 Calvin produced commentaries on most of the books of the Bible . His first commentary on Romans was published in 1540 , and he planned to write commentaries on the entire New Testament . Six years passed before he wrote his second , a commentary on I Corinthians , but after that he devoted more attention to reaching his goal . Within four years he had published commentaries on all the Pauline epistles , and he also revised the commentary on Romans . He then turned his attention to the general epistles , dedicating them to Edward VI of England . By 1555 he had completed his work on the New Testament , finishing with the Acts and the Gospels ( he omitted only the brief second and third Epistles of John and the Book of Revelation ) . For the Old Testament , he wrote commentaries on Isaiah , the books of the Pentateuch , the Psalms , and Joshua . The material for the commentaries often originated from lectures to students and ministers that he reworked for publication . However , from 1557 onwards , he could not find the time to continue this method , and he gave permission for his lectures to be published from stenographers ' notes . These Praelectiones covered the minor prophets , Daniel , Jeremiah , Lamentations , and part of Ezekiel . 
