How many of you read from Calvin's Commentaries? When I was still a United Methodist Minster, and before I was a Calvinist, my oppinion was that Calvin's commentaries were the best that I have ever read. Surprisingly, when I was invited to the home of a reformed minister in my area, after leaving the UMC, he didn't even have a copy!

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Rev. Andy Eppard
Associate Minister
First Cumberland Presbyterian Church
Springfield, MO

I have them and consider them a "bedrock" set. I normaly read Calvin first. I can't imagine not using them.

Buy Calvin first, then start shopping.

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Kevin Rogers
Sovereign Community Church, PCA
Moncton NB

I do, due to the limited resources for Chinese Christian literature. Calvin's Institutes, commentaries, short treatises are very important to the Chinese Christians. I read them all the time. I find his commentaries on Romans and Genesis are the best.

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Yigang Xu
Husband of Yele, Father of Anna (07/17/08)
Westminster Presbyterian Church, Free Church of Scotland (Continuing)
Bethesda, Maryland

"Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness. They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness: and the little hills rejoice on every side." Psalm 65:10,11

Oh, Calvin is a must. And if you wait for a sale, you can get the set for around $100. No excuses!

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Tim Phillips
Pastor, Midlane Park Presbyterian Church (ARP)
Louisville, KY
Husband of Scottish Lass
My Blog: Gairney Bridge
My Facebook/My Avatar

Click to get: Board Rules -- Signature Requirements -- Suggestions?

"Wherever the gospel is preached, it is as if God Himself came into the midst of us." ~ John Calvin

I constantly click on them from Bibleworks.

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Lance G. Marshall
Pastor
Georgetown, Indiana

I love mine, well worth the money.

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w

I do. Very helpful.

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Clark Brooking
Pastor
Living Hope Presbyterian Church (OPC)
Clarksville, MD

Everyone's talking about buying Calvin's Commentaries.

There's always the free download to get started:

Third*Millennium*Ministries

(text, HTML, RTF; zipped & unzipped for each download)

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Edward
Deacon
PCA
Texas

also avail as a FREE e-sword module. see @ http://e-sword-users.org/users/index.php

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Rev. Bruce G. Buchanan
ChainOLakes Presbyterian Church, CentralLake, MI


When posting friends, kindly bear those words of earthly wisdom in mind:
Oh, that God the gift would give us
To see ourselves as others see us.
--Robert Burns, 1786 (modernized) ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ Click to get: Board Rules -- Signature Requirements -- Suggestions? --

I never read them or used them to be honest. I have read his institutes and put on logos preorder the calvin 500 works with all that good stuff.

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J. P. Grigoletti II * Lay-man * Église Réformée du Québec
Québec, Québec Canada * Member: Église Reformée St. Marc
http://Grigoletti.blogspot.com - blog
<<There are three things necessary for thee to know, that thou, enjoying this comfort, mayest live and die happily: the first, how great your sins and miseries are; the second, how thou may be delivered from all thy sins and miseries; the third, how thou shall express thy gratitude to God for such deliverance.>>

i read it from ccel ...i want to buy the set ... maybe later

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"Bible knowledge without repentance, will be but a torch to light men to hell. -Thomas Watson
United Through Christ
Ricky Heeb
Grace Reformed Church (RCUS) Lancaster, CA

I own them and read them, when studying passages for sermons and for privat study

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Martin - Reformed
Husband to the most godly, honorable and loyal wife Line
Searching for a Church
Webpage www.5solas.dk
Free Online Reformed Seminary - http://www.tnars.net
Soli Deo Gloria

I have a set and I love them.

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Jonathan
College Student
Grace Family Fellowship {SBC}
Kentucky

... yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.

1 Corinthians 8:6

I only own the (amazing) commentaries on Daniel (2-vol, Eerdmans), Joel, Amos, and Obadiah (1-vol, Banner), but I'm always borrowing volumes from the old, dusty complete set of the library at Knox College, University of Toronto. (Sometimes I think I'm the only person who has taken them out in thirty years.) Sitting down with one of Calvin's commentaries is the perfect private Bible study with a master exegete and pastor. Always challenging (as the Word of God challenges us) and edifying.

