Commentary on the Gospel According to John John Calvin (continued)
John Calvin excitement to luxury. Let those, therefore, who have abundance, remember that they will one day render an account of their immoderate wealth, if they do not carefully and faithfully apply their superfluity to purposes which are good, and of which God approves.
John 6:14-21
John 6:14-21
14. Those men, therefore, when they saw the miracle which Jesus had performed, said, This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world. 15. And when Jesus knew that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he again withdrew alone into a mountain. 16. And when it was evening, his disciples went down to the sea. 17. And having entered into a ship, they came across the sea into Capernaum; and it was now dark, and Jesus had not come to them. 18. And the sea arose by means of a great wind that blew. 19. When therefore they had rowed about five-andtwenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea; and when he approached the ship, 125 they were terrified. 20. But he saith to them, It is I, be not terrified. 21. They were willing, therefore, to receive him into the ship; and immediately the ship reached the place to which they were going.
14. Those men, therefore. The miracle appears to have been attended by some advantage, that they acknowledge the author of it to be the Messiah; for Christ had no other object in view. But immediately they apply to a different and improper purpose the knowledge which they have obtained concerning Christ. And it is a fault extremely common among men, to corrupt and pervert his truth by their falsehoods, as soon as he has revealed himself to them; and even when they appear to have entered into the right path, they immediately fall away.
15. To make him a king. When those men intended to give to Christ the title and honor of king, there was some ground for what they did. But they erred egregiously in taking upon themselves the liberty of making a king; for Scripture ascribes this as peculiar to God alone, as it is said,
I have appointed my king on my holy hill of Zion, (Psalm 2:6.)
Again, what sort of kingdom do they contrive for him? An earthly one, which is utterly inconsistent with his person. Hence let us learn how dangerous it is, in the things of God, to neglect His word, and to contrive anything of our own opinion; for there is nothing which the foolish subtlety of our understanding does not corrupt. And what avails the pretense of zeal, when by our disorderly worship we offer a greater insult to God than if a person were expressly and deliberately to make an attack on his glory?
We know how furious were the efforts of adversaries to extinguish the
125"Ils voyent Jesus cheminant sur la mer, s'approchant de la nasselle, dont ils eurent peur." — "They see Jesus walking on the sea, and approaching the ship, at which they were afraid."