John Calvin Commentary Psalms 97:7

"Let all them be put to shame that serve graven images, That boast themselves of idols: Worship him, all ye gods." — Psalms 97:7 (ASV)

Confounded be all those who serve graven images. The Psalmist draws a broad distinction here, as in the psalm next to this, between the true God and the false gods which men form for themselves. He does this so that the praise he had ascribed might be applied only to the true God.

Men are all ready to admit that they ought to celebrate the praises of God, but, naturally prone as they are to superstition, few indeed will commit to worshipping God in the right manner. As soon as they concern themselves with God, they deviate into the most baseless delusions.

Each fashions a god for himself, and all choose what suits them best in the medley of inventions. This is the reason why the sacred writers, concerned that men may turn to false gods, are careful, when giving exhortations to the worship of God, to state at the same time who the true God is.

The order observed by the Psalmist suggests the observation that corrupt superstitions will never be removed until the true religion prevails. Prevented from coming to the true God by the slowness of their spiritual apprehension, men inevitably wander in vanities of their own; and it is the knowledge of the true God which dispels these, as the sun disperses the darkness.

All have an innate religious sense born with them, but owing to the blindness and stupidity, as well as the weakness of our minds, the understanding we form of God is immediately depraved. Religion is thus the beginning of all superstitions, not in its own nature, but because of the darkness that has settled upon the minds of men, which prevents them from distinguishing between idols and the true God.

The truth of God is effectual when revealed in dispelling and dissipating superstitions. Does the sun absorb the vapors in the air, and will not the presence of God himself be much more effectual? It is no wonder then that the Psalmist, in predicting the Kingdom of God, triumphs over the ungodly nations, which boasted in graven images, as when Isaiah, speaking of the rise of the Gospel, adds,

Then all the idols of Egypt shall fall, (Isaiah 19:1)

Since the knowledge of God has been hidden from mankind, we are also taught that there is no reason to be surprised at the multitude of superstitions that have spread over the world.

We have an example of the same truth in our own day. The knowledge of the true doctrine is extinguished among the Turks, the Jews, and Papists, and, as a necessary consequence, they lie immersed in error; for they cannot possibly return to a sound mind, or repent of their errors, when they are ignorant of the true God.

When the Psalmist speaks of their being confounded, he means that the time had come when those who were given to idolatry should repent and return to the worship of the true God.

Not that all without exception would be brought to genuine repentance—for experience has taught us in our own times how atheistical men will cast off superstition and yet assume the most shameless effrontery—but this is one of those consequences which the knowledge of God should bring about: the turning of men from their errors to God.

There are some who obstinately resist God, of which we have many examples in the Papacy; but we have every reason to believe that they are secretly prostrated by that which they affect to despise and confounded despite their opposition.

What the Psalmist says a little after, Let all the gods worship before him, properly applies to the angels, in whom some small portion of divinity shines forth. Yet it may, though less appropriately, be extended to fictitious gods, as if he had said: Whatever is accounted or held as a god must yield its place and renounce its claims, so that God alone may be exalted.

Therefore, it can be gathered that the true definition of piety is that the true God is perfectly served, and that He alone is so exalted that no creature obscures His divinity.

Accordingly, if we do not want true piety to be entirely destroyed among us, we must hold to this principle: that no creature whatever be exalted by us beyond measure.