John Calvin Commentary Romans 2:24

"For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you, even as it is written." — Romans 2:24 (ASV)

For the name of God, etc. I think this quotation is taken from Ezekiel 36:20, rather than from Isaiah 52:5; for in Isaiah there are no rebukes given to the people, while that chapter in Ezekiel is full of rebukes.

But some think that it is a proof from the lesser to the greater, according to this meaning: “Since the Prophet, not without cause, rebuked the Jews of his time because, on account of their captivity, the glory and power of God were ridiculed among the Gentiles (as though He could not have preserved the people whom He had taken under His protection), much more are you a disgrace and dishonor to God, whose religion, being judged by your wicked life, is blasphemed.”

This view I do not reject, but I prefer a simpler one, such as the following — “We see that all the reproaches cast on the people of Israel fall back on the name of God; for as they are considered, and are said to be, the people of God, His name is, as it were, engraved on their foreheads: it must therefore be that God, whose name they assume, is in a way defamed by people through their wicked conduct.”

It was then a monstrous thing that those who derived their glory from God should have disgraced His holy name, for they certainly ought to have repaid Him in a different manner.