John Calvin Commentary Luke 16:15

"And he said unto them, Ye are they that justify yourselves in the sight of men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God." — Luke 16:15 (ASV)

It is you who justify yourselves before men. We see that Christ does not give way to their disdainful conduct, but constantly maintains the authority of his doctrine in opposition to their mockery. It is the duty of all the ministers of the Gospel to pursue the same course, by meeting ungodly despisers with the dreadful judgment of God.

He declares that the hypocrisy with which they deceive the eyes of men will be of no avail to them at the judgment-seat of God. They were unwilling to have it thought that their mockery was intended as a defense of their covetousness. But Christ affirms that this venom breaks out from a concealed ulcer, just as if one were to tell the mitred prelates of our own day that their hostility to the Gospel arises from the severity with which it attacks their hidden vices.

But God knows your hearts. He says that they consider it enough if they appear to be good in the eyes of men, and if they can boast of a pretended sanctity; but that God, who knows the hearts, is well acquainted with the vices which they conceal from the view of the world. And here we must attend to the distinction between the judgments of God and the judgments of men; for men approve of outward appearances, but at the judgment-seat of God nothing is approved but an upright heart. There is added a striking observation:

What is highly esteemed by men is abomination in the sight of God. Not that God rejects those virtues, the approval of which He has engraved on the hearts of men; but that God detests whatever men are disposed, of their own accord, to applaud. Thus, it is evident in what light we should view all pretended acts of worship which the world contrives according to its own fancy. However much they may please their inventors, Christ pronounces that they are not only vain and worthless, but are even detestable.