The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life – Romans 6:23

God wants to give you a gift. It will be the greatest gift you will ever receive.

What an amazing offer! We can receive eternal life as a gift! We can live forever, with no fear of a future death…..and it is a gift to us from God. It comes from the great powerful God who created men and women.

In this article we will look carefully at these words written by the apostle Paul to the Roman, for they are indeed extremely encouraging words to each one of us. All we need to do is dedicate our lives to the ways of God and not the ways of man.

The wages of sin – the battle of life

When we think about wages they are usually money, or some sort of benefit, given in return for service performed. The key thing with wages is that they must be earned. The New Testament was originally written in Greek so sometimes it helps to go back to see where the English word came from. The Greek word for “wages” is opsonion (opsonia). Opsonian tells of the meagre rations given to a soldier.  It was normally paid in money but sometimes in food.

Paul here is using the soldier under service as a way of illustrating a point. He had done this previously as a way to describe the battle of life. He is saying that Sin is like a dictator, who seeks the absolute loyalty of his servants in his army. Sin wants his soldiers to be obedient to him but the pay (or wage) they receive is absolutely miserable!

A employment contract

After a lifetime of service, all that is obtained by the soldiers is death.  They receive the cessation of the life that they sought to enjoy.

Death was the wage and it was paid to those who live their lives in dedication to themselves and their own desires. This was the terms of employment – live your lives without God and your wage will be death. This employment contract was originally created between God and Adam:

It was then extended to all those who came after Adam who were in the same service:

Why is death the reward?

Why does Sin give as its reward certain “death”? The answer can be seen in Romans chapter 6 and verses 16 to 22. If you have time, it is worth reading the passage. However, in summary that passage gives us the answer to why death is the wage (or reward) of sin:

Sin is disobedient (verse 16)

Sin if unclean and lawless (verse 19)

Sin is shameful (verse 21)

Sin is opposed to God (verse 22)

These characteristics of sin are completely opposite to God. God shows mercy and generosity. These characteristics certainly cannot be seen where sin exists. Sin represents hardness and ruthlessness. Death can be the only wage in this circumstance.

The gift of God

As opposed to this bleak and terrible situation in relation to what sin has sin to offer, we are next told that God has a gift for us. We go back to the original Greek word for “gift” we see that it is “charisma”. The word indicates the Gracious gift of God (Diaglott) or as the ESV version records it the Free gift of God. It is contrasted with the wages of Sin. A gift is not earned, but is given voluntarily by another. It is saying that those who serve God will ultimately receive this gift which is far beyond their due.

However, upon reading this verse you could wonder why the reward paid by Sin called “wages” whilst that which God gives is termed a “gift”? The answer to this question is very important to each one of us:

Sin pays mankind what they deserve. Whereas what God gives is undeserved and unmerited.

We cannot earn eternal life. God is a far better Master as he will give us that which is gratuitous and which is not owed by Him in anyway. Whereas sin will only pay us what we earn. This shows the great mercy, kindness and generosity of our great God.

The gift – Eternal Life

The gracious gift of God is eternal life. Eternal life means immortality and God alone has it:

The word “immortal” means incorruptible (incapable of corruption) and enduring forever.  This verse is referring to the Father, God Almighty – God only has underived immortality. It was God that made it possible for immortality to given others. He did it through His Son.

Men do not have immortality, as they must seek for it:

Immortality will be granted to God’s people by a change of their nature from mortality to immortality. Once we accept that God created men and women in the first place, it is easy to see that he has the power to change us so that we live forever.

We will be given a “glorious body”  which will be in contrast to this mortal body we currently have.

Eternal life – a amazing experience

Eternal life will be an amazing experience for those who receive it. They will communicate their heartfelt gratitude to the gracious Giver of its benefits.

Just think about it –there will be no more weariness, sickness, illness. The temptations, the failures and the disappointments will all be gone. Every single moment will be in joyous harmony with the mind of God. They will experience the wisdom and be able to use it to talk to others. They will be part of the eternal purpose of God.

Through Christ Jesus our Lord

This gift of eternal life will only be available to those close to Jesus. We must live our lives following the example of Jesus Christ. Being in the service of Christ, is totally worthwhile, and is worthy of every sacrifice which it may entail. If our lives are given in service to Righteousness, it will be the mercy of God revealed in His grace, that may lead to us being given eternal life.

It will be the Lord Jesus Christ who will be the bearer of the gift.  He is the Father’s highest representative to the human race. This all came about because of the amazing plans of God for this earth and its people.