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

<strong>Commentary</strong> on Matthew, Mark, Luke - Volume 2
it is easy to reply, that what he now says refers to the period of his humiliation. Accordingly,
Luke adds, that he lived among them, as if he were a servant: not that in appearance, or in name,
or in reality, he was inferior to them, (for he always wished to be acknowledged as their Master
and Lord,) but because from the heavenly glory he descended to such meekness, that he submitted
to bear their infirmities. Besides, it ought to be remembered that a comparison is here made between
the greater and the less, as in that passage,
If I, who am your Master and Lord, have washed your feet, much more ought you to perform this
service to one another,
(John 13:14.)
And to give his life a ransom for many. Christ mentioned his death, as we have said, in order
to withdraw his disciples from the foolish imagination of an earthly kingdom. But it is a just and
appropriate statement of its power and results, when he declares that his life is the price of our
redemption; whence it follows, that we obtain an undeserved reconciliation with God, the price of
which is to be found nowhere else than in the death of Christ. Wherefore, this single word overturns
all the idle talk of the Papists about their abominable satisfactions Again, while Christ has purchased
us by his death to be his property, this submission, of which he speaks, is so far from diminishing
his boundless glory, that it greatly increases its splendor. The word many (πολλῶν) is not put
definitely for a fixed number, but for a large number; for he contrasts himself with all others. 667
And in this sense it is used in Romans 5:15, where Paul does not speak of any part of men, but
embraces the whole human race.
MATTHEW 20:29-34; MARK 10:46-52;
LUKE 18:35-43
Matthew 20:29-34
Mark 10:46-52
Luke 18:35-43
29. And while they were 46. And they come to 35. And it happened that,
departing from Jericho, a great Jericho: and while they was while he was approaching
multitude followed him. departing from the city Jericho, Jericho, a certain blind man was
30. And, lo, two blind men and his disciples, and a great sitting near the road begging:
sitting near the road, when they multitude, Bartimeus, son of 36. And when he heard a
heard that Jesus was passing by, Timeus, a blind man, was sitting multitude passing by, he asked
cried aloud, saying, Have mercy hear the road begging. 47. And what it was. 37. And they said
on us, O Lord, thou Son of when he heard that it was Jesus to him, that Jesus of Nazareth
David. 31. And the multitude of Nazareth, he began to cry was passing by. 38. And he cried
667 “Il prend PLUSIEURS, non pas pour quelque certain nombre, mais pour les autres: car il fait une comparaison de sa personne
a tout le reste des hommes;” — “He takes MANY, not for any fixed number, but for the others; for he makes a comparison of
his person with all the rest of men.”
301
John Calvin