Commentary on Matthew, Mark, Luke - Volume 2.pdf

<strong>Commentary</strong> on Matthew, Mark, Luke - Volume 2
to corrupt sound doctrine, and, in guarding also against such impostures, believers must maintain
a strict watch, that they may keep a perpetual Passover
with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth,
(1 Corinthians 5:8.)
And as on every hand there now rages an impiety like that of Lucian, 433 a most pernicious
leaven, or rather a worse than deadly poison, let them exercise this very needful caution, and apply
to it all their senses.
8. Why do you think within yourselves, etc.? The disciples again show how little they had profited
by the instructions of their Master, and by his wonderful works. What he had said about being on
their guard against the leaven is rashly interpreted by them as if Christ intended only to withdraw
them from outward intercourse. As it was customary among the Jews not to take food in company
with irreligious men, the disciples imagine that the Pharisees were classed with such persons. This
ignorance might perhaps have been endured; but they are forgetful of a favor which they lately
received, and do not consider that Christ has the remedy his power to hinder them from being
compelled to pollute themselves by meat and drink, and therefore he reproves them sharply, as they
deserved. And certainly it was shameful ingratitude that, after having seen bread created out of
nothing, and in such abundance as to satisfy many thousands of men, and after having seen this
done twice, they are now anxious about bread, as if their Master did not always possess the same
power. From these words we infer that all who have once or twice experienced the power of God,
and distrust it for the future are convicted of unbelief; for it is faith that cherishes in our hearts the
remembrance of the gifts of God, and faith must have been laid asleep, if we allow them to be
forgotten.
12. Then they understood. The word leaven is very evidently used by Christ as contrasted with
the pure and uncorrupted word of God. In a former passage, (Matthew 13:33,) Christ had used the
word in a good sense, when he said that the Gospel resembled leaven; 434 but for the most part this
word is employed in Scripture to denote some foreign substance, by which the native purity of any
thing is impaired. In this passage, the naked truth of God, and the inventions which men contrive
out of their own brain, are unquestionably the two things that are contrasted. The sophist must not
433 “L’mpiete des Lucianistes et des Atheistes;” — “the impiety of the Lucianists and Atheists.” Lucian, a celebrated Greek
writer, of the second century of the Christian era, author of Dialogues of the Dead, is here alluded to as the type of scoffers and
Atheists. His subject naturally led him to treat with sportive humor the solenmities of death and the future judgment; and the wit
and elegance of his pen, had it been guided by ordinary caution, would have been readily — far too readily — sustained as an
apology for the tone of his work. But in defiance of the ordinary feelings of mankind, he attacked so fearlessly the most sacred
truths, and offended the ear of modesty by such indecent allusions, that his character as a man has been stamped with infamy.
Modern times have scarcely produced so daring an infidel, with the exception perhaps of Voltaire, who took no pains to conceal
his intense hatred of Christianity and of good men. Had he appeared earlier, his name might perhaps have been substituted for
that of Lucian, as the representative of his class. — Ed.
434 See page 127 of this volume.
197
John Calvin