and lose baptismal regeneration. As Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, (1225–1274) held that justified people can finally be lost. Similarly, Martin Luther (1483–1546) believed that salvation or regeneration occurred through the waters of baptism. "But," noted the Reformer, "all of us do not remain with our baptism. Many fall away from Christ and become false Christians." In his commentary on 2 Peter 2:22 he writes as follows on apostates in the Church: "Through baptism these people threw out unbelief, had their unclean way of life washed away, and entered into a pure life of faith and love. Now they fall away into unbelief and their own works, and they soil themselves again in filth." In his comments on Galatians 5:4, "Ye are fallen from grace," Luther writes, "To fall from grace means to lose the atonement, the forgiveness of sins, the righteousness, liberty, and life which Jesus has merited for us by His death and resurrection. To lose the grace of God means to gain the wrath and judgment of God, death, the bondage of the devil, and everlasting condemnation." Philip Melanchthon (1497–1560) Philip Melanchthon (1497–1560) wrote a commentary on Romans in 1540. On this particular passage: "Brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live" (Rom. 8:12-13, ESV), Melanchthon calls this "teaching about the new obedience." Paul gives this teaching so people "born again by faith" "may understand what the obedience in the saints is like, and what is the nature of the sin on account of which they fall from grace and lose faith and the Holy Spirit." This new obedience "acknowledges God, obeys him, and fights against the impulses of the flesh which carry a person along against the will of God." When Paul says "'If you mortify the actions of the flesh by the Spirit,' he testifies that there are in saints some sinful actions, namely, concupiscence [i.e., strong sexual desire; lust]; various evil desires; . . . being inflamed with desire for revenge; hatred; avarice [i.e., greed]; etc." These sins do not lead to "eternal death" when the saints fight against these sins by faith through Christ their mediator. It is when those who had been sanctified indulge in and obey such desires, do