Romans 6:17

But God be thanked— Here the Apostle thanks God, that whereas they had been heathens, and so ranked among the servants of sin, they were now become Christians, and consequently ranked among the servants of the Gospel, or such as were obedient to it. This he explains by a metaphor taken from the coining, stamping, or casting of metal in a die or mould. the τυπος, (the form, as we translate it,) that is, the stamp, die, or mould, is the doctrine of the Gospel. Their being put into or under this mould, was their passing out of the heathen into the Christian state. By the counsel of God, who had before determined to take the Gentiles into his Gospel church; by the preaching of the Gospel, whereby they were called into the church; and by their willingly embracing the genuine faith of the Gospel, they were put, or delivered, into or under the die or mould, from which they had received a new impression, or were fashioned into new creatures. And their obeying from their heart the mould, or model of doctrine, refers to their first faith, at their conversion. By this they were put or delivered into the die or mould of the Gospel: and their farther and continued obedience is what the Apostle in this chapter earnestly exhorts them to; namely, that as they had, through the grace of God, the doctrine of the Gospel, and were now put into it, so they would labour to admit a clear, fair, and full impression upon their hearts and lives. The figure upon the die is the image of God in righteousness and true holiness: for the new man (Ephesians 4:24.), or the Gospel state, is created or erected in righteousness and holiness after the image of God. This therefore is the figure upon the stamp or mould: this the image and superscription of God: and the Christian's duty and great work is, to be conformed to this image; to take care that a full and fair representation of it be struck upon all his principles and actions: that in the disposition of his mind, and in every part of his conversation, he may shew the image and superscription of God, bright and perfect, as upon a newly-coined piece of money. See on chap. Romans 5:14. Elsner, and Sykes on Christianity, p. 178.