Calvin's Institutes: January 26

John Calvin's Institutes in a Year · Jan 26, 2026 · 7m

In these sections, Calvin dismantles the familiar claim that images serve as “books for the unlearned,” insisting instead that Scripture calls them teachers of lies, not aids to faith. Drawing from the prophets, the apostles, and the early Church Fathers, Calvin shows that images do not clarify divine truth but replace it—substituting mute objects for the living voice of God in His Word. He argues that whenever visual representations are used as tools of instruction in the Church, they inevitably weaken reverence, distort doctrine, and foster superstition. True faith, Calvin insists, is not…