Commentary on Isaiah Volume 1 John Calvin
COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH
gain the victory. They are even so impudent as to boast that heretics cannot be refuted by the word, though both the Prophet and Paul lay down no other method.
When the Prophet says, by the breath of his lips, this must not be limited to the person of Christ; for it refers to the word which is preached by his ministers. Christ acts by them in such a manner that he wishes their mouth to be reckoned as his mouth, and their lips as his lips; that is, when they speak from his mouth, and faithfully declare his word. (Luke 10:16.) The Prophet does not now send us to secret revelations, that Christ may reign in us, but openly recommends the outward preaching of doctrine, and shows that the gospel serves the purpose of a scepter in the hand of Christ, so far as it is preached, and so far as it is oral, if we may use the expression; otherwise it would have been to no purpose to mention the mouth and the lips. Hence it follows that all those who reject the outward preaching of the gospel shake off this scepter, as far as lies in their power, or pull it out of the hand of Christ; not that the efficacy which he mentions depends on the voice of men, but so far as Christ acts by his ministers; for he does not wish that their labor should be fruitless, without sacrificing the elect to obedience, (Romans 15:16,) and slaying the reprobate; as Paul in another passage boasts that there will be speedy vengeance against all unbelievers and rebels.
Here we must again call to remembrance what is the nature of Christ's kingdom. As he does not wear a golden crown or employ earthly armor, so he does not rule over the world by the power of arms, or gain authority by gaudy and ostentatious display, or constrain his people by terror and dread; but the doctrine of the gospel is his royal banner, which assembles believers under his dominion. Wherever, therefore, the doctrine of the Gospel is preached in purity, there we are certain that Christ reigns; and where it is rejected, his government is also set aside. Hence it is evident how foolishly the Papists boast that the Church belongs to them, when they order Christ himself to be silent, and cannot endure the sound of his voice, but proclaim aloud, with distended cheeks, their own edicts, laws, decrees, and tyrannical regulations.
5. And righteousness shall be the belt. 188 Some translate it girdle; but as the Prophet represents Christ to us wearing, as it were, the emblems of royalty, I have rather translated it belt, which is also a royal emblem, in the same manner as the scepter, which he had assigned to him a little before. When Job speaks of taking away the authority of kings, he says that the
Lord will ungird their belt. (Job 12:18.) To be girded with a belt, therefore, is nothing else than to be exalted to royal authority, as we shall afterwards see in another passage. (Isaiah 14:5.)
The Prophet describes two ornaments belonging to the belt. These are righteousness and truth; unless it be thought that there is a change in the order of construction, as if he had said that Christ will be girded with true
188"The Targum of Jonathan renders it, and the righteous shall be round about him; that is, 'they shall cleave to him like a girdle.' " — Jarchi.