those theses were not yet about the will. This reading is what the argument became eight years later, when Desiderius Erasmus and Martin Luther wrote the two books that have to be heard together: Erasmus’s discussion of free choice in 1524, and Luther’s answer, The Bondage of the Will, in 1525. One asks whether the fallen will can do anything toward salvation. The other says it cannot. John Calvin’s Institutes come later, and Book 2 assumes this exchange has already happened. Without these two books, Calvin’s conclusions arrive without the argument that forced them. Today’s Readings Desiderius Erasmus and Martin Luther — Discourse on Free Will, Introduction Explore the Project Through the Church Fathers – https://www.throughthechurchfathers.com Patreon – https://www.patreon.com/cmichaelpatton Credo Courses – https://www.credocourses.com Credo Ministries – https://www.credoministries.org #ThroughtheChurchFathers #Erasmus #Luther #FreeChoice #Reformation

Through Reformation Thought: October 31

2026/10/31

Erasmus does not open with a proof. He opens by refusing a fight. He has never sworn to Luther’s words, he will not match him sword for sword, and he would rather leave the labyrinth of free choice unentered than publish, before everyone, the claim that whatever we do we do by sheer necessity. The first reading stays inside that preface: the fly and the elephant, the Corycian cave, what he thinks piety already knows, and the warning that some truths, even if true, are not expedient to spread. He stops on the crowd. Their minds, he says, are gross and carnal, prone to unbelief, and there is no need to add oil to the fire. Today’s Readings Desiderius Erasmus — On the Freedom of the Will, A Discussion or Comparison Explore the Project Through the Church Fathers – https://www.throughthechurchfathers.com Patreon – https://www.patreon.com/cmichaelpatton Credo Courses – https://www.credocourses.com Credo Ministries – https://www.credoministries.org #ThroughtheChurchFathers #Erasmus #FreeChoice #Grace #Reformation

Calvin's Institutes: October 30

2026/10/30

Calvin will not let the command to serve Nebuchadnezzar be treated as a special case for Israel. The ground is the gift of the kingdom. On whomsoever God confers it, him the subject is bound to serve. Exiles are told to pray for the peace of the city that carried them away. David, already anointed, will not stretch out his hand against Saul, because Saul is the Lord's anointed. Mutual duty does not release the subject. A harsh father and a cruel husband do not free child or wife from their own duty. The private man is not the avenger. God raises deliverers by a lawful call, and he also uses men who do his work without knowing it. Lesser magistrates, appointed to curb kings, may not connive at tyranny. But obedience to men stops where it conflicts with obedience to God. Daniel refuses the decree. Israel is condemned for obeying Jeroboam. We ought to obey God rather than men. Today's Reading John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 4, Chapter 20, Sections 28–32 Read or listen daily at ThroughTheChurchFathers.com Comment, ask questions, and support the work at patreon.com/cmichaelpatton #ThroughTheChurchFathers #Calvin #Institutes #CivilGovernment #Obedience #Tyranny #ChurchHistory #Reformation

Special Announcement

2026/10/30

We are stepping aside from the regular sequence for a while. Not leaving it. Setting it down until this next reading is finished. October 31 is the eve of All Saints. In 1517, on that eve, Martin Luther sent out ninety-five theses on indulgences, and the Western church has marked the day ever since as the start of the Reformation. Those theses were not yet about the will. What we are taking up now is the argument that came eight years later: Desiderius Erasmus on free choice, and Luther’s answer, The Bondage of the Will. They belong together. One is the question. The other is the reply. Calvin’s Institutes assume this exchange has already happened. We will stay with these two books until that conversation is done, and then return to the year as it was laid out. If this reading has been of use to you, the work is carried by the people who stay with it. The site is where the readings live. Patreon is how the project is supported. Credo Courses is the teaching. Credo Ministries is the wider work. Come in where you can. Read with us. Support it if you are able. Pass it on if someone else needs the same texts. ### Explore the Project Through the Church Fathers – https://www.throughthechurchfathers.com Patreon – https://www.patreon.com/cmichaelpatton Credo Courses – https://www.credocourses.com Credo Ministries – https://www.credoministries.org #ThroughtheChurchFathers #Erasmus #Luther #Reformation

