A patrician, Balbinus was a Salian priest, twice a consul, and proconsul in Asia. In 238, when the Senate led a rebellion of the Italian cities against Maximinus (emperor 235–238), it placed the government in the hands of a board of 20, one of whom was Balbinus, and then chose Balbinus and Pupienus Maximus to be joint emperors. Pupienus, a former city prefect, was extremely unpopular with the people of Rome. When the enraged populace besieged the Senate and emperors in the Capitol, Balbinus and Pupienus extricated themselves by appointing as caesar the young Gordian (Gordian III), grandson of the original leader of the revolt.

Balbinus remained in Rome in charge of the civil administration, while Pupienus advanced to defeat Maximinus. After Maximinus and his son were murdered by their own troops at Aquileia, Pupienus returned to Rome to celebrate a joint triumph with Balbinus and Gordian. Balbinus, fearing his colleague intended to make himself sole ruler, quarreled with him. The Praetorian Guard, unhappy with the active role played by the Senate in choosing the new emperors, took advantage of the dispute to kidnap both emperors; the two were murdered as their captors tried to escape from the German guards. Gordian was thereupon proclaimed sole emperor.