Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists Matthew Mark and Luke John Calvin
HARMONY OF THE EVANGELISTS
known to be a wolf but by his rage against the gospel, Christ has joined these two things together, the fierce cruelty which impels them to shed blood, and the power with which they are armed.
Be therefore wise The general meaning is, that their wisdom in exercising caution must be so regulated, as to prevent them from being more timid than is necessary, or from becoming more sluggish in duty. We see that those who wish to pass for cautious and circumspect persons are, for the most part, timorous and lazy. It is no doubt proper for the disciples of Christ, surrounded as they are by dangers on every hand, to maintain the strictest caution; but as they are in extreme danger of being kept back by slothfulness, he bids them move forward honestly wherever their calling leads them.
This is pointed out by a twofold comparison, wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. Serpents, being aware that they are hated, carefully avoid and shrink from every thing that is hostile to them. In this manner he enjoins believers to take care of their life, so as not to rush heedlessly into danger, or lay themselves open to any kind of injury. Doves, on the other hand, though naturally timid, and liable to innumerable attacks, fly in their simplicity, imagine themselves safe till they are struck, and in most cases place themselves within the reach of the fowler's snares. To such simplicity Christ exhorts his disciples, that no excess of terror may hinder them from pursuing their course. There are some who carry their ingenious reasonings still farther as to the nature of the serpent and of the dove, but this is the utmost extent of the resemblance. We see that Christ condemns that carnal wisdom, or rather that trickery, in which the greater part of men are too fond of indulging, while they look around them on every hand to discover how far it will be safe for them to proceed; and thus, from an unwillingness to encounter danger, they renounce the call of Christ.583
17. But beware of men Erasmus has inserted the word these, (beware of these men,) supposing that the article has the force of a demonstrative pronoun.584 But in my opinion it is better to view it as indefinite, and as conveying a declaration of Christ, that caution ought to be exercised in dealing with men, among whom every thing is full of snares and injuries. But he appears to contradict himself: for the best way of exercising caution would have been to remain at home, and not to venture to appear in public. I reply, he points out here a different sort of caution, — not that terror and alarm which would keep them from discharging their duty, but a dread of being excessively annoyed by sudden calamities. We know that those who are surprised by unexpected afflictions are apt to fall down lifeless. Christ, therefore, desired that his disciples should foresee at a distance what would happen, 583"Ils renoncent Christ et sa vocation;" — "they renounce Christ and his calling." 584"Erasme a traduit, De ces hornroes: pource qu'il luy a sembl, que l'article Grec qul est mis avec le nora denotoit quelques certains hommes." — "Erasmus translated it, Of these men: because he thought that the Greek article, which is joined to the noun, denoted some particular men." —{Προσέχετε} {δὲ} {ἀπὸ} {τῶν} {ἀνθρώπων} literally means but beware of THE men In Calvin's native tongue, les hommes denotes men in general, and in expressing the idea of the men, it became necessary to substitute ces for les, in order to avoid the circumlocution of les hommes, dont il s'agit But it would be proper to show cause why {οἱ} {ἄνθρωποι} should be here viewed as equivalent to {πάντες} {ἄνθρωποι}. Erasmus, writing in Latin, has supplied a defect of that language by almost the only means which he had in his power, the use of a demonstrative pronoun as a substitute for the definite article. "Cavete ab illis hominibus," naturally interpreting {τῶν} {ἀνθρώπων}, as referring to the men who had just been described to the disciples as wolves, and in their intercourse with whom the utmost caution would be indispensable. — Ed.