When it came to matters of faith, John Calvin was more interested in doing what was “right” than about being liked or complimented; or at least he wanted to give that impression. As he told Melanchton, no servant of God should concern himself with being popular. In December 1556, though, one Scottish refugee living in Geneva praised Calvin and his work as few others ever had, especially in the city itself. The man was John Knox, an aggressive Reformer who made Calvin and Farel seem timid in comparison. What he said about Calvin's Geneva has come to be regarded as perhaps the greatest testimony to the way in which Calvinism sought to turn its theological vision into a concrete social and political reality:

Yet, only two years earlier, when Calvin and Knox first met, the two men had disagreed about the way in which such a state of affairs could be achieved in less receptive lands, such as England and Scotland. As in the other cases we have witnessed where pupil met master, Calvin could not bring himself to accept the new dimensions being given to his own teachings by this refugee.