Worship, Revised and Expanded Edition: Reformed according to Scripture

by Hughes Oliphant Old

Like Bucer before him, Calvin began work on a commentary on the Hebrew text of the Psalms. Today this four-volume work is considered by some Calvin’s greatest biblical commentary. The commentary gives considerable attention to the nature of prayer as revealed in the Psalms. Calvin begins his commentary by developing one of the themes set forth by Athanasius in his essay on the devotional use of the Psalms. The book of Psalms is an anatomy of all the parts of the soul. Every emotion that we experience is reflected in the book of Psalms as in a mirror. Here the Holy Spirit has revealed all the griefs, sorrows, fears, doubts, hopes, and confusions with which our minds are apt to be disturbed. The Spirit has uttered these prayers in our own utterance that we might the better grasp them. In the psalms we are drawn to examine ourselves and discover our true need; for, as Calvin never tires of saying, true prayer proceeds first from a sense of our need and next from faith in the promises of God. Calvin sees the use of psalms in meditation and self-examination as an important function of the psalms in worship. He has in mind particularly the many psalms of lamentation found in the Psalter.