Commentary on the Epistles to the Corinthians John Calvin (continued)
Commentary on the Corinthians having been misled by the resemblance between one letter and another; 119 but as that did not affect the point in hand, he did not choose to depart from the common reading, as we frequently have occasion to observe how closely he follows the received version. Though the words, therefore, are not the same, there is no real difference of meaning.
I come now to the subject-matter. The Prophet in that passage, when mentioning how signally God had on all occasions befriended his people in their emergencies, exclaims, that his acts of kindness to the pious surpass the comprehension of human intellect. "But what has this to do," some one will say, "with spiritual doctrine, and the promises of eternal life, as to which Paul is here arguing?" There are three ways in which this question may be answered. There were no inconsistency in affirming that the Prophet, having made mention of earthly blessings, was in consequence of this led on to make a general statement, and even to extol that spiritual blessedness which is laid up in heaven for believers. I prefer, however, to understand him simply as referring to those gifts of God's grace that are daily conferred upon believers. In these it becomes us always to observe their source, and not to confine our views to their present aspect. Now their source is that unmerited goodness of God, by which he has adopted us into the number of his sons. He, therefore, who would estimate these things aright, will not contemplate them in their naked aspect, but will clothe them with God's fatherly love, as with a robe, and will thus be led forward from temporal favors to eternal life. It might also be maintained that the argument is from the less to the greater; for if man's intellect is not competent to measure God's earthly gifts, how much less will it reach the height of heaven? (John 3:12.) I have, however, already intimated which interpretation I prefer.
1 Corinthians 2:10-13
1 Corinthians 2:10-13 10. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
119The word made use of by Isaiah is {,{מחכהwhich is a part of the verb ,{}חכהto wait for, and Calvin's meaning most probably is, that the ``Greek interpreters had (from the resemblance between {}בand ({}כbeen led into the mistake of supposing it to be a part of the verb ,{}חבבto love, while the corresponding part of the latter verb --- ,{}מחובבmanifestly differs very widely from the word made use of by the Prophet. There appears, how ever, to have been an oversight, in this instance, on the part of Calvin, as the word in the Septuagint version is not the word made use of by the Apostle --- }ἀγαπῶσιν}, ``them that love'' (him,) but (corresponding to the word made use of bythe Prophet {ὑπομένουσιν}, ``them that wait for'' (him.) It is not a little singular, that Clemens Romanus (Ep. ad Cor. Sect. 34.) quotes the words of Isaiah precisely as Paul quotes them, with the exception of the last clause, which he gives as follows: {ὅσα} {ἡτοιμασε} {τοις} {ὑπομένουσιν} {αὐτὸν} --- ``which he hath prepared for them that wait for him.'' Some have supposed the citation to have been taken from one or other of the two Apocryphal books, entitled, ``The Ascension of Esaiah,'' and ``The Apocalyps of Elias,'' in both of which this passage was found, but, as is justly observed by Horne in his Introduction (volume 2,) ``it is so near to the Hebrew here both in sense and words, that we cannot suppose it to be taken from any other source, nor in this case would the Apostle have introduced it with the formula of quotation --- as it is written.'' In accordance with Calvln's remark, that ``though the words are not the same, there is no real difference of meaning,'' it is well observed by Poole in his Annotations, that ``waiting for'' God is ``the certain product and effect of love to him.'' --- Ed