John Calvin Commentary Psalms 14:1

"The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works; There is none that doeth good." — Psalms 14:1 (ASV)

Many of the Jews believe that this psalm contains a prediction concerning the future oppression of their nation, as if David, by the revelation of the Holy Spirit, lamented the afflicted condition of the Church of God under the tyranny of the Gentiles. They therefore refer what is spoken here to the dispersed condition in which we see them today, as if they were that precious heritage of God which the wild beasts devour.

But it is very clear that, in wishing to cover the disgrace of their nation, they twist and apply to the Gentiles, without any valid reason, what is said concerning the perverse children of Abraham. We certainly cannot find a better qualified interpreter than the Apostle Paul, and he applies this psalm expressly to the people who lived under the law (Romans 3:19). Besides, even if we did not have the testimony of this Apostle, the structure of the psalm very clearly shows that David is referring to domestic tyrants and enemies of the faithful rather than foreign ones—a point that is very necessary for us to understand.

We know that it is an exceedingly painful temptation to see wickedness erupting and prevailing within the Church, the good and the simple unjustly afflicted, while the wicked cruelly domineer as they please. This sad spectacle almost completely disheartens us. Therefore, we greatly need to be fortified by the example David presents to us here, so that, in the midst of the greatest desolations we witness in the Church, we may comfort ourselves with this assurance: that God will finally deliver her from them.

I have no doubt that what is described here is the disordered and desolate state of Judea that Saul introduced when he began to rage openly. Then, as if the remembrance of God had been extinguished from people's minds, all piety had vanished. And concerning integrity or uprightness among people, there was just as little of it as there was of godliness.

The fool has said. As the Hebrew word נבל, nabal, means not only a fool but also a perverse, vile, and contemptible person, it would not have been inappropriate to translate it that way here. Yet, I am content to follow the more commonly accepted interpretation, which is that all profane people, who have cast off all fear of God and abandoned themselves to wickedness, are convicted of madness.

David does not charge his enemies with common foolishness but rather condemns the folly and insane audacity of those whom the world considers eminent for their wisdom. We commonly see that those who, in their own estimation and that of others, greatly excel in insight and wisdom, use their cunning to lay snares and use their mental ingenuity to despise and mock God.

It is therefore important for us, first, to know that however much the world applauds these crafty and scoffing individuals, who allow themselves to indulge in wickedness to any extent, the Holy Spirit still condemns them as fools; for there is no stupidity more senseless than forgetfulness of God.

However, we should also carefully note the evidence on which the Psalmist concludes that they have cast off all sense of religion. It is this: they have overthrown all order, so that they no longer distinguish between right and wrong, and have no regard for honesty or love for humanity.

David, therefore, does not speak of the hidden disposition of the heart of the wicked, except insofar as they reveal themselves by their external actions. The meaning of his language is: How is it that these men indulge in their lusts so boldly and outrageously that they pay no regard to righteousness or fairness—in short, that they madly rush into every kind of wickedness—if not because they have shaken off all sense of religion and extinguished, as much as they can, all remembrance of God from their minds?

When people retain any sense of religion in their hearts, they necessarily have some modesty and are somewhat restrained and prevented from entirely disregarding the dictates of their conscience. It follows from this that when the ungodly allow themselves to follow their own inclinations—so obstinately and audaciously as they are depicted here, without any sense of shame—it is evidence that they have cast off all fear of God.

The Psalmist says that they speak in their heart. They may not utter this detestable blasphemy, There is no God, aloud; but the unbridled licentiousness of their lives loudly and clearly declares that in their hearts, which are destitute of all godliness, they soothingly sing this song to themselves.

This is not to say that they maintain there is no God through lengthy arguments or formal syllogisms, as they call them (for, to make them all the more inexcusable, God periodically causes even the most wicked people to feel secret pangs of conscience, so that they are compelled to acknowledge His majesty and sovereign power). Instead, whatever right knowledge God instills in them, they partly stifle it by their malice against Him and partly corrupt it, until religion in them becomes dormant and finally dead.

They may not openly deny God's existence, but they imagine Him to be confined to heaven and stripped of His righteousness and power; and this is simply to fashion an idol in God's place. As if the time will never come when they must appear before Him in judgment, they strive, in all the transactions and concerns of their lives, to remove Him to the greatest possible distance and to erase from their minds all awareness of His majesty.

And when God is dragged from His throne and stripped of His character as judge, impiety has reached its peak. Therefore, we must conclude that David has most certainly spoken truthfully in declaring that those who take the liberty to commit all kinds of wickedness, in the self-deceiving hope of escaping without punishment, deny in their heart that there is a God.

As Psalm 53, with the exception of a few altered words, is largely a repetition of this psalm, I will show in the appropriate places, as we proceed, the differences between the two psalms. David here complains that they have done abominable work; but for the word work, the term used there is iniquity. It should be noted that David is not speaking of one or two works. But as he had said, that they have perverted or corrupted all lawful order, so now he adds that they have polluted their whole lives to such an extent as to make them abominable. The proof he offers for this is that they have no regard for uprightness in their dealings with one another, but have forgotten all humanity and all kindness towards their fellow human beings.