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Nathan Tyler
Reformed Baptist
University of Toronto (Student: Hons. B.A. in Philosophy)
Ontario, Canada

1689'er

http://nathantyler.wordpress.com

I have them...I use them.

I haven't perused a ton of other commentaries...but in my limited useage, I've found Calvin to be the best compared to what's easily available.

I have and use them regularly. Unlike many commentators, I find him to be concise and to the point - his chapter on Romans 1 is only 30 pages, compared to MacArthur's 105. He doesn't give as much historical insight as others, but his exegesis is superb.

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Mason
Member, Redeemer Presbyterian Church (PCA)
New York, NY

"Come now, and let us reason together," says the Lord, "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool." - Isaiah 1:18

Most of the older commentaries that I own, or have owned, don't have as much historical information as some of the new ones. They are more exegetical and devotional, like Calvin. When I read Calvin, I also read a newer commentary, alongside it, so as to obtain some historical information that might be helpful.

I have them in a variety of electronic formats (am hoping to get a set of the Calvin 500 edition when it comes out in a few weeks) but strongly disagree with his handling of 2 & 3 John and Revelation!!!

I can think of no other commentaries that have proven so durable and transgenerational in outliving their own day as Calvin. There are a few classics (Owen on Hebrews and Spurgeon on Psalms) that have endured, but none have worn so well for so long on so many books of the Bible.

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Dennis E. McFadden, Ex Mainline Baptist (in Remission)
Atherton Baptist Homes, CEO
First Baptist Church of Alhambra, Member, Transformation Ministries (CA)

Click to get: Board Rules -- Signature Requirements -- Suggestions?

I have a set and read them as well. I particulary like his sermons too. I find him to be quite warm and encouraging in them, and I almost prefer them sometimes to the commentary itself.

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Charles Plauger
Member/Grace Reformed Church
Oakland, MD

At first, I probably didn't believe the hype. I recall Fred Greco once wrote something to the effect of "Read Calvin first, then read Calvin. And finally, read Calvin". So I decided to take advantage of a great offer to which MarrowMan referred: "Oh, Calvin is a must. And if you wait for a sale, you can get the set for around $100. No excuses!". I value Poole and I love Hawkers NT Commentary for its devotional quality, but Fred G was right. Calvin cannot be matched. In fact, if you look closely, even Book 2 Smiley is reading Calvin. See?...

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Donald P. Grubb
theol46@embarqmail.com

Berean Baptist Church, Mansfield, OH
Mansfield, OH

John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.
The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.

I just preordered a 500th Anniversary set of the commentaries (due out now in June) for $120 (including a matching 500th Anniversary edition of the Institutes).

Thanks, Dennis! I'll watch for those in the mail.

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Ruben
Moderator
F.P.C.I.
Indiana

Vanities and disguises have covered us, and thereby we are naked; licenciousness hath inflam'd us, and thereby we are frozen; voluptuousness hath fed us, and thereby we are sterved, the fancies and traditions of men have taught and instructed us, and thereby we are ignorant.
John Donne

Board Rules - Signature Requirements - Suggestions?

Calvinistas Conversando
Teología en Mexico
The Howling Wilderness

I think it is Southern Presbyterian who knows where to get cheap books. Think it was him who led me to my low price on Hodge's systematic theology. Of course, I can't remember where I got them so WHERE IS HE? Maybe we can get Calvin's for cheap there!

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sarah
WI
OPC
My Pastor's Sermons: Mark Jenkins...he's awesome!!!

No kidding; I had to give up preaching through 1 Samuel for the same reason!

This collector's edition (500th Anniversary) of his writings includes commentaries on 24 books of the Old Testament; all of the New Testament except for 2 & 3 John and Revelation; and Henry Beveridge's classic translation of the Institutes. 23 hardcovers.


