Recognizing the Bible as his only standard, he interpreted it according to the new Protestant doctors.

First and foremost he was dependent on Luther, and to an extent that cannot be exaggerated.

Especially from the _Catechisms_, _The Bondage of the Will_, and _The Babylonian Captivity of the Church_, Calvin drew all his principal doctrines even to details.

He also borrowed something from Bucer, Erasmus and Schwenckfeld, as well as from three writers who were in a certain sense his models.

Melanchthon's _Commonplaces of Theology_, Zwingli's _True and False Religion_, and Farel's _Brief Instruction in Christian Faith_ had all done tentatively what he now did finally.
[Sidenote: Theocentric character] The center of Calvin's philosophy was God as the Almighty Will.