John Calvin Commentary Romans 6:1

"What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?" — Romans 6:1 (ASV)

What then shall we say? Throughout this chapter, the Apostle proves that those who imagine that gratuitous righteousness is given to us by Him, apart from newness of life, shamefully tear Christ apart. Indeed, he goes further and refers to this objection: that there seems in this case to be an opportunity for the display of grace if people persisted in sin.

We indeed know that nothing is more natural than for the flesh to indulge itself under any excuse, and for Satan to invent all kinds of slander in order to discredit the doctrine of grace, which for him is by no means difficult. For since everything that is announced concerning Christ seems very paradoxical to human judgment, it should not be considered a new thing that the flesh, hearing of justification by faith, so often strikes, as it were, against so many stumbling-stones.

Let us, however, go on in our course; nor should Christ be suppressed because He is to many a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling, for as He is for ruin to the ungodly, so He is to the godly for a resurrection. We should, at the same time, always seek to counter unreasonable questions, so that the Christian faith does not appear to contain anything absurd.

The Apostle now addresses that most common objection against the preaching of divine grace, which is this— “That if it is true that the more bountifully and abundantly the grace of God will aid us, the more completely we are overwhelmed by the mass of sin, then nothing is better for us than to be sunk into the depths of sin and often to provoke God’s wrath with new offenses; for then at last we will find more abounding grace; than which nothing better can be desired.” We will encounter the refutation of this later.