As a young man of 26 or 27 he wrote a series of books now known as "Institutes of the Christian Religion". From this work he never retreated. His work has effected almost every branch of denominationalism since that time. We see it most often in the works of the Presbyterian church today. It has been making a "comeback" due to the heavy exposure of literature that has been published and promoted in bookstores - especially in what is now called "Christian Book Discount House". We also see remnants of it in other denominations - particularly the Baptist church. Many years ago the Baptists were much more Calvinistic then they now are. Many of the early Baptists held to all five points - but today we find them mostly holding to the last point - once saved always saved. Hence, you will find people that take all and you will find people that take only some of this teaching. I firmly believe that to be logically consistent one must accept ALL or reject ALL. One could not hold to the idea of total depravity and then require conditions for salvation - for the NO ONE would be saved. Likewise, if salvation is unconditional and the atonement was not limited, then ALL would be saved. If men are totally depraved and the Spirit's work could be resisted, then even some of those who were chosen could reject God's salvation. Likewise, if they became saints and then "fell away" we would have the problem of Jesus's blood being "wasted" (to paraphrase the Calvinistic argument on the necessity of the perseverance). You see then how the system works! It might be interesting to note that there are very few Calvinists that do NOT consider themselves to be part of the elect.

There are also a few other points that should be studied in connection with Calvin's system. The first one is the sovereignty of God - that God is the supreme ruler of the universe. Calvin theorized that in order for this to be so one must believe that everything that happens in the universe is a direct result of the will of God. The second concept that must be added to our study is that of "predestination." This usually is taught in connection with the topic of "limited atonement". A third problem area to be considered is that of the foreknowledge of God. Again, this also is tied in with the concept of limited atonement.