John Calvin Commentary Psalms 119:103

"How sweet are thy words unto my taste! [Yea, sweeter] than honey to my mouth!" — Psalms 119:103 (ASV)

O how sweet have been thy words to my palate! He again repeats what he had previously stated in different words: that he was so powerfully attracted by the sweetness of the Divine Law as to have no desire for any other delight. It is possible that a man may be affected by reverence toward the Law of God, but no one will cheerfully follow it, unless he has tasted this sweetness.

God requires no slavish service from us; he would have us come to him cheerfully, and this is the very reason why the prophet commends the sweetness of God’s word so often in this psalm.

If it is asked in what sense he declares that he took such sweet delight in God’s Law—which, according to the testimony of Paul (1 Corinthians 3:9), does nothing else but strike fear into men—the solution is easy: The prophet does not speak of the dead letter which kills those who read it, but he comprehends the whole doctrine of the Law, the chief part of which is the free covenant of salvation.

When Paul contrasts the Law with the Gospel, he speaks only of the commandments and threats. Now, if God were only to command and to denounce the curse, the whole of his communication would undoubtedly be deadly. But the prophet is not here opposing the Law to the Gospel; therefore, he could affirm that the grace of adoption, which is offered in the Law, was sweeter to him than honey—that is to say, that no delight was equal to this for him.

What I have previously said must be remembered: that the Law of God will be unsavory to us, or, at least, that it will never be so sweet to us as to withdraw us from the pleasures of the flesh, until we have struggled manfully against our own nature in order to subdue the carnal affections which prevail within us.