Commentary on the Epistles to the Corinthians John Calvin
Commentary on the Corinthians
be offered in vain.
2. For he saith, In an acceptable time. He quotes a prediction of Isaiah, exceedingly appropriate to the exhortation of which he speaks. It is without doubt of the kingdom of Christ that he there speaks, 1470 as is manifest from the context. The Father, then, appointing his Son a leader, for the purpose of gathering together a Church, addresses him in these words:
"I have heard thee in an acceptable time." (Isaiah 49:8.) We know, however, what a degree of correspondence 1471 there is between the Head and the members. For Christ was heard in our name, as the salvation of all of us is entrusted into his hand, and nothing else has he taken under his charge. Hence we are all admonished in the person of Christ — not to slight the opportunity that is afforded for obtaining salvation. While the rendering of the Greek interpreter is, {εὐπρόσδεκτον}, (acceptable,) 1472 the word made use of by the Prophet is, {( ,{רצוןratson,) that is, benevolence, or free favour. 1473
The quotation must be applied to the subject in hand in this way: "As God specifies a particular time for the exhibition of his grace, it follows that all times are not suitable for that. As a particular day of salvation is named, it follows that a free offer of salvation is not made every day." Now this altogether depends on the providence of God, for the acceptable time is no other than what is called in Galatians 4:4, the fullness of the time 1474 The those he was writing to had embraced, and to which they had adhered — to use the Apostle Paul's phrase, 'which they had received, and in which they stood,' was the true gospel. But I doubt if the gospel is ever called the grace of God in the New Testament; and I equally doubt whether the words, thus understood, are an accurate statement of what this Epistle actually contains. There are just two other passages in the New Testament in which the grace of God has been supposed to be a designation of the gospel. After stating the message of mercy, which the ministers of reconciliation are called to deliver, the Apostle, in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians, says — 'We beseech you that ye receive not the grace, or this grace of God in vain,' (2 Corinthians 6:1.) The reference here is, no doubt, to the gospel, but the meaning of the phrase, the grace of God, is plainly just this divine favor, this benefit which so expresses, and, as it were, embodies, the divine grace. And in the Epistle to Titus, the same Apostle states, that 'the grace of God bringing salvation' has been manifested, or has 'appeared, teaching' those who apprehend it, 'to deny ungodliness, and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present world.' (Titus 2:11, 12.) The grace of God is often said to mean here the gospel, but the gospel is the manifestation, the revelation of this grace; and the truth, taught in the passage is, that the free, sovereign mercy of God, when it is apprehended by the sinner, is the true principle of holiness in the heart and life." — Brown's Expository Discourses on First Peter, volume 3 pp. 295, 296. — Ed.
1470"Il ne faut point douter, que le Prophete ne parle du regne de Christ;" — "There is no room to doubt, that the Prophet speaks of the kingdom of Christ."
1471"Quelle similitude et proportion ou conuenance;" — "What a resemblance, and proportion, or correspondence."
1472The precise word in the Septuagint version (with which the Apostle's quotation exactly corresponds) is {δεκτῳ}, (acceptable.) Calvin had probably been led to make use of the word {εὐπρόσδεκτον} from the circumstance, that that adjective is employed by the Apostle in the latter part of the verse, when commenting upon the passage quoted. --- Ed.
1473The Hebrew term referred to is employed in this sense in the following (among other) instances: Psalm 5:13; 30:7; Proverbs 16:15; 19:12. — Ed.
1474Calvin makes a similar observation when commenting on the expression here referred to, in Galatians 4:4. "Pergit in similitudine adducta, et suo instituto definitum a Patre tempus accommodat: simul tamen ostendit, tempus illud, quod Dei providentia ordinatum erat, maturum fuisse et opportunum. Ea igitur demum iusta est opportunitas ac recta agendi dispensatio, qu' providentia Dei regitur;" — "He proceeds with the comparison which he had