John Calvin Commentary Matthew 10:28

"And be not afraid of them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." — Matthew 10:28 (ASV)

And fear not those who kill the body. To motivate his disciples to despise death, Christ employs the very powerful argument that this frail and perishing life should be considered of little importance by people who have been created for heavenly immortality. This statement means that if believers consider for what purpose they were born, and what their condition is, they will have no reason to be so eager for an earthly life. But the words have an even richer and fuller meaning: for Christ teaches us here that the fear of God is dead in those people who, through fear of tyrants, abandon their confession of faith, and that a brutish stupidity reigns in the hearts of those who, through fear of death, do not hesitate to abandon that confession.

We must pay attention to the distinction between the two opposite kinds of fear. If the fear of God is extinguished by the fear of people, is it not clear that we show greater respect to them than to God Himself? Therefore, it follows that when we have abandoned the heavenly and eternal life, we reserve nothing more for ourselves than to be like the beasts that perish (Psalms 49:12). God alone has the power to bestow eternal life or to inflict eternal death. We forget God because we are carried away by the fear of people. Is it not very clear that we place a higher value on the shadowy life of the body⁵⁹⁵ than on the eternal state of the soul; or rather, that the heavenly kingdom of God is of no importance to us when compared to the fleeting and vanishing shadow of this present life?

These words of Christ should therefore be explained in this way: “Acknowledge that you have received immortal souls, which are subject to God’s authority alone and do not fall under the power of human beings. The result will be that no terrors or alarms which people may use will shake your faith. For why is it that the fear of human beings prevails in the struggle, except because the body is preferred to the soul, and immortality is valued less than a perishing life?”

⁵⁹⁵ “La vie de ce corps, laquelle n'est qu'une fumee;” — “the life of this body, which is but ;” — “the life of this body, which is but a vapor,” ((James 4:14.).)