Comments
on Acts 2:26, "For
this my heart rejoiced"
John Calvin (1509-1564)
One
of the leading lights of the Reformation in
Europe, John Calvin was born in
Noyon,
Picardy
in France. What Martin Luther had
begun by God’s mighty power, John Calvin carried on, teaching the doctrine and application of
justification by faith alone in the Christ revealed in Scripture alone;
and endeavouring to
apply Scriptural teaching to every area of life. Pressed by a friend named
William Farel to stay in
Geneva
to preach (that city being
a haven for persecuted Christians), Calvin at length complied, and the
Genevan
Church
became a centre of the
Protestant Reformation. The Scottish Reformer John Knox spoke of
the Church in
Geneva
as “the
most perfect school
of
Christ
since the days of the apostles”.
For
in this my heart rejoiced. Joy of the soul, gladness of the tongue, and
quietness of all the whole body, do ensue upon sure hope and confidence; for
unless men be quite past feeling,1
they must needs be careful and sorrowful, and so, consequently,
miserably tormented, so long as they feel themselves destitute of the help of
God. But that sure trust which we repose in God doth not only deliver us from
carefulness,2 but doth also replenish our hearts with wonderful joy (and gladness.)
That is the joy which Christ promised to his disciples should be full in them,
and which he testified could not be taken from them, (John xvi. 22; xvii. 13.)
He expresseth the greatness of the joy when he saith, That it cannot be kept
in, but that it will break forth into the gladness of the tongue.3
doth signify, indeed, glory, but it is taken in that place, as
in many others, for the tongue. And so the Grecians have truly
translated the same. The rest of the flesh doth signify the quietness
of the whole man, which we have through the protection of God. Neither is this
any let, because the faithful are continually out of quiet and tremble; for as
in the midst of sorrows they do nevertheless rejoice; so there are no troubles
so great that can break them of their rest. If any man object, that the peace
of the faithful doth consist in the spirit, and that it is not in the flesh: I
answer, that the faithful do rest in body; not that they are free from
troubles, but because they believe that God careth for them wholly, and that
not only their soul shall be safe through his protection, but their body also.
Note:
1 “Stupeant,”
be stupid or stunned.
2 "Anxietate, “ anxiety.
3
"Quin erumpat in linguć exultationem," but will burst forth into
the language of exultation.
Reference
“Commentary
upon the Acts of the Apostles,” by John Calvin. Translated by Christopher
Fetherstone, 1585. Edited by Henry Beveridge, Esq. Originally printed for the
Calvin Translation Society, Edinburgh, Scotland. Reprinted 2003 by Baker Books
(USA). p. 105.
