John Calvin Commentary Psalms 103:11

"For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is his lovingkindness toward them that fear him." — Psalms 103:11 (ASV)

For in proportion to the height of the heavens above the earth The Psalmist here confirms by a comparison the truth that God does not punish the faithful as they have deserved, but, by his mercy, strives against their sins. The expression is equivalent to saying that God’s mercy towards us is infinite.

Regarding the word גבר, gabar, it is of little consequence whether it is taken in a neuter meaning or in a transitive one, as is noted on the margin. In either way, the immeasurableness of God’s mercy is compared to the vast extent of the world. Since God's mercy could not reach us unless the obstacle of our guilt were removed, it is immediately added (Psalms 103:12) that God removes our sins as far from us as the east is distant from the west. The meaning is that God’s mercy is poured out upon the faithful far and wide, according to the magnitude of the world, and that, to take away every hindrance to its course, their sins are completely blotted out.

The Psalmist confirms what I have just stated: namely, that he does not speak generally about what God is towards the whole world, but about how he reveals himself towards the faithful. From this it is also evident that he does not here speak of the mercy by which God initially reconciles us to himself, but of that with which he continually follows those whom he has embraced with his fatherly love.

There is one kind of mercy by which he restores us from death to life while we are still strangers to him, and another by which he sustains this restored life; for that blessing would immediately be lost if he did not confirm it in us by daily pardoning our sins.

From this we also gather how egregiously the Papists err in imagining that the free remission of sins is given only once, and that afterwards righteousness is acquired or retained by the merit of good works, and that whatever guilt we contract is removed by satisfactions.

Here David does not limit to a single moment the mercy by which God reconciles us to himself by not imputing our sins to us, but extends it even to the end of life. Not less powerful is the argument this passage provides us to refute those fanatics who delude both themselves and others with the empty belief that they have attained perfect righteousness, so that they no longer need pardon.