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explain what God expects by way of obedience, he used the
Apostles Creed in chapter two to explain the content of faith. Two
kinds of faith are historical faith and trust. The first merely assents
to the existence of God and Christ; it is unworthy of the name
―faith,‖ since even the demons acknowledge as much. The second
puts all its hope in God and lives with the assurance that what he
promises he will do. It relies on his Word, and through it we
receive what we ask, insofar as God judges that it is for our good.
The creed has four parts and deals with each of the three persons of
the Trinity and finally with the church as the people receiving the
benefits of Christ. Calvin explains at length each part. He
concludes the chapter with reflections on the companionship of
hope and love with faith. Speaking of the other two, he says, ―If
these are utterly lacking, however learnedly and elaborately we
may discuss faith, we are proved to have none. Not because faith
is engendered in us from hope or love, but because it can in no
wise come to pass without hope and love forever following
faith.‖ 82 Hope is the longing for that of which faith is assured.
Love embraces him in whom one believes. The three are
interdependent and nurture one another.
Calvin‘s third chapter explains the life of prayer by
examining the Lord‘s prayer. Thus, in the first three chapters of
this first edition of The Institutes Calvin explores the three classic
components of Christian catechesis: Decalogue, Apostles Creed,
and Lord‘s prayer. The fourth deals with the two biblical
sacraments: baptism and the Lord‘s supper. The fifth chapter treats
the five false sacraments, demonstrating how they lack biblical
basis and have been employed to shore up the sacramentalism
which has enslaved the church to the hierarchy. And the last
chapter explores the notion of Christian freedom as freedom from
the yoke of the law, but as a spiritual liberation to serve God gladly
and freely according to the Word. It is a freedom concerning
things not specifically prescribed or proscribed in the Word to use
them or not use them, according to the Spirit‘s guidance. Calvin
discusses how this freedom relates to the true authority of the
82 Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion—1536 Edition, p. 65.