John Calvin Commentary Psalms 106:6

"We have sinned with our fathers, We have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly." — Psalms 106:6 (ASV)

We have sinned with our fathers. It is quite plain from these words that although the prophet may have spoken in the person of one man, he still dictates a form of prayer for the common use of the whole Church, since he now identifies himself with the whole body.

And from this to the end of the psalm, he gleans from ancient histories that their fathers had always been of a malignant and perverse spirit, of corrupt practice, rebellious, ungrateful, and treacherous towards God. He confesses that their descendants were not better. Having made this confession, they come and ask for the forgiveness of their sins.

Since we are unable to obtain the forgiveness of our sins until we have first confessed our guilt, and since our hardness of heart shuts us out from the grace of God, the prophet, therefore, very appropriately and humbly acknowledges the guilt of the people in this their severe and painful chastisement. He also acknowledges that God might justly inflict upon them an even harder punishment.

For another reason, it was advantageous for the Jews to have their sins laid out before them. This is because if God punishes us severely, we immediately suppose that His promises have failed. But when, on the contrary, we are reminded that we are receiving the reward due to us for our transgressions, then if we thoroughly repent, those promises in which God appears as reconciled to us will come to our aid.

Besides, by the three expressions he uses in reference to their transgressions, he points out their enormity, so that (as is usually the case) their hearts might not be slightly affected, but deeply wounded with sorrow. For we know how men are bound by their vices and how inclined they are to leave themselves alone until compelled to examine themselves seriously. Indeed, what is more, when God calls them to judgment, they make a kind of verbal confession of their iniquities, while at the same time, hypocrisy blinds their minds.

When, therefore, the prophet says that the people acted iniquitously in sinning and had become ungodly and wicked, he employs no useless or unnecessary accumulation of words. Let any of us examine ourselves, and we will easily find that we have an equal need to be compelled to make a sincere confession of our sins. For though we dare not say that we have no sin, yet each of us is disposed to find a cover and excuse for his sin.

In a very similar manner, Daniel, in the ninth chapter of his prophecies (Daniel 9), acknowledges the guilt of his own iniquities and those of the people; it may be that the author of this psalm followed his example. From both, let us learn that the only way of pleasing God is to undertake a strict self-examination.

It should also be carefully observed that the holy prophets, who never departed from the fear and worship of God, uniformly confessed their own guilt in common with the people. They did this not out of false humility, but because they were aware that they themselves were tainted with many corruptions. For when iniquity abounds, it is almost impossible for even the best of men to keep themselves from being infected by its harmful effects.

Not comparing themselves with others, but placing themselves before God’s judgment seat, they immediately perceive the impossibility of making their escape.

At that time, impiety had reached such an enormous level among the Jews that it is not surprising if even the best and most upright men were carried away, as if by the violence of a tempest. How very abominable, then, is the pride of those who scarcely imagine that they offend in the slightest way; indeed, who even, like certain fanatics of today, conceive that they have attained a state of sinless perfection!

It must be remembered, however, that Daniel, who carefully kept himself under the fear of God and whom the Holy Spirit, by the prophet Ezekiel, declares to be one of the most upright of men, did not insincerely acknowledge his own transgressions and those of the people when he confessed them, with a deep sense of their grievously and dreadfully abhorrent character in the eyes of God. True, indeed, he was not overwhelmed in the same torrent of iniquity as others, but he knew that he had contracted a very large amount of guilt.

Besides, the prophet does not bring forward their fathers for the purpose of excusing his own wrongdoing (as many today disregard all reproof, shielding themselves by saying that they were taught this way by their fathers, and that, therefore, their poor upbringing, not they themselves, is at fault). Rather, he does so to show that he and those of his own nation were liable to severe punishment because, even from the very first and as if from their very infancy, they never ceased to provoke God's displeasure against themselves more and more with new transgressions. In this way, he implicates both fathers and children in many reasons for condemnation.