John Calvin Commentary Ezekiel 20:44

"And ye shall know that I am Jehovah, when I have dealt with you for my name`s sake, not according to your evil ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O ye house of Israel, saith the Lord Jehovah." — Ezekiel 20:44 (ASV)

Here, then, God pronounces that His glory would be primarily evident in the pity He bestowed upon those who were desperate and abandoned, freely and solely for the sake of His own name. Therefore, Paul especially celebrates the grace of God in the first chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians, as that mercy by which God is pleased to call His own elect in a special sense—His glory; for His glory extends further than His pity (Ephesians 1:6, 12, 14).

As Your name, so Your praise is extended through all lands,
(Psalms 48:10)

For God deserves no less glory when He destroys the wicked than when He pities His own people. But Paul calls that free favor glory par excellence, by which God embraced His own elect when He adopted them. So also it is said in this passage, then you shall know that I am Jehovah, since I shall deal with you on behalf of my name, and not according to your sins. But when God wishes His glory to shine clearly in free pity, from this we gather that the enemies of His glory were too blatant and open, who obscure His mercy, or diminish it, or as much as they can, try to reduce it to nothing.

But we know the teaching of the papacy to be that God’s free goodness either is buried, or enveloped in dark obscurity, or utterly vanishes away: for they have invented a system of general merits which they oppose to God’s free favor. For they distinguish merits into preparations, good works acquiring God’s favor, and satisfactions, by which they buy off the penalties to which they were subjected.

Afterwards, they add what they call the intercessions of the saints; for they invent for themselves countless patrons, and various arguments are devised for the purpose of obscuring God’s glory, or at least of allowing only a few sparks to be seen. Therefore, since the whole papacy tends that way, we see that they openly oppose God’s glory, and those who defend such abominations are sworn enemies of God’s glory.

For ourselves, then, let us learn that we cannot otherwise worship God acceptably unless we embrace whatever pleases Him as pertaining to our salvation. For if we wish to enter into a debtor and creditor accounting, or to consider that He is in the slightest degree indebted to us, we in this way diminish His glory, and as much as is in our power, we strip ourselves of that inestimable privilege which the Prophet now praises.

Therefore, let us desire to acknowledge God in this way, since He treats us with amazing clemency and pity out of regard for His own name, and not according to our sins. And since that was said to His ancient people because they returned to the land of Canaan, how much more ought God’s free goodness to be praised by us, when His heavenly kingdom is open to us today, and when He openly calls us to Himself in heaven, and to the hope of that happy immortality which has been obtained for us through Christ?

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, since we have already, in hope, entered upon the threshold of our eternal inheritance, and know that there is a sure dwelling place for us in heaven after Christ has been received there, who is our head and the firstfruits of our salvation: Grant, I pray, that we may proceed more and more in the course of Your holy calling until at last we reach the goal, and so enjoy that eternal glory of which You give us a taste in this world, through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

PRAISE TO GOD.

After finishing this last Lecture, that most distinguished man, John Calvin, the Theologian, who had previously been ill, then became so much weaker that he was forced to lie on a couch, and could no longer proceed with the explanation of Ezekiel. This explains why he stopped at the end of the Twentieth Chapter, and did not finish the work so promisingly begun. Nothing remains, kind reader, but for you to receive most favorably and graciously what is now published to the world.