David, Faith, and the Confusion of History in Calvin’s Commentary on the Psalms

Abstract

This chapter considers John Calvin’s portrayal of the psalmist David as a paradigm for the faith of sixteenth-century Christians and illuminates a development in his doctrine of faith that his commentary on the Psalms (1557) makes especially clear. In contrast to most of the earlier exegetical tradition, Calvin focuses on the historical person, David, and downplays David’s prophetic status. In order to retrieve David’s faith as an example for his own day, Calvin takes a restrained view of traditional messianic interpretations and posits a similarity between David’s situation and the present that acknowledges but also bridges the vast historical distance—and the two dispensations of the one covenant. Calvin depicts David’s faith using perceptual metaphors and offers perspective on faith’s response to the confusion of history.