The commentaries of M. John Calvin upon the Acts of the Apostles, faithfully translated…The commentaries of M. Iohn Caluin vpon the Actes of the Apostles, faithfully translated…

Which he hath purchased. The 4. reason whereby Paul doth carefully prick forward the pastors to do their duty diligently, because the lord hath given no small pledge of his love toward the church, in shedding his own blood for it. Whereby it appeareth how precious it is to him: & surely there is nothing which ought more vehemently to urge pastors to do their duty joyfully, then if they consider, that the price of the blood of Christ is committed to them. For hereupon it followeth, that unless they take pains faithfully in the church, the lost souls are not only imputed to them, but they be also guilty of sacrilege, because they have profaned the holy blood of the son of God, & have made the redemption gotten by him to be of none effect, so much as in them lieth. And this is a most cruel offence, if through our sluggishness the death of Christ do not only become vile or base, but the fruit thereof be also abolished & perish: and it is said that god hath purchased the church, to the end we may know that he would have it remain wholly to himself, because it is meet & right that he possess those whom he hath redeemed.

Which he hath purchased. The 4. reasō wherby Paul doth carefully pricke forward the pastors to do their duty diligētly, bicause the lord hath giuē no smal pledge of his loue toward the church, in shedding his own blood for it. Wherby it appeareth how precious it is to him: & surely ther is nothing which ought more vehemētly to vrge pastors to do their duty ioifully, then if they consider, that the price of the blood of Christ is committed to thē. For herevpō it foloweth, that vnles they take pains faithfully in the church, the lost soules are not only imputed to thē, but they be also guilty of sacriledge, bicause they haue profaned the holy blood of the sonne of God, & haue made the redēption gottē by him to bee of none effect, so much as in them lieth. And this is a most cruel offence, if through our sluggishnes the death of Christ do not only become vile or base, but the fruit therof be also abolished & perish: and it is said that god hath purchased the church, to the end we may know that he wold haue it remaine wholly to himself, because it is meet & right that he possesse those whō he hath redeemed.

Notwithstanding we must also remember, that all mankind are the bondslaves of Satan, until Christ set us free from his tyranny, gathering us into the inheritance of his father. But because the speech which Paul useth seemeth to be somewhat hard, we must see in what sense he sayeth that God purchased the Church with his blood. For nothing is more absurd, than to feign or imagine God to be mortal or to have a body. But in this speech he commendeth the unity of person in Christ: for because there be distinct natures in Christ, the scripture doth sometimes recite that apart by it self which is proper to either. But when it setteth god before us made manifest in the flesh, it doth not separate the human nature from the godhead. Notwithstanding because again two natures are so united in Christ, that they make one person, that is unproperly translated sometimes unto the one, which doth truly and in deed belong to the other, as in this place Paul doth attribute blood to God: because the man Jesus Christ who shed his blood for us, was also God. This manner of speaking is called of the old writers communicatio idiomatum, because the property of the one nature is applied to the other. And I said that by this means is manifestly expressed one person of Christ: least we imagine him to be double, which Nestorius did in times past attempt, and yet for all this we must not imagine a confusion of the two natures, which Eutiches went about to bring in: or which the Spanish dog Seruetus hath at this time invented, who maketh the godhead of Christ nothing else but a form or image of the human nature, which he dreameth to have always shined in God.