John Calvin Commentary Psalms 36:1

"The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, There is no fear of God before his eyes." — Psalms 36:1 (ASV)

Ungodliness says to the wicked in the midst of my heart. Commentators do not agree on the interpretation of the first verse. Literally, it is, The saying [or speech] of transgression, or rather, Transgression says to the wicked. However, since the letter ל , lamed, is in Hebrew sometimes used for מן , min, some translate it this way: Ungodliness or transgression speaks of the wicked in my heart; as if the prophet were saying, "I clearly perceive from the wickedness that the ungodly commit that they are not influenced by the fear of God."

But since there is no need to depart from the proper meaning of the words, I rather agree with others in supposing that the prophet's language is to this effect: The malice of the wicked, though seemingly hidden and unknown, speaks aloud in my heart, and I am a sure witness of what it says or suggests.

First, it should be observed that the prophet does not speak of outward faults but penetrates to the very source, as if he were saying, "Although the wicked cloak their malice with wily dissimulation, yet I know it so well that I seem to hear it speaking."

It is indeed true that as the ungodly and profane rush headlong into every kind of wickedness, as if they were never to be called to give an account of it, the judgment David expresses here may be formed even from their life. But his language is much more emphatic when he says that God's servants openly perceive the depravity of such people hidden within the heart.

Now David does not speak of the wicked generally, but of the abandoned despisers of God. There are many who indulge in their vices who, nevertheless, are not intoxicated by the wretched infatuation David censures here. But when a person becomes hardened in committing sin, ungodliness eventually reduces him to such a state of insensibility that, despising God's judgment, he indulges without fear in every sin to which his depraved appetite impels him.

A reckless assurance, therefore, in committing sin, and especially where it is associated with contempt and scorn for every holy admonition, is, so to speak, an enchantment of Satan, which indicates that the condition of such a person is indeed hopeless. And although true religion has the effect of keeping the hearts of the godly in the fear of God and drives wicked thoughts far from their minds, this still does not prevent them from perceiving and understanding in their hearts how the ungodly are agitated with horrible fury when they neither regard God nor are afraid of His judgments.

There is no fear of God before his eyes. David shows in these few words the outcome of all evil suggestions; and it is this: that with the sense of both good and evil destroyed or suppressed, people shrink from nothing, as if there were no God seated in heaven, the Judge of all.

The meaning, therefore, is that ungodliness speaks in my heart to the wicked person, urging him to the extreme of madness, so that, laying aside all fear of God, he abandons himself to the practice of sin. That is to say, I know what the ungodly imagine in their hearts as well as if God had appointed me as a witness or judge to unveil their hypocrisy, under whose mask they think their detestable malice is hidden and deeply buried.

Therefore, when the wicked are not restrained by the fear of God from committing sin, this proceeds from that secret discourse with themselves to which we have referred. By this discourse, their understanding is so depraved and blinded that, like brute beasts, they run to every excess in rioting.

Since the eyes are, so to speak, the guides and conductors of a person in this life, and by their influence move the other senses here and there, it is therefore said that people have the fear of God before their eyes when it regulates their lives. By presenting itself to them on every side to which they may turn, it serves like a bridle to restrain their appetites and passions.

David, by using a contrary form of expression here, means that the ungodly run to every excess in licentiousness, without any regard for God, because the depravity of their own hearts has completely blinded them.