John Calvin Commentary Romans 5:6

"For while we were yet weak, in due season Christ died for the ungodly." — Romans 5:6 (ASV)

For Christ, etc. I did not venture in my version to allow myself the liberty of giving this rendering, “In the time in which we were weak;” and yet I prefer this sense. An argument begins here, which is from the greater to the less, and which he later pursues at greater length. And though he has not woven the thread of his discourse so very clearly, its irregular structure does not disturb the meaning.

“If Christ,” he says, “had mercy on the ungodly, if he reconciled enemies to his Father, if he has done this by the power of his death, much more easily will he save them when justified and keep those restored to favor in possession of it, especially when the influence of his life is added to the power of his death.” Some consider the time of weakness to be when Christ first began to be revealed to the world, and they think that those who were like children under the instruction of the law are called weak.

I apply the expression to each one of us, and I understand the time meant to be that which precedes the reconciliation of each one with God. For as we are all born children of wrath, so we are kept under that curse until we become partakers of Christ. And he calls those weak who have nothing in themselves but what is sinful, for he calls the same people ungodly immediately afterward.

And it is nothing new for weakness to be understood in this sense. He calls the covered parts of the body weak in 1 Corinthians 12:22, and in 2 Corinthians 10:10, he designates his own bodily presence weak because it had no dignity. This meaning will occur again soon.

Therefore, when we were weak—that is, when we were in no way worthy or fit for God to look on us—at this very time Christ died for the ungodly: for the beginning of religion is faith, from which all those for whom Christ died were alienated. This is also true concerning the ancient fathers who obtained righteousness before he died, for they derived this benefit from his future death.