Romans 6:23 (NIV)
For
the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus
our Lord.
This singular verse summarizes the
difference between an unbeliever and believer, between a life of without Christ
versus a life with Christ, and between the results of sin versus the results of
receiving God’s free gift.
Paul’s
use of the word “wages” is very interesting.
Wages in the Greek literally means “a soldiers pay”. Wages is something that is earned through
effort. A person’s efforts to lead a
life of sin earns that person’s entrance to eternal death. Death is a sinful person’s compensation for
choosing to live a life of sin.
The
word for sin “harmartia” means “to miss the mark”, “to wander from the law of
God, to violate God’s law”. Jack
Sequeira published seven categories of sin[1]:
·
A deliberate act against the law of God (I John 3:4)
·
A mental consent to a temptation or a sinful
desire, the sin of coveting (Romans
7:7,8)
·
Unbelief, a deliberate rejection of a Biblical
truth (Romans 14:23)
·
Neglect of known duties or opportunity (James 4:17)
·
Doing the wrong thing out of ignorance (Leviticus 5:17-19)
·
Our sinful natures, which we inherited from Adam
(Psalm 51:5; Psalm 58:3)
·
A law, principle, or constant force, dwelling in
our sinful natures (indwelling sin in the flesh). This makes us slaves to sin.
Therefore, holy living, in and of ourselves, is impossible (Romans 7:14, 20-23)
The person who chooses,
either purposefully or ignorantly, to live the sinful life, God gives him what
he deserves, what he has earned---eternal death. Such a person has earned the right, granted
by God, to live eternity in hell. The
word “death” here is “thanatos” that means not only physical death, but also
future misery in hell, with hell being a region enveloped in think
darkness. Why would anyone, if they
truly under-stand the literal meaning of this first part of Romans 6:23, choose
the wages of sin?
Contrast something that has
to be earned with something that does not have to be earned, but is a free
gift. The gift of salvation, the gift of
eternal life is never something that you can earn (Ephesians 2:8-9). You simply need to accept it if you are
willing. Isn’t it such a strange
theological truth in this one verse that God will give you what you want and
deserve, or will give you what you want and don’t deserve? It’s your choice. Remain in your sin and you earn death. Choose to believe in God’s gift of salvation,
Jesus Christ, and you don’t have to earn anything, you receive eternal
life. The gift of eternal life comes
through belief in Jesus Christ our Lord.
That’s what the Bible teaches and affirms over and over again—John 3:16,
John 17:3, Acts 4:12, I John 5:11-13.
I like what the Life
Application Bible writes about Romans 6:23 and I will summarize it: “You are free to choose between two masters,
but you are not free to manipulate the consequences of your choice. The currency of sin is death or the currency
of Christ is eternal life. What choice
have you made? Eternal life is a free
gift from God. Consider the foolishness
of someone who receives a gift given out of love and then offers to pay for
it. The appropriate response to someone
who offers a gift is graceful acceptance with gratitude.”
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