John Calvin Commentary Romans 8:2

"For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death." — Romans 8:2 (ASV)

For the law of the Spirit of life, etc. This is a confirmation of the previous sentence. So that it may be understood, the meaning of the words must be noted. Using language that is not strictly correct, by the law of the Spirit he designates the Spirit of God, who sprinkles our souls with the blood of Christ, not only to cleanse us from the stain of sin with respect to its guilt, but also to sanctify us so that we may be truly purified.

He adds that it is life-giving (for the genitive case, in the Hebrew manner, is to be taken as an adjective). Therefore, it follows that those who keep humanity in the letter of the law expose them to death.

On the other hand, he gives the name of the law of sin and death to the dominion of the flesh and to the tyranny of death which follows from that. The law of God is set, as it were, in the middle; it teaches righteousness but cannot confer it. On the contrary, it binds us with the strongest chains in bondage to sin and to death.

The meaning, then, is this: the law of God condemns people, and this happens because as long as they remain under the bond of the law, they are oppressed by the bondage of sin and are thus exposed to death. However, the Spirit of Christ, by abolishing the law of sin in us through destroying the prevailing desires of the flesh, at the same time delivers us from the peril of death.

If anyone objects and says that pardon, by which our transgressions are buried, then depends on regeneration, it can be easily answered that Paul does not assign the reason here. Instead, he only specifies the manner in which we are delivered from guilt. Paul denies that we obtain deliverance through the external teaching of the law. He intimates, rather, that when we are renewed by the Spirit of God, we are at the same time justified by a gratuitous pardon, so that the curse of sin may no longer remain on us.

The sentence, then, has the same meaning as if Paul had said that the grace of regeneration is never separated from the imputation of righteousness.

I do not dare, like some, to interpret the law of sin and death as the law of God, because it seems a harsh expression. For though by increasing sin it generates death, Paul previously and intentionally turned aside from this unwelcome language.

At the same time, I also do not agree with those who explain the law of sin as being the lust of the flesh, as if Paul had said that he had conquered it. It will soon become very evident, I think, that he is speaking of a gratuitous absolution, which brings us tranquil peace with God.

I prefer retaining the word law, rather than, with Erasmus, translating it as right or power, because Paul did not allude to the law of God without reason.