John Calvin Commentary Acts 13:38

"Be it known unto you therefore, brethren, that through this man is proclaimed unto you remission of sins:" — Acts 13:38 (ASV)

Therefore, let it be known to you. After He has declared the means by which salvation is purchased through Christ, He now treats of His office and power. And this is the principal point: to know what good things we have by the coming of Christ, and what we are to hope for from Him.

And although Luke records briefly that Paul preached of the benefits of Christ, yet there is no reason for anyone to doubt that such great matters were handled weightily, and only as their dignity required. By this saying, Be it known unto you, Paul means that nothing should hinder them from knowing such an excellent and plain matter, except for sloth. Therefore, it was an absurd thing that those benefits of God, which were offered by Christ, should be hidden from the faithful.

For He was sent with the powerful preaching of the gospel, which our faith ought to hear, so that it may enter into the sure possession of His good things; for we must know what He is, so that we may enjoy Him truly. Forgiveness of sins is set first, by which God reconciles us to Himself. What God wants preached to all His people, He shows to be necessary for all people; for Paul speaks not to one or two, but to all the Jews who were at Antioch.

Therefore, we must first note that we are all enemies to God through sin (Colossians 2:13). From this it follows that we are all excluded from the kingdom of God and are consigned to eternal death, until God receives us into favor by the free forgiveness of sins.

We must also note this: that God pardons our sins, and that He is reconciled through the Mediator, because just as without Him there is no satisfaction, so also there is no pardon or forgiveness of guilt. These are principles of our faith that are not learned in the schools of the philosophers: that all mankind is condemned and drowned in sin; that there is in us no righteousness that is able to reconcile us to God; that the only hope of salvation rests in His mercy, while He freely forgives us; and that those who do not flee to Christ and seek no forgiveness in His death remain under guilt.

And from all things. He subtly anticipates what might seem contrary to the former doctrine. For just as there were many ceremonies of the law, so there were many exercises to obtain remission of sins. Therefore, the Jews might readily object: If He alone reconciles God to us, with our sins taken away, to what end do so many washings and sacrifices serve, which we have until now used according to what the law prescribed?

Therefore, so that the ceremonies of the law might not hinder the Jews, Paul teaches that Christ does what they were not able to do. This is not to say that Paul spoke so briefly and concisely (for he did not expect that the Jews would at first come to Christ, suddenly casting off the trust they had in the righteousness of the law); rather, it was sufficient for Luke to briefly summarize those things which Paul then taught in proper and due order.

His meaning is that the Mediator took away that hindrance for the Jews, in which they were stuck. The ceremonial law ought indeed to have been a schoolmaster to lead them by the hand to Christ; all rites commanded by God were helps to aid and further their faith. But as people are accustomed to absurdly corrupting the holy ordinances of God, they block the way for themselves with their ceremonies, and they shut the gate of faith, so that they could not come to Christ.

They thought they had righteousness in sacrifices; that true cleanness was obtained by washings; that God was pleased with them as soon as they had finished their external display. In summary, forsaking the substance, they laid hold of vain shadows. God indeed appointed nothing unprofitable or vain in the law; therefore, ceremonies were sure and undoubted testimonies of remission of sins.

For God did not lie in these words: Let the sinner offer sacrifice, and his iniquity shall be purged. But as Christ was the end of the law and the heavenly pattern of the tabernacle, so the force and effect of all ceremonies depended upon Him; by which it is proved that they were vain shadows when He was set aside (Hebrews 8:5). Now we see Paul’s main point and purpose: namely, that he meant to draw away the Jews from the false and perverse confidence which they placed in the law, lest, being puffed up, they should think that they had no need of Christ’s help, or lest they should seek only outward well-being in Him.

Be justified in the law. This passage plainly shows what the word justified means in all other places where it is used: namely, to be delivered and acquitted. Mention was made of remission of sins; Paul affirms that there is no other way by which we can obtain it but by the grace of Christ.

Lest anyone should object that there are remedies to be found in the law, he answers that there was no power in them. Therefore, the meaning is plain: that they cannot be justified from sin by the law, because the rites of the law were neither just nor lawful prices to remove guilt; they were worthless in themselves to deserve righteousness, nor were they sufficient recompenses to appease God.

Certainly, it cannot be denied (except with wickedness) that this justification, connected to remission of sins, is, so to speak, the means and way to obtain it. For what else does Paul endeavor to do but to confirm that saying—that our sins are forgiven us through the benefit of Christ—by answering contrary objections?

And he proves it, because neither satisfactions nor all the rites of the law can justify us from sin. Therefore, he is justified by Christ, who is freely loosed from the guilt and judgment of eternal death to which he was subject. This is the righteousness of faith, while God counts us just by not imputing our sins.

This specific meaning of the word alone is sufficient to refute the objections of the Papists, who hold that we are not justified by pardon or by free acceptance, but by habit and infused righteousness. Therefore, let us not allow them to tear apart unworthily and wickedly this text of Paul, when he says that they are justified from all things, so that we may be assured of remission of sins.

And now we must know that the law of Moses is set in contrast to Christ, as the principal means to obtain righteousness, if there had been any other means besides Christ. Paul is indeed discussing ceremonies; but we must note that nothing was omitted from them that might serve to purge sins and to appease God.

Yet there was not one of all the ceremonies of the law that did not make a person guilty, like a new certificate of debt, as Paul teaches (Colossians 2:14). What then? Assuredly, God meant to testify that people are justified by the death of His Son alone, because He made Him to be sin for us—He who committed no sin (or knew no sin)—that we might have righteousness in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). From this it follows that whatever satisfactions are invented by people, they tend to rob Christ of His honor. In the law and in Christ signify as much as by the law and by Christ, according to the Hebrew phrase.

From all things. By this phrase the wicked invention of the Papists is refuted, who teach that only original sin and actual sins committed before baptism are completely and freely forgiven by Christ, and that others are redeemed by satisfactions. But Paul says plainly that we are justified from sins by Christ throughout the whole course of our life.

For we must remember that the ceremonies (or rites) of the law were entrusted to the Jews, so that both the benefit and the use of them might flourish daily in the assembly; that is, so that the Jews might indeed understand that their sacrifices and washings were not continually repeated in vain.

If the truth and substance of them are found in Christ, it follows that there is no other satisfaction or sacrifice to take away sins except His death; otherwise there would be no analogy or proportion between this and the old types. The Papists call us back to repentance and the keys, as if the ceremonies of the law were not exercises to reflect on repentance, and as if the power of the keys were not connected to them.

But the faith of the godly was helped by such aids, so that they might flee to the grace of the Mediator alone. Therefore, let this remain sure and certain: that the righteousness which we have in Christ is not for one day or a moment, but it is everlasting, as the sacrifice of His death daily reconciles us to God.