Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans · John Calvin

009 - Romans 61-23

·45 min·2 clips

Baptism is death: believers are buried with Christ to rise in newness of life.

Calvin takes up the Apostle’s question about continuing in sin so grace may abound. He treats it as a real objection, not a formality, because the flesh is quick to look for excuses and Satan is quick to slander the doctrine of grace. He insists that the Apostle is defending the bond between justification and newness of life. The point is not that Christ grants pardon while leaving the old self untouched. Christ’s gift also brings regeneration by the power of the Spirit. Calvin lingers on the claim that believers are dead to sin. He explains that this does not mean sin simply stops by moral effort, but that sin loses its power and authority through Christ’s death. Christ died unto sin once. That one death, Calvin says, secures eternal redemption and also establishes a likeness between Christ and those who belong to him. He distinguishes Christ’s case from ours with care. We do not die as Christ died, since his death completely destroys sin while ours is the ongoing death of sin within us. He pauses over the language about living with Christ. The language of believing matters here, because the Apostle is speaking of grace received and promised, not a bare duty laid on human strength. Calvin then presses the consequence of union with Christ. Believers are to reckon themselves dead to sin and alive to God, because the new life already begun on earth should resemble the heavenly life of the Saviour. He also draws out the warning against sin’s rule. Those who have been freed from sin must not let it reign, for grace is not permission but deliverance. The chapter moves toward the claim that sin leads to death, while righteousness points to life. Calvin uses that contrast to show that eternal life comes as God’s gift rather than as human wage. He ends by stripping away every thought of proper dignity or merit. The result is a severe but coherent doctrine: salvation rests wholly in Christ Jesus, whose grace reconciles, regenerates, and leads to holiness.

As heard by us

A hard-edged reading of Romans that joins grace to the demand for new life.

Romans 6:1-23 gives a steady answer to the dangerous idea that grace leaves room for continued sin. Calvin follows Pauls logic with care, linking gratuitous justification to newness of life rather than treating forgiveness as something separate from regeneration.

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Why you'd press play

If grace and sin sound too easy, this clip asks for the harder answer altogether.

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