Wherever the knowledge of it is taken away, the glory of Christ is extinguished, religion abolished, the Church destroyed, and the hope of salvation utterly overthrown. John Calvin: Selections from His Writings (95)
how richly does he supply us with the means of contemplating his mercy when, as frequently happens, he continues to visit miserable sinners with unwearied kindness, until he subdues their depravity, and woos them back with more than a parent's fondnessInstitutes, Book 1 Chapter 6
God preordained, for his own glory and the display of His attributes of mercy and justice, a part of the human race, without any merit of their own, to eternal salvation, and another part, in just punishment of their sin, to eternal damnation. Institutes Lib. III. c. 21,5(Opera, Vol. II. pp. 682, GS3)
The distinction is, that to the Father is attributed the beginning of action, the fountain and source of all things; to the Son, wisdom, counsel, and arrangement in action, while the energy and efficacy of action is assigned to the Spirit.Institutes, Book 1 Chapter 13
The verb "judge" (krino) has a number of different nuances, depending on the context—ranging from ordinary discernment or evaluation (cf. Luke 7:43), to judicial litigation (Matt. 5:40), to bestowal of reward (19:28), to pronouncement of guilt (John 7:51), and to absolute determination of a person's fate (5:22; 8:16). The latter two senses are in view here: Jesus warns his disciples against setting themselves over others and making a pronouncement of their guilt before God.
NIV Application Commentary: Matthew . Zondervan
The verb krinō ("judge") has a wide semantic range: "judge" (judicially), "condemn," "discern." It cannot here refer to the law courts, any more than 5:33–37 forbids judicial oaths. Still less does this verse forbid all judging of any kind, for the moral distinctions drawn in the Sermon on the Mount require that decisive judgments be made. Jesus himself goes on to speak of some people as dogs and pigs (Mt 7:6) and to warn against false prophets (vv. 15–20). Elsewhere he demands that people "make a right judgment"
Jesus' demand here is for his disciples not to be judgmental and censorious. The verb krinō has the same force in Romans 14:10–13 (cf. James 4:11–12). The rigor of the disciples' commitment to God's kingdom and the righteousness demanded of them do not authorize them to adopt a judgmental attitude. Those who "judge" like this will in turn be "judged," not by men (which would be of little consequence), but by God (which fits the solemn tone of the discourse). The disciple who takes it on himself to be the judge of what another does usurps the place of God (Rom 14:10) and therefore becomes answerable to him. The hina mē ("in order that … not"; NIV, "or") should therefore be given full telic force: "Do not assume the place of God by deciding you have the right to stand in judgment over all—do not do it, I say, in order to avoid being called to account by the God whose place you usurp"
“Matthew,” Expositor’s Bible Commentary, 183.
Christ in fact had not the least intent of making any change or innovation in the precepts of the law. God there appointed once for all a rite of life which he will never repent of... so let us have no more of that error, that here a defect of the law is corrected by Christ; Christ is not to be made into a new law-giver, adding anything to the everlasting righteousness of his Father, but is to be given the attention of a faithful interpreter, teaching us the nature of the law, its object and its scope.
faith is tossed about by various doubts, so that the minds of the godly are rarely at peace - at least they do not always enjoy a peaceful state. But whatever siege engines may shake them, they either rise up out of the very gulf of temptations, or stand fast upon their watch.
It is therefore faith alone which justifies, and yet the faith which justifies is not alone: just as the heat alone of the sun which warms the earth, and yet in the sun it is not alone, because it is constantly conjoined with light.
the command to judge not is not a requirement to be blind, but rather a plea to be generous. Jesus does not tell us to cease to be men (by suspending our critical powers which help to distinguish us from animals) but to renounce the presumptuous ambition to be God (by setting ourselves up as judges
There is but one family which ought to be reckoned, both in heaven and on earth, both among angels and among men—if we belong to the Body of Christ. For outside of Him there is nothing but dispersion
By the "wisdom of God," he designates this magnificent theater of heaven and earth replenished with numberless wonders, the wise contemplation of which should have enabled us to know God. But this we do with little profit; and therefore he invites us to faith in Christ--faith which, by a semblance of foolishness, disgusts the unbeliever.Institutes, Book 2, Chapter 6
The first part of a good work is the will, the second is vigorous effort in the doing of it. God is the author of both. It is, therefore, robbery from God to arrogate anything to ourselves, either in the will or the act.Institutes, Book 2, Chapter 3
If we can no more bear fruit of ourselves than a vine can bud when rooted up and deprived of moisture, there is no longer any room to ask what the aptitude of our nature is for good.Institutes, Book 2, Chapter 3
even infants bringing their condemnation with them from their mother's womb, suffer not for another's, but for their own defect. For although they have not yet produced the fruits of their own unrighteousness, they have the seem implanted in them. No, their whole nature is, as it were, a seed-bed of sin, and therefore cannot but be odious and abominable to God.Institutes, Book 2 Chapter 1
(such is our innate pride) we always seem to ourselves just, and upright, and wise, and holy, until we are convinced, by clear evidence, of our injustice, vileness, folly, and impurity. Convinced, however, we are not, if we look to ourselves only, and not to the Lord also- he being the only standard by the application of which this conviction can be produced.Institutes, Book 1 Chapter 1
men are never duly touched and impressed with a conviction of their insignificance, until they have contrasted themselves with the majesty of God.Institutes, Book 1 Chapter 1