John Calvin Commentary Acts 10:43

"To him bear all the prophets witness, that through his name every one that believeth on him shall receive remission of sins." — Acts 10:43 (ASV)

To him bear all the prophets. Luke touches upon and summarizes the sermon briefly, as we have said; therefore he is so brief in noting the outcome of the account. Let us know that the words spoken by Peter are not repeated here, but it is only declared what things he discussed. And we must consider three things:

1. that it is the unique role of Christ to reconcile people to God when their sins are removed;
2. that we receive remission of sins by faith;
3. that this doctrine is not new or recently invented, but that all the prophets of God since the beginning of the world have borne witness to it.

Regarding the first point, if God is pleased and pacified by not imputing our sins, it is evident from this that He hates and is displeased with all humankind, until they begin to please Him through free pardon. Therefore, we are all condemned for sin, which makes us subject to the wrath of God and binds us with the guilt of eternal death. Because we lack righteousness in ourselves, we are taught to flee to the mercy of God as to our only fortress.

When he says that the faithful receive remission of sins, a hidden opposition between them and God is understood, for God must necessarily offer it of His own accord so that the faithful may receive it. When he says that it is given by the name of Christ, his meaning is that we return to God’s favor through the benefit of Christ alone, because Christ has reconciled us to God by His death. Or, as is commonly said, we obtain forgiveness of sins by Christ’s mediation (His intercession) and by no other means.

Satan could never erase from the minds of people the feeling of their guilt, so they were always careful to seek pardon from God. But because there was only one way and means to obtain pardon, miserable people, being deluded with the deceptions [impostures] of Satan, invented for themselves intricate labyrinths, in whose twists and turns they exhausted themselves in vain.

This primary error first led them away from the right way, because they attempted to deserve pardon, which is offered freely and is received by faith alone.

Afterward, innumerable kinds of satisfactions [expiations] were invented by which they appeased God. Their beginning indeed flowed from the Word of God. But because when God gave to the fathers the sacrifices and rites of offerings, He foreshadowed Christ, blind and profane people, setting Christ aside and following an empty shadow, corrupted all that was God’s in sacrifices and satisfactions.

Therefore, whatever sacrifices the Gentiles used since the beginning of the world, and those which the Turks and Jews use to this day, may be set against Christ as things altogether contrary.

The Papists are no better, except that they sprinkle their satisfactions with the blood of Christ. However, they act too disorderly in this, because, not being content with Christ alone, they gather to themselves on every side a thousand kinds of sacrifices or satisfactions.

Therefore, whoever desires to have remission of sins, let them not turn aside from Christ, even the slightest degree.

When we hear that we receive remission of sins by believing, we must understand and know the power and nature of faith, as undoubtedly Peter discussed this abundantly, [namely,] in what way we must believe in Christ. And this is nothing other than to embrace Him with the sincere affection of the mind as He is set before us in the gospel, so that faith depends upon the promises.

Yet Peter seems to deal amiss, because while we receive two principal things through our Savior Christ, he only makes mention of one of them; for he speaks nothing of repentance and newness of life, which ought not to be omitted in the summary of the gospel. But we may easily answer that the regeneration of the Spirit is comprehended under faith, as it is an effect of it. For we believe in Christ for this reason: partly that He may restore us to the Father’s favor by the free imputation of righteousness, and partly that He may sanctify us by His Spirit. And we know that we are adopted by God to be His children on this condition: that He may govern us by His Spirit. Therefore, it was sufficient for Peter to show how people, who were by nature estranged from God, return to favor with Him.

Regarding the third point, we do not need to list all the passages from the prophets where they present Christ to us as the mediator, who, by obtaining pardon for our sins, reconciles God to us; but this is their common method of teaching and, as it were, their rule: to call all the godly back to that covenant which God made with Abraham, placing the mediator in between.

Furthermore, it is very necessary to know this point: that the grace which was finally offered through Christ is the same which the Law and the Prophets, in times past, delivered to the fathers to be hoped for. And surely it was of great significance for Cornelius and others like him, who greatly reverenced the Law and Prophets, so that they might know that what was testified in the oracles of the prophets was indeed performed and accomplished in Christ.

Therefore, so that the ministers of the Church may agree with the prophets in their form of teaching, let them make it their study in preaching to present Christ. Let them continually testify that we must seek righteousness from Him alone, which consists of free remission of sins. This is a different kind of antiquity than that which is displayed with great boasting by the Papists, while they thrust the rotten inventions of their satisfactions into the place of Christ’s blood.