Calvin's Institutes: October 29

2026/10/29

Calvin has described the magistrate as he ought to be: father of his country, pastor of the people, guardian of peace. Then he turns to the prince who is none of these things. Some live in sloth. Some sell judgments. Some pillage the poor and spend the plunder. Natural feeling hates the tyrant and loves the just king. Scripture goes farther. The unjust prince also holds his power from God. The good ruler is a specimen of God's kindness. The tyrant is raised up to punish the people's iniquity. Both carry the same sacred majesty. Nebuchadnezzar, who stormed Jerusalem, was called king of kings because the God of heaven had given him the kingdom. Samuel told Israel what their kings would take, and still left them no right to resist. Jeremiah is plainer still. The nation that will not put its neck under Nebuchadnezzar's yoke, God himself will punish. The decree that sets a king on the throne is the same decree that forbids the subject to treat him according to his deserts. Today's Reading John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 4, Chapter 20, Sections 24–27 Read or listen daily at ThroughTheChurchFathers.com Comment, ask questions, and support the work at patreon.com/cmichaelpatton #ThroughTheChurchFathers #Calvin #Institutes #CivilGovernment #Tyranny #Obedience #ChurchHistory #Reformation

Calvin's Institutes: October 28

2026/10/28

Calvin answers those who condemn every appeal to a judge. Paul claimed the rights of a Roman citizen and appealed to Caesar. That was not revenge. Revenge is the private desire to return evil for evil. The magistrate's sword is God's vengeance, exercised by the ministry of man. Turning the other cheek remains. A Christian is born to bear injury, to pray for the one who curses him, and to overcome evil with good. That patience of heart does not forbid him to seek the magistrate's aid for his goods, or, for the public good, to call for the punishment of a man whom nothing but death will reform. Paul rebuked the rage for lawsuits at Corinth, not every just defence. Charity is the adviser. If the plea carries a man past charity, the cause is already lost. The first duty of subjects is honour. Not the man, as if office could cloak cruelty, but the station, as a jurisdiction delegated from God. Obedience follows: edicts, tribute, public burdens, and prayer for those in authority. To resist the magistrate is to resist God. Private men do not put their hands to a public correction unless his command first frees them. Today's Reading John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 4, Chapter 20, Sections 19–23 Read or listen daily at ThroughTheChurchFathers.com Comment, ask questions, and support the work at patreon.com/cmichaelpatton #ThroughTheChurchFathers #Calvin #Institutes #CivilGovernment #Obedience #Magistrate #ChurchHistory #Reformation

Calvin's Institutes: October 27

2026/10/27

Calvin turns from the magistrate to the laws. Without them the office is empty. Without him they are dumb. Some will have every commonwealth ruled by the judicial law of Moses. He will not. The moral law stands for every nation and every age: worship God, and love your neighbour. Ceremony was a tutelage. The Jewish polity was a form of equity for that people. Other nations may punish theft, murder, and false witness differently, so long as the equity is the same. A Christian may appeal to the magistrate. Paul calls him the minister of God for our good. The appeal is not a licence to hate. The pursuer and the defender may both stand in court, but only if charity remains. A just cause, pleaded in bitterness, is still impious. Today’s Reading John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 4, Chapter 20, Sections 14–18 Read or listen daily at ThroughTheChurchFathers.com Comment, ask questions, and support the work at patreon.com/cmichaelpatton #ThroughTheChurchFathers #Calvin #Institutes #CivilGovernment #Law #Equity #ChurchHistory #Reformation

Calvin's Institutes: October 26

2026/10/26

Calvin answers the hard question. Christians are forbidden to kill. How, then, can a pious magistrate shed blood? He does not act for himself. The Lawgiver who forbade murder puts the sword in his minister's hand, so that murder does not go unpunished. Mercy still sits on the throne. Severity that only wounds, and clemency that lets the wicked run, are both cruelty. The same office reaches war, when a whole country is robbed and no other remedy remains. John did not tell the soldiers to throw away their arms. He told them to be content with their pay. Anger, hatred, and private feeling are excluded. Taxes belong to the public burden. They are almost the blood of the people, and a prince who wastes them without cause is a robber. Today's Reading John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 4, Chapter 20, Sections 10–13 Read or listen daily at ThroughTheChurchFathers.com Comment, ask questions, and support the work at patreon.com/cmichaelpatton #ThroughTheChurchFathers #Calvin #Institutes #CivilGovernment #JustWar #Magistrate #ChurchHistory #Reformation

Calvin's Institutes: October 25

2026/10/25

Calvin presses the magistrate to remember whose seat he holds. The tribunal is the throne of the living God. An unjust sentence pollutes it. The same thought is the consolation: the work is not a profane trade. It is an embassy. To revile the office is to assail the One who gave it. Christ’s word to the disciples was about their own ministry, not a ban on kings. Forms of polity differ. Monarchy slides toward tyranny, aristocracy toward faction, popular rule toward sedition. He prefers several rulers where the choice is open, because men are defective. Where God has already appointed a form, the private wish for another is useless and harmful. The duty covers both tables: the honour of God, and justice to the poor, the stranger, and the innocent. Today’s Reading John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 4, Chapter 20, Sections 6–9 Read or listen daily at ThroughTheChurchFathers.com Comment, ask questions, and support the work at patreon.com/cmichaelpatton #ThroughTheChurchFathers #Calvin #Institutes #CivilGovernment #Magistrate #Justice #ChurchHistory #Reformation

