John Calvin Commentary John 5:14

"Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing befall thee." — John 5:14 (ASV)

After these things Jesus found him. These words show still more clearly that, when Christ concealed himself for a time, it was not so that the remembrance of the kindness which he had bestowed might be forgotten, for he now appears in public of his own accord; only he intended that the work should first be known, and that he should afterwards be declared to be its Author.

This passage contains a highly useful doctrine. For when Christ says, Behold, you are made whole, he means that we make improper use of God's gifts if we are not moved to gratitude. Christ does not reproach the man for what he had given him, but only reminds him that he had been cured so that, remembering the favor he had received, he might serve God his Deliverer all his life.

Thus, as God by stripes instructs and spurs us on to repentance, so He invites us to it by His goodness and forbearance. Indeed, the universal design both of our redemption and of all God's gifts is to keep us entirely devoted to Him. Now this cannot be done unless the remembrance of the past punishment remains impressed on the mind, and unless the one who has obtained pardon engages in this meditation throughout his whole life.

This admonition also teaches us that all the evils we endure should be attributed to our sins, for human afflictions are not accidental but are so many stripes for our chastisement. First, then, we should acknowledge the hand of God that strikes us, and not imagine that our distresses arise from a blind impulse of fortune. Next, we ascribe this honor to God: that since He is a Father full of goodness, He does not take pleasure in our sufferings and therefore does not treat us more harshly than our sins have offended Him. When He charges him, sin no more, He does not command him to be free from all sin, but speaks comparatively regarding his former life; for Christ exhorts him from now on to repent, and not to do as he had done before.

Lest something worse befall you. If God does not succeed in doing us good by the stripes with which He gently chastises us, as the kindest father would chastise his tender and delicate children, He is compelled to assume a new character—one that, so to speak, is not natural to Him.

He therefore seizes the whip to subdue our obstinacy, as He threatens in the Law (Leviticus 26:14; Deuteronomy 28:15; Psalms 32:9); and indeed, passages of the same kind are to be found throughout the Scriptures. Thus, when we are incessantly pressed down by new afflictions, we should attribute this to our obstinacy; for not only do we resemble restive horses and mules, but we are like wild beasts that cannot be tamed.

There is no reason to wonder, therefore, if God uses severer punishment to bruise us, as it were, by mallets, when moderate punishment is of no avail; for it is fitting that those who will not endure to be corrected should be bruised by strokes. In short, the purpose of punishments is to make us more cautious for the future.

If, after the first and second strokes, we maintain obstinate hardness of heart, He will strike us seven times more severely. If, after having shown signs of repentance for a time, we immediately return to our natural disposition, He more sharply chastises this fickleness which proves us to be forgetful and which is full of sloth.

Again, in the case of this man, it is important for us to observe with what gentleness and condescension the Lord bears with us. Let us suppose that the man was approaching old age; in that case, he must have been afflicted by disease in the very prime of life, and perhaps had been attacked by it from his earliest infancy. Now let us consider how grievous this punishment, continued for so many years, must have been to him.

It is certain that we cannot accuse God of excessive severity in causing this man to languish and be half-dead for so long a period. Therefore, when we are punished more lightly, let us learn that it is because the Lord, in His infinite goodness, moderates the extreme rigor of the punishments that we fully deserved.

Let us also learn that no punishments are so rigorous and severe that the Lord cannot add to them whenever He pleases.

Nor can it be doubted that wretched people by their wicked complaints often bring upon themselves dreadful and shocking torments when they assert that it is not possible to endure greater distresses, and that God cannot send them anything more. Are not these things hidden among my treasures? says the Lord (Deuteronomy 32:34).

We should also observe how slow we are to benefit from God’s chastisements. For if Christ’s exhortation was not unnecessary, we may learn from it that this man's soul was not yet fully purified from every vice. Indeed, the roots of vices are too deep in us to be torn out in a single day or in a few days, and the cure of the soul's diseases is too difficult to be achieved by remedies applied for only a short time.