Calvin's Commentaries with Calvin's Institutes, 23 Volumes - - Christianbook.com = $119.99


And

John Calvin, Tracts and Letters - 7 volumes - By: John Calvin - Christianbook.com = $79.99

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Gil Garcia
Rehoboth Reformed Church (RCUS)
La Habra, CA

"Ignorance of this distinction between Law and Gospel is one of the principal sources of the abuses which corrupted and still corrupt Christianity." - Calvin's successor


"By the words of the law man is admonished and taught, not what he can do, but what he ought to do. How is it that you theologians are twice as stupid as schoolboys, in that as soon as you get hold of a single imperative verb you infer an indicative meaning...?"
-Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will

I own the 22 vol set, and use it a LOT. I always start with Calvin and work out from there when looking to the commentators.

-----Added 4/30/2009 at 12:44:26 EST-----

What a great encouragement to hear that Calvin's works are held so dear to the Chinese Christians. I lived in China for 3 months when I was 21 (I had my 22nd birthday while I was there) and even though I was totally lost in darkness and sin at the time (I was not converted until I was back in Canada) there has always been a place in my heart for the chinese people.

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Jeffrey Wilson
Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church
London Baptist Confession of Faith 1644
Summerland, British Columbia, Canada

"If ever a monk got to heaven by monkery, I ought to have gotten there!" Martin Luther

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I don't believe that a omnivorous reader like you is lacking in a copy of Calvin's Commentaries.

I got the set a couple years ago for 99$. What a steal. I like having them in E-Sword too. Nice to be able to do word searches.

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~ Steven Bradford ~
Member Covenant Presbyterian, Chattanooga, TN

I bought them from Solid Ground Books when he first offered them. They are used frequently.

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We shall not adjust our Bible to the age; but before we have done with it, by God's grace, we shall adjust the age to the Bible. - Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Lawrence Underwood, Jr.
Pastor - Providence Family Fellowship / Mobile, Alabama
1644/46 LBC
My Blog - Imprimis

Next to the perusal of the Scriptures, which I earnestly inculcate, I exhort my pupils to peruse CALVIN's commentaries, which I extol in loftier terms than Helmich himself; for I affirm that he excels beyond comparison in the interpretation of Scripture, and that his commentaries ought to be more highly valued than all that is han+ded down to us by the Library of the Fathers; so that I acknowledge him to have possessed above most others, or rather above all other men, what may be called an eminent gift of prophecy.

Does anyone here know who wrote the above quote? Arminius did. Would that Arminians were so perceptive!

I am buying a copy this weekend along with the Institutes for $120!

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Joseph F Scibbe
Chaplain Assistant
Chapel of Wings Ft Rucker Al
Ephesians 1:4-7, 1 Thessalonians 2:8, Romans 12:1-2
Titus 2:2 - But you, teach what accords with sound doctrine.

http://twitter.com/just_joe_scibbe

Calvin's commentaries are terrific. In a lot of ways they seem very up-to-date too.

-----Added 4/30/2009 at 12:07:09 EST-----

I just draw a complete blank when it comes to his commentary on Revelation. I guess I just don't get it or something.

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Andy
Pastoral Intern
PCA
Escondido, CA

Electronic only, I'm afraid. Most of my books have been packed in boxes for a majority of their existence; and most of my books are no longer mine.

I want to buy a set but I currently settle by reading them online.

Calvin's Commentaries-Complete | Christian Classics Ethereal Library

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Julio Perez
Visting Branch of Hope OPC hoping this will be my home church.....


“No…we are all priests. Your vocation and your contentment in your vocation should not be dependent upon your being in vocational ministry or in being a figure of public acclaim. If God wills that fine…if He does not do that, you ought to still do what he has granted you to do to the glory of God.”

-Martin Luther

You must get them as real books, there is an unresistable charm to real books, booooks

I want too but I can't afford them, I'm a student.

I am sorry, but at least you know what to wish for for, christmas, or birthday, or graduation day, etc.

Just picked up the commentaries on 2 Corinthians, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus & Philemon in one volume (Eerdmans paperback). I'm not big on paperbacks, but I had to get it; about $13 brand new at a discount Christian bookstore on campus (the market price is $38).

Good deal

Where from? That's a good price....

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Steven Nemes
Phoenix, AZ

Good philosophy must exist, if for no other reason, because bad philosophy must be answered - C.S. Lewis