John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 23:26-27

"How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies, even the prophets of the deceit of their own heart? that think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbor, as their fathers forgat my name for Baal." — Jeremiah 23:26-27 (ASV)

Here God reproves the false prophets and also promises His people what was especially to be desired—that He would cleanse His Church from such pollutions. He then shows that it was His purpose to take vengeance because the false prophets had dared in such an impious and bold manner to abuse His sacred name. For it always occurred to their minds, “How is it that God permits this? Is it because He does not care for the safety of His people? Or does it give Him any delight when He sees truth mingled with falsehood, and light with darkness?” Therefore, God here shows that He for a time endured that sacrilegious audacity which the false prophets practiced, but He did not overlook it in such a way as to avoid eventually punishing them.

How long? He says, which is the same as if He had said, “It will not be perpetual; though I may delay, yet they will know that they have with extreme perverseness abused My forbearance.” And He also enhances their crime by saying, How long shall it be in the heart of the prophets to prophesy falsehood? By this way of speaking He indicates that they did not err through ignorance, as many do who, through lack of knowledge, present what they do not understand. Instead, God here complains that these prophets, intentionally, as it were, rose up to suppress the truth. Then by heart is to be understood thought or purpose; as if He had said that they intentionally made a false pretense of His name, that it was their settled purpose to deceive the people.

He adds that they were prophets of the deceit of their own heart. This deceit of the heart is contrasted with true doctrine; and thus God indicates that whatever men originate themselves is deceitful, for nothing but vanity can proceed from them. Yet there is no doubt that He condemns that foolish conceit, in which the false prophets proudly boasted that they alone were wise, as is now the case under the Papacy. How arrogantly do unprincipled men prattle whenever they speak of their own figments? Nothing can be more foolish, and yet they think that they surpass the angels in acuteness and in lofty speculations. Such was the arrogance displayed by the false prophets of old. But God declares that whatever men invent, and whatever they devise, which they have not received from His mouth, is only the deceit of the heart.

And this ought to be carefully noted; for there are many plausible refinements in which there is nothing solid, but they are mere trifles. If, then, at any time these vain thoughts seem pleasing to us, let us remember what Jeremiah says here: that whatever does not proceed from God is the deceit of the heart; and furthermore, though the whole world may applaud falsehoods and impostures, we ought still to know that everything is a deceit which does not have God Himself as its author.

Then follows a clearer definition: that they made His people forget His name by their dreams, just as their fathers had forgotten it through Baal. We may infer from this verse that those with whom Jeremiah contended were not openly enemies of the Law, for they held many principles of true religion.

They maintained in common with the true and sincere worshippers of God this truth—that the only true God ought to be worshipped; and also this—that there was only one legitimate altar on which sacrifices according to the Law were to be offered. On these points, then, there was no controversy.

Yet they deceived the people by their flatteries, for they profited from their prophetic office. Therefore, Jeremiah condemns them because they caused God’s name to be forgotten by their dreams, just as their fathers had forgotten it through Baal. It is as if he had said, “These dreams are like the fictitious and spurious forms of worship by which true religion was formerly subverted. For their fathers worshipped Baal and Baalim; they set up for themselves these false gods and thus subverted the glory of God by their own devices.”

The impiety of the false prophets who lived in the time of Jeremiah was not, indeed, so blatant; and yet it was an indirect defection, for they presented their dreams and falsely professed that they were God’s servants, though He had not commissioned them.

We have said elsewhere (Jeremiah 23:21) that their crime was twofold: first, they ran when not called nor sent; and secondly, they presented their own fancies and not the word of God. And this passage ought to be carefully noted, for here we learn that not only can open defection not be endured by God, but also indirect corruptions which stealthily withdraw us from the fear of God.

Therefore, these two evils must be carefully avoided in the Church, if we desire to remain completely obedient to God. One evil is sufficiently known: that is, when truth is openly turned into falsehood, when men are drawn away into idolatry and filthy superstitions, or when the ancient people, as Jeremiah says, forgot the name of God through Baal.

But the other evil is more hidden and therefore more dangerous: that is, when some appearance of true religion is retained, and men are yet insidiously drawn away from the fear of God and His true worship, and from pure doctrine. We see this to be the case today in the Churches which profess to have separated from the Papacy so that they might embrace the doctrine of the Gospel: there are many among them who insidiously corrupt the simple and genuine doctrine of the Gospel.

We see how many men of vain curiosity there are at this time, who disturb all things by their own inventions, how absurdly many seek refinements, and how confidently do many also propound their own inventions as oracles! It behooves us then to be watchful, not only so that we may shun open abominations, but also so that we may retain the pure and true word of God, so as not to allow false workers to insidiously corrupt and vitiate anything.