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

<strong>Commentary</strong> on Matthew, Mark, Luke - Volume 2
deep and hidden to be attained by men, until they have been enlightened by the Father We must
understand him to mean, not that the Father knoweth for himself, but that He knoweth for us to
reveal him to us.
But the sentence appears to be incomplete, for the two clauses do not correspond to each other.
Of the Son it is said, that none knoweth the Father except himself, and he to whom he shall be
pleased to reveal him Of the Father nothing more is said than this, that He alone knoweth the Son.
Nothing is said about revelation. I reply, that it was unnecessary to repeat what he had already said;
for what else is contained in the previous thanksgiving, than that the Father hath revealed the Son
to those who approve of him? When it is now added that He alone knoweth the Son, it appears to
be the assigning of a reason; for this thought might, have occurred, What neccessity was there that
the Son, who had openly exhibited himself to the view of men, should be revealed by the Father?
We now perceive the reason why it was said, that none knoweth the Son but the Father only It now
remains that we attend to the latter clause:
None knoweth the Father except the Son, and he to whom the Son shall be pleased to reveal
him. This is a different kind of knowledge from the former; for the Son is said to know the Father,
not because he reveals Him by his Spirit, but because, being the lively image of Him, he represents
Him visibly in his own person. At the same time, I do not exclude the Spirit, but explain the
revelation here mentioned as referring to the manner of communicating information. This agrees
most completely with the context; for Christ confirms what he had formerly said, that all things
had been delivered to him by his Father, by informing us that the fullness of the Godhead dwelleth
in him, (Colossians 2:9.) The passage may be thus summed up: 69 First, it is the gift of the Father,
that the Son is known, because by his Spirit he opens the eyes of our mind to discern the glory of
Christ, which otherwise would have been hidden from us. Secondly, the Father, who dwells in
inaccessible light, and is in himself incomprehensible, is revealed to us by the Son, because he is
the lively image of Him, so that it is in vain to seek for Him elsewhere. 70
28. Come to me all that labor He now kindly invites to himself those whom he acknowledges
to be fit for becoming his disciples. Though he is ready to reveal the Father to all, yet the greater
part are careless about coming to him, because they are not affected by a conviction of their
necessities. Hypocrites give themselves no concern about Christ, because they are intoxicated with
their own righteousness, and neither hunger nor thirst (Matthew 5:6) for his grace. Those who are
devoted to the world set no value on heavenly life. It would be in vain, therefore, for Christ to invite
either of these classes, and therefore he turns to the wretched and afflicted. He speaks of them as
laboring, or groaning under a burden, and does not mean generally those who are oppressed with
grief and vexations, but those who are overwhelmed by their sins, who are filled with alarm at the
wrath of God, and are ready to sink under so weighty a burden. There are various methods, indeed,
by which God humbles his elect; but as the greater part of those who are loaded with afflictions
69 “Tout ce passage revient a ces deux points;” — “the whole of this passage amounts to these two points.”
70 “En sorte que c’est temps perdu de le chercher ailleurs;” — “so that it is lost time to seek him elsewhere.”
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John Calvin