Romans 6

Wesley: the apostle here more fully vindicates his doctrine from the consequence suggested at Romans 3:7–8. He had then only denied and renounced it; here he removes the very foundation. The slander is that abundant grace makes continuing in sin reasonable.

One hears a pastoral danger, not a hypothetical only one camp must answer. Grace that abounds is not a license. The question will be met by baptismal union and a walk that must actually be taken—not by treating holiness as automatic in the justified.

Calvin: those who imagine that gratuitous righteousness is given apart from newness of life shamefully rend Christ asunder. The flesh, hearing of justification by faith, invents this slander: if grace abounds where sin abounds, then sink into sin to find more grace.

The objection is madness because Christ is the repairer of our righteousness. Medicine does not feed the disease it destroys. Justification never arrives without regeneration; the two are not separable gifts one might take and one refuse.

Wesley: dead to sin—freed both from the guilt and from the power of it. By no means is not a shrug; death to sin is freedom. Yet “how can we still live” is the language of moral incongruity the believer must honor. Newness can be walked in or neglected.

Arminians refuse to flatten “died to sin” into an irresistible state that cannot be betrayed. Baptism marks a historical death with Christ; living in sin again would be a contradiction they are enabled not to enter—and still must not enter. The dead-to-sin life is a path, not a lock.

Calvin: he who sins lives to sin; we have died to sin through the grace of Christ; then it is false that what abolishes sin gives vigor to it. The faithful are never reconciled without the gift of regeneration; we are justified that we may afterwards serve God in holiness of life.

Those truly dead to sin cannot remain in it as a reigning master. How can we is not a mere ought; it is the logic of effectual union. Christ does not cleanse by his blood in any other way than by making us partakers of his Spirit, who renews us to a holy life.

Wesley: in baptism we, through faith, are ingrafted into Christ; we draw new spiritual life from this new root, through his Spirit, who fashions us like unto him, particularly with regard to his death and resurrection.

Baptism is not empty water. Through faith it marks ingrafting—death with Christ as a lived participation. The “all of us” are those baptized into Christ, whose faith receives the union the rite signifies. The death is actual; walking it out remains the believer’s calling.

Calvin: it is beyond question that we put on Christ in baptism, and that we are baptized for this end—that we may be one with him. We are then united to his body when his death brings forth in us its fruit; this fellowship as to death is what is mainly to be regarded in baptism.

Baptism signifies and seals ingrafting. Paul, speaking of the faithful, connects the reality and the effect with the outward sign. When rightly received, the symbol is not naked; the Lord’s institution and the faith of the godly unite. Those so baptized are joined to his death in fact, not in emblem only.

Wesley: buried with him—alluding to the ancient manner of baptizing by immersion. As Christ was raised from the dead through the glory (glorious power) of the Father, so we also, by the same power, should rise again; and as he lives a new life in heaven, so we should walk in newness of life. This, says the apostle, our very baptism represents to us.

This is a grace-enabled path that must actually be taken. “Walk” is not a metaphor for what God does while we watch. Baptism represents death and resurrection; newness of life is the road the buried-and-raised must walk. It can be neglected. The same power that raised Christ enables the walk; it does not make the walking automatic.

Calvin: the object of baptism into his death is that we, being dead to ourselves, may become new creatures. Fellowship in death and in life are tied by an indissoluble knot. Paul does not simply exhort us to imitate Christ as a pattern; he announces a doctrine: the death of Christ is efficacious to destroy the depravity of our flesh, and his resurrection to effect renovation, and by baptism we are admitted into a participation of this grace.

This foundation laid, Christians may be exhorted to respond to their calling. The walk is the fruit of effectual union, not a condition that completes an unfinished burial. Those truly buried with him will walk in newness because God has joined them to the raised Christ.

Wesley: surely these two must go together; so that if we are indeed made conformable to his death, we shall also know the power of his resurrection. The “if” is not a threat against union; it names a conformity.

Likeness of death and resurrection belong together for those indeed made conformable. The future “shall” is the promise of those who share his death—a path of dying to sin that resurrection-power accompanies. Certainty is for those who are indeed planted with him, not a guarantee irrespective of remaining in that death to sin.

Calvin: grafting designates not only a conformity of example, but a secret union by which we are joined to him; he, reviving us by his Spirit, transfers his own virtue to us. As the graft has life or death in common with the tree, we should be partakers of the life no less than of the death of Christ.

