John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 41:8

"But thou, Israel, my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend," — Isaiah 41:8 (ASV)

But thou, Israel, art my servant. He now shows how unreasonable it is to confuse the people of Israel with the Gentile nations, even though all have raised a banner and agree in error, and though the whole world is abandoned to deceptions; for, since by a calling of free grace God had chosen and set them apart, they should not have given themselves up to the same frenzy.

This is a remarkable passage, and teaches us that we should be satisfied with our calling, so that we are restrained from the pollution of this world.

Though corruptions abound, and though we indulge freely in every kind of iniquity, yet we should be restrained by this consideration, that we are God’s elect, and therefore we are not free to go beyond limits like Gentiles and ungodly people. “Such were some of you,” says Paul,

“but now you have been washed, now you have been sanctified by the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:11).

Indeed, nothing is more unreasonable than that we should wander like blind men in darkness, when the sun of righteousness has shone upon us. We should therefore consider our calling, so that we may follow it with all zeal and diligence, and, “walking as becomes the children of light” (Ephesians 5:8), may avoid that way of life to which we were formerly accustomed.

For this reason he calls Israel his servant; not that the Israelites deserved anything on account of their obedience, but because he had set them apart for himself; and accordingly, for the same reason he adds —

Jacob, whom I have chosen. This is a remarkable commendation of undeserved favor; as if he had said, “You are indeed my servants, not through your own merit, but through my bounty; for by my election I have prepared and formed you to be my peculiar people.”

In short, he reminds them that it was not by their own effort that they obtained the honor of being called God’s servants, and that they did not differ from others so that they excelled them in any respect, but it was because it so pleased God, who has the right to select this or that person according to his pleasure.

Yet at the same time he explains what is the purpose of our election, namely, that we may serve God. “He hath chosen us,” as Paul says, “that we may be holy and unreprovable before him” (Ephesians 1:4). The object to be gained by election is that those who were the slaves of Satan may submit and devote themselves completely to God.

The seed of Abraham. This is added in the third place, to inform us that election depends on the promise of God; not that the promise precedes the election, which is from eternity, but because the Lord has bestowed his kindness out of regard for the promise; for he said to Abraham,

“I am thy God and the God of thy seed” (Genesis 17:7).

This favor was therefore continued to posterity, and because of the promise the Lord took special care of that people, as Paul also declares that “to them belonged the testament, the promise, and the giving of the Law” (Romans 9:4). Hence also they were called “that holy nation” (Exodus 19:6),

“God’s sacred inheritance, and a priestly kingdom” (1 Peter 2:9).

My friend. It was an extraordinary honor that the Lord bestowed on Abraham when he called him his friend. To be called “the servant of God” is high and honorable; for if it is considered a distinguished favor to be admitted into the family of a king or a prince, how much more highly should we esteem it when God considers us his servants and members of his family? But, not satisfied with that, he bestows on him an even higher honor and adorns him with the name of “friend.”

What is said here about Abraham relates to all believers; and Christ declared more plainly, “Now I call you not servants, but ye are my friends; for servants know not their Lord’s will, but to you have been revealed secret and divine mysteries, and hence you may know my friendly and kind disposition towards you” (John 15:15).

Having therefore obtained such great honor from God, we should remember our duty, so that the more abundantly he has testified his kindness toward us, we may worship him all the more earnestly and with deeper reverence continually.

But we should always remember that Abraham was God’s friend on no other basis than that of adoption; as Moses also says that the Jews enjoyed their high rank merely through the good pleasure of God, “because God loved their fathers” (Deuteronomy 4:37, and 7:6-8).