John Calvin Commentary Psalms 143:2

"And enter not into judgment with thy servant; For in thy sight no man living is righteous." — Psalms 143:2 (ASV)

And enter not into judgment. I have hinted already why he proceeds to pray for pardon. When overtaken by adversity, we are always to conclude that it is a rod of correction sent by God to stir us up to pray. Although he is far from taking pleasure in our trials, it is certain that our sins are the cause of his dealing towards us with this severity.

While those to whom David was opposed were wicked men, and he was perfectly conscious of the rectitude of his cause as regarded them, he freely acknowledged his sin before God as a condemned suppliant. We are to hold this as a general rule in seeking to conciliate God, that we must pray for the pardon of our sins.

If David found refuge nowhere else than in prayer for pardon, who is there among us who would presume to come before God trusting in his own righteousness and integrity? Nor does David here merely set an example before God’s people how they ought to pray, but declares that there is no one among men who could be just before God if he were called to plead his cause.

The passage is one fraught with much instruction, teaching us, as I have just hinted, that God can only show favor to us in our approaches by throwing aside the character of a judge, and reconciling us to himself in a gratuitous remission of our sins. All human righteousnesses, accordingly, go for nothing when we come to his tribunal.

This is a truth that is universally acknowledged in words, but very few are seriously impressed with it. As there is an indulgence that is mutually extended to one another among men, they all come confidently before God for judgment, as if it were as easy to satisfy him as to gain man’s approval.

In order to obtain a proper view of the whole matter, we are first to note what is meant by being justified. The passage before us clearly proves that the man who is justified is he who is judged and reckoned just before God, or whom the heavenly Judge himself acquits as innocent.

Now, in denying that any among men can claim this innocence, David intimates that any righteousness the saints possess is not perfect enough to withstand God’s scrutiny, and thus he declares that all are guilty before God and can only be absolved by acknowledging they might justly be condemned.

Had perfection been a thing to be found in the world, he certainly, more than any other, was the man who might justly have boasted of it; and the righteousness of Abraham and the holy fathers was not unknown to him. But he spares neither them nor himself, but lays it down as the one universal rule of conciliating God: that we must cast ourselves upon his mercy.

This may give us some idea of the satanic infatuation that has taken hold of those who speak so much of perfection in holiness, with a view to supersede remission of sins. Such a degree of pride could never be evinced by them, were they not secretly influenced by a brutish contempt of God.

They speak in high and magnificent terms of regeneration, as if the whole kingdom of Christ consisted in purity of life. But in doing away with the principal blessing of the everlasting covenant—gratuitous reconciliation—which God’s people are commanded to seek daily, and in puffing up both themselves and others with a vain pride, they show what spirit they are of.

Let us hold them in detestation, since they do not scruple to show open contempt for God. This by itself, however, which we have stated, is not enough; for the Papists themselves acknowledge that if God were to enter upon an examination of men’s lives as a judge, all would be liable to just condemnation.

And in this respect they are sounder, more moderate, and sober than those Cyclopses and monsters in heresy of whom we have just spoken. But though not arrogating to themselves righteousness in its whole extent, they show, by obtruding their merits and satisfactions, that they are very far from following the example of David.

They are always ready to acknowledge some defect in their works, and so, in seeking God’s favor, they plead for the assistance of his mercy. But there is nothing intermediate between these two things, which are represented in Scripture as opposites—being justified by faith and justified by works.

It is absurd for the Papists to invent a third kind of righteousness, which is partly worked out by their own works and partly imputed to them by God in his mercy. Undoubtedly, when he affirmed that no man could stand before God if his works were brought to judgment, David had no idea of this complex or twofold righteousness, but would at once confine us to the conclusion that God is favorable only on the ground of his mercy, since any reputed righteousness of man has no significance before him.