John Calvin Commentary Psalms 22:31

"They shall come and shall declare his righteousness Unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done it." — Psalms 22:31 (ASV)

They shall come, and shall declare. The Psalmist here confirms what I have previously stated: that since the fathers will transmit the knowledge of this benefit to their children, as it were from hand to hand, the name of God will always be renowned. From this we may also deduce the additional truth that it is by the preaching of the grace of God alone that the Church is kept from perishing.

At the same time, let it be observed, that care and diligence in propagating divine truth are here enjoined upon us, so that it may continue after we are removed from this world. Since the Holy Spirit prescribes it as a duty incumbent on all the faithful to be diligent in instructing their children, so that there may always be one generation after another to serve God, the sluggishness of those who have no scruple of conscience in burying the remembrance of God in eternal silence—a sin with which those are virtually chargeable who neglect to speak of Him to their children, and who thus do nothing to prevent His name from utterly perishing—is condemned as involving the greatest wickedness.

The term righteousness, in this place, refers to the faithfulness which God observes in preserving His people, of which we have a memorable example in the deliverance of David. In defending His servant from the violence and outrage of the wicked, He proved Himself to be righteous. Hence we may learn how dear our welfare is to God, seeing He combines it with the celebration of the praise of His own righteousness.

If then the righteousness of God is illustriously manifested in this, that He does not disappoint our hope, nor abandon us in dangers, but defends and keeps us in perfect safety, there is no more reason to fear that He will forsake us in the time of our need than there is reason to fear that He can forget Himself.

We must, however, remember that it is not for any particular help afforded to one individual, but it is for the redemption of the human race, that the celebration of the praise of God is required from us in this passage. In short, the Holy Spirit, by the mouth of David, recommends to us the proclamation of Christ’s resurrection.

In the end of this psalm some commentators resolve the particle כי, ki, because, into the pronoun אשר, asher, which, as if it had been said, The righteousness which He has done. But the sentence will be fuller if we read, because, and explain the passage thus: They shall come, and shall declare His righteousness, because God shall have given proof, or demonstration, of His righteousness—shall have afforded evidence by the effect, or the deed itself, that He is the faithful guardian of His own people.