Great force in “ingrafted”: the Apostle does not exhort but teaches what benefit we derive from Christ. He requires nothing to be done by our attention and diligence, but speaks of the grafting made by the hand of God. Those united in the likeness of his death, we will also be part of his shall certainly be united in a resurrection like his, because God has made the graft.

Wesley: our old man—coeval with our being, as old as the fall; our evil nature; entire depravity spreading over the whole man. This in a believer is crucified with Christ, mortified, gradually killed, by virtue of our union with him. The body of sin—all evil tempers, words, and actions, the members of the old man (Col 3:5)—might be destroyed.

Crucifixion of the old man is union, and it is gradual. “No longer enslaved” is the aim the believer must pursue. Mortification can be neglected; the crucified old man is not yet a finished corpse in experience. Grace enables the killing; the believer must walk in it.

Calvin: the old man is the whole nature we bring from the womb, incapable of the kingdom of God, which must so far die as we are renewed. He is fastened to the cross of Christ; by its power he is slain. We cannot be otherwise put to death than by partaking of his death. The body of sin is the corrupted mass.

The end is that we may no longer serve sin. As long as we are children of Adam and nothing more, we can do nothing else but sin; grafted in Christ, we are delivered from this thraldom—not that we immediately cease entirely, but that we become at last victorious. Effectual union means the contest’s end is not in doubt.

Wesley: he that is dead with Christ is freed from the guilt of past, and from the power of present, sin, as dead men from the commands of their former masters. Freedom is genuine: guilt gone, power broken.

Arminians hear liberty that must be used. A dead man is not under a former master’s orders; a believer can still present members to that tyrant again (v. 13). Set free is enabling newness, not a lock that makes yielding to sin impossible. Walk as those who have been freed.

Calvin: if death destroys the actions of life, we who have died to sin ought to cease from the actions it exercised. “Justified” from sin means freed from bondage. This work is not completed in a day; it goes on by daily advances. If you are a Christian, fellowship with Christ’s death must appear: the flesh crucified with its lusts.

The fellowship is not to be denied because relics of the flesh still live; its increase ought to be labored for. The reigning power is taken away and wielded by the Spirit. Those truly dead are set free from sin as master; remaining lusts are not remaining dominion.

Wesley: dead with Christ—conformed to his death, by dying to sin. “We believe” that we will also live with him: faith looks toward a shared life. Dying to sin and living with Christ belong together.

The “if” keeps conformity in view. Those who have died with him believe they will live with him—a hope to be walked in. Living with Christ is the promised counterpart of a death to sin that must continue. Belief here is the confidence of those conformed to his death, not a spectator’s certainty irrespective of remaining dead to sin.

Calvin: newness of life is to be pursued as long as they live; they ought to represent in themselves an image of Christ, crucifying the flesh once for all and carrying on the spiritual life continually. If we roll again in our own filth, we deny Christ; we cannot be participators except through newness of life, for he lives an incorruptible life.

“we believe” denotes doctrine based on promises: the faithful ought to feel assured they are, through Christ’s kindness, dead as to the flesh, and that the same Christ will preserve them in newness of life to the end. The future “live” is the continued course of new life, not a maybe.

Christ’s resurrection is once-for-all. Death’s dominion is broken over him; he does not cycle back under it. The pattern for believers is a life on the far side of death, not a return to the grave.

“knowing” is shared Christian confession. As his dominion-break is the ground of ours, so our living must match a Lord who does not die again. The knowledge is meant to be walked in. A believer who presents members to sin again acts against what is known of the risen Christ.

Calvin: Christ, who now vivifies the faithful by his Spirit, was freed from death’s dominion when he arose, that by virtue of the same dominion he might render free all his people. He submitted to death’s dominion for a moment and destroyed it forever.

The risen Christ’s unrepeatable life is the life he breathes into his own. Those joined to him share a death that does not reassert its lordship. Dominion language here is the same as v. 14: the master who lost Christ will not keep those Christ has made alive.

Wesley: he died to sin—to atone for and abolish it. He lives unto God—a glorious eternal life, such as we shall live also. Once for all: the atoning death is not repeated; the life to God is the life set before us.

Arminian interpreters distinguish his death from ours without emptying the likeness. He died to atone and abolish; we die to sin’s guilt and power. The “one time” calls us to a corresponding once of dying to sin, then a life actually lived to God. That life can be walked in or neglected; the pattern is clear.

