John Calvin Commentary Colossians 1:22

"yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and without blemish and unreproveable before him:" — Colossians 1:22 (ASV)

In the body of his flesh. The expression is seemingly absurd, but the body of his flesh means that human body which the Son of God had in common with us. He meant, therefore, to indicate that the Son of God had assumed the same nature as us, and that he took upon himself this vile earthly body, subject to many infirmities, so that he might be our Mediator. When he adds, by death, he again calls us back to sacrifice. For it was necessary that the Son of God should become man and partake of our flesh, so that he might be our brother; it was necessary that he should by dying become a sacrifice, so that he might make his Father favorable toward us.

That he might present us holy. Here we have the second and principal part of our salvation—newness of life. For the entire blessing of redemption consists mainly in these two things: remission of sins and spiritual regeneration (Jeremiah 31:33).

What he has already discussed was very important: that righteousness has been secured for us through the death of Christ, so that, with our sins remitted, we are acceptable to God. Now, however, he teaches us that there is, in addition to this, another equally notable benefit—the gift of the Holy Spirit, by which we are renewed in the image of God.

This, also, is a noteworthy passage, as showing that gratuitous righteousness is not bestowed upon us in Christ without our also being regenerated by the Spirit to righteous obedience, as he teaches us elsewhere, that

Christ is made to us righteousness and sanctification.
(1 Corinthians 1:30).

The former we obtain by a gratuitous acceptance; and the latter by the gift of the Holy Spirit, when we are made new creatures. However, there is an inseparable connection between these two blessings of grace.

Let us, however, note that this holiness is only begun in us and is indeed progressing every day, but it will not be perfected until Christ appears for the restoration of all things. For the Cœlestinians and the Pelagians in ancient times mistakenly distorted this passage, thereby excluding the gracious benefit of the remission of sins. For they conceived of a perfection in this world that could satisfy the judgment of God, so that mercy was not needed. Paul, however, does not at all show us here what is accomplished in this world, but rather what is the goal of our calling and what blessings are brought to us by Christ.