John Calvin Commentary Genesis 31:30

"And now, [though] thou wouldest needs be gone, because thou sore longedst after thy father`s house, [yet] wherefore hast thou stolen my gods?" — Genesis 31:30 (ASV)

Wherefore hast thou stolen my gods? The second main point of accusation alleged against Jacob is that he had not departed out of love for his country, nor for any just and probable cause, but that, in fact, he was implicated in an act of robbery. A serious and disgraceful charge, of which Jacob was far from being guilty!

But we learn from this that no one can live so innocently in the world that he will not sometimes bear undeserved reproach and marks of infamy. Whenever this may happen to us, let that precious promise sustain us, that the Lord, in his own time, will bring forth our innocence as the morning light (Psalms 37:6).

For by this artifice Satan attempts to seduce us from the practice of well-doing, when, without any fault of ours, we are slandered by false accusations. And since the world is ungrateful, it often makes the very worst return for acts of kindness. Some, indeed, are found who, with heroic magnanimity, despise unfavorable reports, because they esteem the testimony of a good conscience more highly than depraved popular opinion.

But it is essential for the faithful to look to God, so that their conscience may never fail them. We see that Laban calls his gods תרפים(teraphim), not because he thought the Deity was enclosed within them, but because he worshipped these images in honor of the gods. Or rather, because, when he was about to pay homage to God, he turned himself to those images.

Today, by a mere difference in wording, the Papists think they cleverly excuse themselves because they do not attribute to idols the name of gods. But this subterfuge is frivolous, since in reality they are altogether alike; for they pour forth before pictures or statues whatever honor they acknowledge to be due to the one God. The ancient idolaters were not without the pretext that by metonymy they called those images gods, which were made to represent God.