Paul's Passing Thoughts

All of Chapter 12 in the Calvin Institutes, from the first word to the last, is a diatribe on completely emptying ourselves as Christians in regard to any self-confidence or worth in order to receive God’s blessings. Job one, for the Christian, is to constantly endeavor in a deeper understanding of our own depravity. Calvin’s philosophy led many to think those who disagreed should be burned alive with the paper that their ideas were written on, while ironically, Calvin thought himself more compassionate and argued that their ideas should be humanely severed from their bodies.