Ps 52:1

“"The unwise man hath said in his heart, There is no God" (ver. 1). Such sort is it of men amid whom is pained and groaneth the Body of Christ. If such is this sort of men, of not many do we travail; as far as seemeth to occur to our thoughts, very few there are; and a difficult thing it is to meet with a man that saith in his heart, "There is no God;" nevertheless, so few there are, that, fearing amid the many to say this, in their heart they say it, for that with mouth to say it they dare not. Not much then is that which we are bid to endure, hardly is it found: uncommon is that sort of men that say in their heart, "There is no God." But, if it be examined in another sense, is not that found to be in more men, which we supposed to be in men few and uncommon, and almost in none? Let them come forth into the midst that live evil lives, let us look into the doings of profligate, daring, and wicked men, of whom there is a great multitude; who foster day by day their sins, who, their acts having been changed into habit, have even lost sense of shame: this is so great a multitude of men, that the Body of Christ, set amid them, scarce dareth to censure that which it is not constrained to commit, and deemeth it a great matter for itself that the integrity of innocence be preserved in not doing that which now, by habit, either it doth not dare to blame, or if it shall have dared, there breaketh out the censure and recrimination of them that live evil lives, more readily than the free voice of them that live good lives. And those men are such as say in their heart, "There is no God." Such men I am confuting. Whence confuting? That their doings please God, they judge. He doth not therefore affirm, "some say," but "The unwise man hath said in his heart, There is no God." Which men do so far believe there is a God, that the same God they judge with what they do to be pleased. But if thou being wise dost perceive, how "the unwise man hath said in his heart, There is no God," if thou give heed, if thou understand, if thou examine; he that thinketh that evil doings please God, Him he doth not think to be God. For if God is, He is just; if He is just, injustice displeaseth Him, iniquity displeaseth. But thou, when thou thinkest that iniquity pleaseth Him, dost deny God. For if God is one Whom iniquity displeaseth, but God seemeth not to thee to be one whom iniquity displeaseth, and there is no God but one whom iniquity displeaseth, then when thou sayest in thy heart, God doth countenance my iniquities, thou sayest nothing else than, "There is no God."”

“To such people the word of the prophet can be applied most fittingly: "The fool says in his heart, there is no God." They who say that nothing is seen by God almost deprive him of eyes and even take away substance from him. For when they say he sees nothing, they say he does not exist at all. Although no evil deed is based on reason, because crime cannot be joined with reason, there is no sin, I believe, more irrational or senseless. What is more insane than for anybody, who does not deny that God is the creator of the universe, to deny his governance? How does he admit that God created the world and neglects what he created? As if, indeed, he took pains in creating all things so that he would neglect what he had made!”

“on machalath The name of a musical instrument. Another explanation: concerning the malady (מחלתן) of Israel when the Temple will be destroyed. He already recited another psalm resembling this one (above 14): “The fool said in his heart, ‘there is no God, etc.’ “, One relates to the destruction of the First Temple and this one, to the Second Temple.”

“"The fool has said." Above, the Psalmist rebuked the wickedness of sinners from the side of their affection for sin; here he rebukes their wickedness from their contempt of God. The title: "Unto the end, for understanding, of David, for Amalek." The history of this is found in 1 Sam. 30, when David, fleeing, came to Achish, king of the Philistines, who gave him the city of Ziklag, and it happened that the Amalekites, in his absence, burned the city; eventually David pursued them and recovered the spoil. Mystically, by David is signified Christ; and as the Gloss says, the Amalekites -- "a people licking blood" -- signify the Antichrist and his followers, who with affection "lick" carnal things. Mt. 16: "Flesh and blood," etc. Therefore, as their malice is interpreted, from this they are led against Christ. Augustine says "for Maeleth," which is interpreted as "suffering and giving birth"; and it signifies the Church, of which Jn. 16 says: "A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow," etc.; and so the Psalm is for the tribulations which the Church suffers from the evils of the world. And this, therefore, is through Korah, who was one of the chief singers; and so this Psalm was sung by his ministry. Likewise it should be known that this Psalm was set forth above at Psalm 13; yet the context is not the same, nor are all the verses, and there it is introduced on account of the first coming of Christ, here on account of the coming of Christ for judgment. And concerning this he does two things. First he sets forth the malice of sinners. Second he introduces the divine judgment, at "The Lord from heaven." Concerning the first he does two things. First he sets forth the root of evil, namely contempt. Second he shows what follows from such a root, at "They are corrupt." It should be known that wisdom, if properly understood, differs from knowledge, because wisdom is about the knowledge of divine things, while knowledge is about the knowledge of human things. The foolish man despises the knowledge of divine things. Job 21: "Depart from us, and we desire not the knowledge of your ways." Rom. 1: "Their foolish heart was darkened," etc. Therefore "the fool has said"; that is, he has despised God and the knowledge of God; and he did this "in his heart," he said: "There is no God." Against this, Anselm says that no one can think that God does not exist. It must be said that something can be unknown to us in two ways. In one way, on its own account; in another way, on our account. In the first way, those things are unknown to us which have their primary existence, such as contingent things, prime matter, motion, and time. In the second way, those things are unknown to us which exceed our knowledge. I say, therefore, that if we consider God according to himself, it cannot be thought that he does not exist, and no proposition is more known than one whose predicate is included in the subject. The existence of God is his essence, and therefore this proposition, "God exists," is maximally self-evident; yet as regards us, the essence of God is not known to us, but is made known to us through his effects. And from this it is the case that whoever denies certain effects of God -- for example, his providence over good and evil men and all things universally, and the miracles of God, and that he is omnipotent -- denies God, and says in his heart -- because it is from God in the hearts of all that God exists -- what no one indeed wishes: he is considered a fool for saying that God does not exist. Or "the fool," that is, the Jew. Ps.: "Understand, you fools"; who said that Christ is not God. Jn. 10: "You, being a man, make yourself God."”

“"They are corrupt." Here is the effect of their malice. Just as fear, knowledge, and love of God is the principle of every good work, so when knowledge and love of God are removed, all good life is taken away. And first he shows what follows as to the doing of evil; second, as to the loss of good. There are two evils that follow. The first is that "they are corrupt." The body is corrupted through the evaporation of natural heat and through the withdrawal of actual exterior heat. The natural heat of the human soul is God himself; and therefore, as long as knowledge of God is in the soul, the soul retains its form which God impressed upon it, namely innocence and the divine image; but when this heat evaporates and actual heat is withdrawn -- namely the heat of concupiscence and of fear -- the soul is corrupted, and consequently it follows that many cast off fear and love and the knowledge of God from themselves and are corrupted in impurities; and therefore "they have become abominable in their iniquities." Hos. 9: "They became abominable like the things they loved." And he says "iniquity," that is, on account of their iniquities, and they also lose what is good. "There is not one who does good." Jer. 4: "They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge."”