Calvin: Christ is not said to die to sin so as to cease from it, as when applied to us, but that he underwent death on account of sin, that he might annihilate sin’s power and dominion. He died once, obtaining eternal redemption by one offering; and a mutual likeness exists: we die only once, when Christ, reconciling us by his blood, regenerates us at the same time by the Spirit.

He lives to God in an immortal kingdom; a type of that life ought to appear in the regeneration of the godly. The new life we live on earth is similar to his celestial life. Union means his once-for-all death and his life to God become ours by the Spirit’s power, not by imitation alone.

“Consider yourselves” is an imperative laid on the baptized. Reckon what is true—dead to sin, alive to God in Christ—and live accordingly. The reckoning is a grace-enabled act; it can be refused. Alive to God is the status of those in Christ Jesus; considering it is how they walk in newness.

Arminian readers refuse to flatten the imperative into a mere announcement. Indicative union is no illusion; the command to reckon is still a command. Believers can fail to consider, and so present themselves to sin again. The verse is pastoral: take the death and life as yours, and do not live against the union baptism marked.

Calvin: take this view of your case—as Christ once died to destroy sin, so you have once died, that in future you may cease from sin; you must daily proceed in mortifying until sin be wholly destroyed; as Christ is raised to an incorruptible life, so you are regenerated that you may lead a life of holiness, the Spirit’s power being eternal.

“In Christ Jesus” expresses the grafting that makes us one with him. “Consider yourselves” is the indicative becoming the imperative because God has joined them to Christ. The life of sin is destroyed even though mortifying is only begun; spiritual newness continues perpetually. Except Christ slay sin in us to the end, his grace would not be sure.

Wesley: let not sin reign even in your mortal body—it must be subject to death, but it need not be subject to sin. “Therefore” follows the reckoning: because you are dead and alive, do not let sin sit as king.

The command is serious because reigning is still possible. Mortal bodies still have passions; grace enables refusal. “Let” is not theater. A believer can obey those passions again. The body will die; it need not serve sin while it lives.

Calvin: though sin dwells in us, it is inconsistent that it should be so vigorous as to exercise reigning power; the power of sanctification ought to be superior, so that our life may testify we are members of Christ. Sin is original depravity; lusts are its edicts.

“therefore” is ethics from union already established. The regenerate will not have sin as king. Dwelling is not reigning. The exhortation arises from fellowship with Christ; it does not imply that those truly dead to sin may still live under its throne.

Wesley: neither present your members to sin—to corrupt nature, a mere tyrant. But to God—your lawful King. Two presentations: to a tyrant or to the King. The members are the same; the master is the choice grace enables.

Arminian interpreters take this as the hinge of the chapter’s ethic. Baptized people can still present members as instruments of unrighteousness. “Present yourselves” is the walk in newness that must actually be taken. Brought from death to life is the ground; yielding to God is the required act. Neglect is possible; the tyrant will take whatever is offered.

Calvin: Christians ought to regard all their faculties as weapons of spiritual warfare; if they employ members in depravity, they serve sin. They have made oath as soldiers to God and Christ. Present yourselves wholly to God, ready to receive his commands. The Lord, having destroyed our former life, has not in vain created us for another.

Presentation to God is the reasonable service of those raised from death. The regenerate will present themselves, because they are no longer their own. The warning unmasks false claimants of the name; it does not teach that those truly brought from death to life remain free to re-enlist under sin as a lasting master.

Wesley: sin shall not have dominion—it has neither right nor power. Not under the law—a dispensation of terror and bondage, which only shows sin, without enabling you to conquer it. Under grace—the merciful dispensation of the gospel, which brings complete victory over it to every one who is under the powerful influences of the Spirit of Christ.

“Every one who is under the powerful influences of the Spirit” is not automatic possession irrespective of walking. Grace is the enabling regime; it is not dominion forced on those who present members to sin again. Under grace means the gospel gives power to conquer—power that must be lived in. Dominion is broken as right and as enabling; remaining under it is a refusal of that grace.

Calvin: a consolation, lest the faithful faint through consciousness of weakness. Their works are not tested by the strict rule of the law; God remits their impurity and mercifully accepts them. Not under the law means not subject to the law as requiring perfect righteousness and pronouncing death on all who deviate. By grace: both remission of sins and the sanctification of the Spirit, by whom he forms us anew unto good works.

However harassed by the stings of sin, it cannot overcome us, for we are enabled to conquer it by the Spirit; being under grace, we are freed from the law’s rigorous requirements. All without grace, bound under the law, are under condemnation; as long as they are under the law, they are subject to sin’s dominion. Those under grace will not have sin as lord.