John Calvin Commentary Acts 13:36

"For David, after he had in his own generation served the counsel of God, fell asleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption:" — Acts 13:36 (ASV)

When David had served his time. Lest anyone should think that this passage treats of David, Paul briefly shows that this does not apply to David in all points, whose body rotted in the grave. Therefore, it remains that David prophesied of Him in spirit, because this was a privilege belonging to Christ alone.

Nevertheless, we must note the proportion between the members and the head. For as the truth of this prophecy was found whole and perfect in Christ alone, as in the head, so it takes place in all the members according to the measure and order of each person.

And since Christ rose for this purpose, that He might fashion our lowly body to be like His glorious body (Philippians 3:21), it is on this condition that the godly go down into the grave, so that decay may not ultimately consume their bodies. Therefore, according to the hope of the resurrection to come, David rightly says that he shall not see corruption. For that which has a better restoration prepared for it should not be entirely counted as corruption, because the bodies of the faithful decay for this purpose: that they may, in due time, put on blessed incorruption.

Yet this is no hindrance to the state of the head and members being very different, and to our following the Son of God from a great distance and imperfectly.

Now we see that both things are true and aptly said: that David and the rest of the faithful, insofar as they will be like their head, shall not see corruption, and yet the Son of God alone will be entirely free from corruption. We must note the phrase, when he says, that David served his age, or the people of his time.

The old interpreter understands it differently, and certain Greek copies agree with this, namely, that David served the will of God in his time. Although this reading is acceptable, it does not cause me to dislike the other.

For it is neither unnecessary nor uninspired to say that he slept by the will of God, or the counsel of God. Its meaning is that God, in David's death, did not forget that prophecy. It is as if he were saying that David's body lay in the grave not without God's counsel or purpose—until it should rise again—so that the effect of the prophecy might be extended to Christ.

If no one dislikes what I am saying, we are taught by this for what purpose people live in the world: namely, that one person may help another. For not everyone lives, nor is born, for themselves, but humankind is bound together with a holy bond. Therefore, unless we are inclined to overthrow the laws of nature, let us remember that we must not live for ourselves, but for our neighbors.

But here a question may be asked: should we not also care for future generations? I answer that the service of the godly is also beneficial for future generations, as we see that David, though dead, benefits us more today than many of those who live with us. Paul simply means that the faithful, during their whole life, devote themselves and their duties to helping their neighbors, and that death is to them like a finish line, because they have then finished their course when the Lord calls them out of the world.

In summary, we must first pay attention to our own time, so that we may serve our fellow believers with whom and among whom we live our lives. Secondly, we must strive so that the fruit of our service may also benefit future generations. Since God prescribes this law for His servants, the recklessness of those who falsely claim that the dead pray for us, and that they serve the Church no less than while they lived, cannot be excused.

By the counsel of God he fell on sleep. Paul could have simply said that David died; he adds "by the counsel of God" so that we may know that what is read in the Psalm was not fulfilled in the person of the prophet. Nevertheless, we are taught that the boundary of life and death is similarly appointed for us by God, as it is in Psalm 90:3:

You send out men, and make them to pass over; again You say, Come again, you children of men.

Indeed, Plato states this very eloquently: that it is fitting that people pass out of the world not without the permission and pleasure of God, by whose hand they are placed there as if at a post for a time.

And for this reason, when he speaks of David’s death, he makes mention of the counsel of God, so that we may know that corruption did not happen to him by chance, as if God had forgotten His promise. Instead, it happened by God’s providence, so that the faithful might know that the prophecy was to be referred to another.

To sleep, and to be laid to the fathers, are forms of speech so well known and so common that they need no explanation.