Commentary on Psalms Volume 1 John Calvin
COMMENTARY ON PSALMS
12. Who can understand his errors? 463 Cleanse thou me from my secret sins. 13. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins, 464 that they may not have dominion over me; then shall I be upright and clean from much wickedness. 465 14. Let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Jehovah, my strength and my redeemer.
12. Who can understand his errors? This exclamation shows us what use we should make of the promises of the law, which have a condition annexed to them. It is this: As soon as they come forth, every man should examine his own life, and compare not only his actions, but also his thoughts, with that perfect rule of righteousness which is laid down in the law. Thus it will come to pass, that all, from the least to the greatest, seeing themselves cut off from all hope of reward from the law, will be constrained to flee for refuge to the mercy of God. It is not enough to consider what the doctrine of the law contains; we must also look into ourselves, that we may see how far short we have come in our obedience to the law. Whenever the Papists hear this promise,
"He who doeth these things shall live in them," (Leviticus 18:5,) they do not hesitate at once to connect eternal life with the merit of their works, as if it were in their own power to fulfill the law, of which we are all transgressors, not only in one point, but in all its parts. David, therefore, being involved as it were in a labyrinth on all sides, acknowledges with astonishment that he is overwhelmed under a sense of the multitude of his sins. We ought then to remember, in the first place, that as we are personally destitute of the righteousness which the law requires, we are on that account excluded from the hope of the reward which the law has promised; and, in
"Ses fautes." — Fr. "His faults." "Erreurs ou ignorances." — Fr. marg. "Errors or ignorances."
The word which our author uses denotes literally arrogances or proudnesses; and this is also the literal rendering of the Hebrew word here used. Calvin has the following note on the margin of the French version, explanatory of arrogances, "Pechez commis par contumace et rebellion." — Fr.
From much wickedness. This translation conveys the precise meaning of what David intended. He was afraid of incurring accumulated guilt. In our English translation it is "the great transgression," on which Walford remarks, "The insertion of the definite article 'the' is not authorised by the original, and leads to a supposition which is incorrect, that some definite crime, such as 'the sin against the Holy Ghost,' is intended."