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The covenant pervaded Calvin’s entire system in a way that was not matched by any of the Reformers before him, and by few of his successors. It was related to practically every doctrine that Calvin dealt with—predestination, the Edenic arrangement, the law of God, the work of the Mediator, pneumatology, ecclesiology, sacramental theology, and the application of redemption in all of its aspects—calling, justification, adoption, sanctification, and glorification. It was like a linchpin in Calvin’s system, without which the entire external structure, whatever its features, would have been seriously defective. In this respect the covenant was an interpretive principle of great significance in the formulation of Calvin’s theology, whether in the Institutes, commentaries, or sermons.