John Calvin Commentary Luke 12:20

"But God said unto him, Thou foolish one, this night is thy soul required of thee; and the things which thou hast prepared, whose shall they be?" — Luke 12:20 (ASV)

Fool, this night they will demand your soul from you. The word soul carries an allusion. Formerly, the rich man addressed his soul as the seat of all the affections; but now, he speaks of the life itself, or the vital spirit. The words, they will demand, (ἀπαιτοῦσιν) though in the plural number, are used indefinitely and mean nothing more than that the life of the rich man, which he imagined to be in his own power, was at the disposal of another.

I mention this because some use them as an occasion to make unfounded speculations about angels. The design of Christ is simply to show that the life of men, which they imagine to be strongly protected by the fortress of their riches, is every moment ²⁷² taken away. The rich man is thus convicted of folly, in not knowing that his life depended on another.

²⁷² “Que d’heure en heure la vie est ostee aux hommes;” — “that from hour to hour the life of man is taken away.”;” — “that from hour to hour the life of man is taken away.”