Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans John Calvin (continued)
Commentary on Romans you be servants, then of course sin has the dominion."
Or of obedience, etc. The language is not strictly correct; for if he wished to have the clauses correspondent, he would have said, "or of righteousness unto life" 195 But as the change in the words does not prevent the understanding of the subject, he preferred to express what righteousness is by the word obedience; in which however there is a metonymy, for it is to be taken for the very commandments of God; and by mentioning this without addition, he intimated that it is God alone, to whose authority consciences ought to be subject. Obedience then, though the name of God is suppressed, is yet to be referred to him, for it cannot be a divided obedience.
17. But thanks be to God, etc. This is an application of the similitude of the present subject. Though they were only to be reminded that they were not now the servants of sin, he yet adds a thanksgiving; first, that he might teach them, that this was not through their own merit, but through the special mercy of God; and secondly, that by this thanksgiving, they might learn how great was the kindness of God, and that they might thereby be more stimulated to hate sin. And he gives thanks, not as to that time during which they were the servants of sin, but for the liberation which followed, when they ceased to be what they were before. But this implied comparison between their former and present state is very emphatical; for the Apostle touches the calumniators of the grace of Christ, when he shows, that without grace the whole race of man is held captive under the dominion of sin; but that the kingdom of sin comes to an end, as soon as grace puts forth its power. 196
We may hence learn, that we are not freed from the bondage of the law that we may sin; for the law does not lose its dominion, until the grace of God restores us to him, in order to renew us in righteousness: and it is hence impossible that we should be subject to sin, when the grace of God reigns in us: for we have before stated, that under this term grace, is included the spirit of regeneration.
You have obeyed from the heart, etc. Paul compares here the hidden power
195Beza's remark on this is, — that obedience is not the cause of life, as sin is of death, but is the way to life: and hence the want of correspondence in the two clauses. But others, such as Venema, Turrettin, and Stuart, consider that the clauses really correspond. They take {εἰς} {θάνατον} — "unto death," as signifying, unto condemnation; and {εἰς} {δικαιοσύνην}, they render "unto justification;" and {ὑπακόη}, "obedience," is in their view the obedience of faith. This construction might be admitted, were it not for the last clause of Romans 6:18, where we have, "Ye became the servants of righteousness," the same word, {δικαιοσύνη}; except we consider that also, as Venema does, as signifying the righteousness of faith, by a sort of personification: and if so, we must attach the same meaning to "righteousness" {δικαιοσύνη}, in Romans 6:19, which issues in, or leads to holiness; and also to "righteousness," {δικαιοσύνη}, in verse 20. As the Apostle personifies sin, he may also be supposed to personify righteousness, that is, the righteousness of faith. In this case, we might as well retain the word "righteousness" in this verse, and not justification, which it never strictly means; for the correspondence in the terms would be still essentially preserved, as with the righteousness of faith eternal life is inseparably connected. — Ed.
196Our version of this verse conveys the idea, that the Apostle gave thanks that they had been the servants of sin; but {ὅτι} is often rendered for, as in Matthew 5:3, 4; Luke 10:13; and in Matthew 6: 5, followed by {δὲ} as here, in Romans 6:6. The rendering may be this, — But thanks be to God; for ye have been the servants of sin, but have obeyed the form of doctrine, in which ye have been taught. — Ed.