John Calvin on Deuteronomy 4:1-2
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Deuteronomy4:1-2
1. Now, therefore, hearken, O Israel. He requires the people to be teachable, in order that they may learn to serve God; for the beginning of a good and upright life is to know what is pleasing to God. From hence, then, does Moses commence commanding them to be attentive in seeking direction from the Law; and then admonishing them to prove by their whole life that they have duly profited in the Law. The promise which is here inserted, only invites them to unreserved obedience through hope of the inheritance. The main point is, that they should neither add to nor diminish from the pure doctrine of the Law; and this cannot be the case, unless men first renounce their own private feelings, and then shut their ears against all the imaginations of others. For none are to be accounted (true) disciples of the Law, but those who obtain their wisdom from it alone. It is, then, as if God commanded them to be content with His precepts; because in no other way would they keep His law, except by giving themselves wholly to its teaching. Hence it follows, that they only obey God who depend on His authority alone; and that they only pay the Law its rightful honor, who receive nothing which is opposed to its natural meaning. The passage is a remarkable one, openly condemning whatsoever man’s ingenuity may invent for the service of God.
deuteronomy 5
Deuteronomy 5:32, 33
32. Ye shall observe to do therefore as the Lord your God hath commanded you: ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
32. Custodite ergo ut faciatis quemadmodum praecepit Jehova Deus vester vobis: ne declinetis ad dextram, aut ad sinistram.
33. Ye shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess.
33. Per omnem viam quam praecepit Jehova Deus vester vobis, ambulabitis, ut vivatis, et bene sit vobis, et prorogetis dies in terra quam possidebitis.
John Calvin, Commentaries, Deuteronomy 4:1-2. Public domain.
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