John Calvin Commentary Psalms 85:2

"Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people; Thou hast covered all their sin. Selah" — Psalms 85:2 (ASV)

Thou hast taken away the iniquity of thy people. It was very natural for the faithful to feel alarmed and perplexed on account of their sins, and therefore the prophet removes all ground for overwhelming apprehension by showing them that God, in delivering his people, had given an irrefutable proof of free forgiveness.

He had previously traced this deliverance to the mere good pleasure and free grace of God as its source; but after it was accomplished, the iniquities of the people having separated them from their God and estranged them from him, it was necessary that the remedy of pardon should be brought to their aid.

In saying that their iniquities were taken away, he does not refer to the faithful being reformed and purged from their sins—in other words, to that work by which God, sanctifying them by the Spirit of regeneration, actually removes sin from them. What he intended to say he explains immediately after.

In short, the point is that God was reconciled to the Jews by not imputing their sins to them. When God is said to cover sins, the meaning is that he buries them, so that they do not come into judgment, as we have shown more extensively when discussing the beginning of Psalm 32.

When, therefore, he had punished the sins of his people by captivity, since it was his will to restore them to their own country, he removed the great obstacle to this by blotting out their transgressions; for deliverance from punishment depends upon the remission of sin.

Thus we are provided with an argument to refute that foolish notion of the Sophists, which they present as some great mystery: that God retains the punishment even though he forgives the fault. In contrast, God announces in every part of his word that his purpose in pardoning is that, being pacified, he may also mitigate the punishment.

We find additional confirmation of this in the following verse, where we are informed that God was mercifully inclined towards his people, so that he might withdraw his hand from chastising them.

What plausible answer can be given to this by the Sophists, who affirm that God would not be righteous if he did not, after he had forgiven the fault, execute punishment according to the strict demands of his justice?

The consequence of the pardon of sin is that God, by his blessing, testifies that he is no longer displeased.