Calvin's Institutes: October 24

2026/10/24

Calvin opens the chapter on civil government. The gospel promises a liberty that looks to Christ alone. Some hear that and want the courts pulled down. He will not have it. The kingdom of Christ is spiritual. Bond and free, Jew and Greek, stand in it together. None of that makes a magistrate an intruder. Civil order is not pollution. While we are pilgrims, it keeps the peace, guards property, and restrains open blasphemy. It does not invent a worship. It refuses to let the worship God has given be publicly torn. The magistrate holds a commission. Scripture calls such men gods, not because they are divine, but because the judgment is committed to them. David, Isaiah, and Paul do not tell kings to abdicate. They tell them to kiss the Son and to be nursing-fathers of the Church. Today’s Reading John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 4, Chapter 20, Sections 1–5 Read or listen daily at ThroughTheChurchFathers.com Comment, ask questions, and support the work at patreon.com/cmichaelpatton #ThroughTheChurchFathers #Calvin #Institutes #CivilGovernment #Magistrate #ChurchAndState #ChurchHistory #Reformation

Calvin's Institutes: October 23

2026/10/23

Calvin closes the catalogue with marriage. It is a holy ordinance of God. So are farming and shoemaking. A sacrament is a ceremony God appointed to confirm a promise. Marriage is not that. A vine is not a sacrament because Christ said he is the vine, and a thief in the night is not one because Paul used the figure. Paul called the union of Christ and the Church a mystery. The Latin translator wrote sacramentum. That one word became a title, and the title became a court. Spiritual kindred, forbidden seasons, and a seventh degree of blood all followed. Priests were barred from what had just been named a sacrament. The chapter ends there. Today’s Reading John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 4, Chapter 19, Sections 34–37 Read or listen daily at ThroughTheChurchFathers.com Comment, ask questions, and support the work at patreon.com/cmichaelpatton #ThroughTheChurchFathers #Calvin #Institutes #Sacraments #Marriage #ChurchHistory #Reformation

Calvin's Institutes: October 22

2026/10/22

Calvin turns to the three orders they call major. Presbyter and priest, in their mouth, mean the man who offers Christ’s body on the altar. That office Christ did not give. He is the one Priest after the order of Melchizedek, and he has no successor in the sacrifice. The true presbyter is sent to preach and to feed. Breathing on an ordinand copies a miracle, not a rite. Oil taken from Aaron does not make a Christian priest. Their deacons assist at the mass; the apostles’ deacons served the poor. Subdeacons carry a chalice and a napkin. A sacrament needs a promise of God joined to a ceremony God appointed. Here there is neither. Today’s Reading John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 4, Chapter 19, Sections 28–33 Read or listen daily at ThroughTheChurchFathers.com Comment, ask questions, and support the work at patreon.com/cmichaelpatton #ThroughTheChurchFathers #Calvin #Institutes #Sacraments #Priesthood #Deacons #HolyOrders #ChurchHistory #Reformation

Calvin's Instutes: October 21

2026/10/21

Calvin takes up the sacrament of Orders. They count seven sacraments, then make seven more out of the minor ranks: doorkeeper, reader, exorcist, acolyte, and the rest. The ceremonies differ. The graces, they say, differ. Thirteen is not seven. He will not let Christ be drafted into each office. A whip in the temple is not a doorkeeper’s keys. Reading Isaiah is not a reader’s order. The tonsure is older than their mystery, and it was not a sacrament. Minor orders unknown to the primitive Church cannot be appointed by schools and canons. A sacrament belongs to God alone. Today’s Reading John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 4, Chapter 19, Sections 22–27 Read or listen daily at ThroughTheChurchFathers.com Comment, ask questions, and support the work at patreon.com/cmichaelpatton #ThroughTheChurchFathers #Calvin #Institutes #Sacraments #HolyOrders #Tonsure #ChurchHistory #Reformation

Calvin's Institutes: October 20

2026/10/20

Calvin finishes with penance and turns to extreme unction. A sacrament needs a command of God and a promise of God. Penance has neither. Baptism is already the sacrament of repentance. Sin does not erase it. The sinner is to remember what was promised there. James told the elders to anoint the sick and pray. The apostles used oil as a sign while the gift of healing was still openly given. That gift was for a time. Oil consecrated for the dying is not the same act, and it does not become a third sacrament because men bow nine times to a dish of chrism. Today’s Reading John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 4, Chapter 19, Sections 17–21 Read or listen daily at ThroughTheChurchFathers.com Comment, ask questions, and support the work at patreon.com/cmichaelpatton #ThroughTheChurchFathers #Calvin #Institutes #Sacraments #Penance #ExtremeUnction #Baptism #ChurchHistory #Reformation