Rom 6:23
For the wages of sin - The word translated here “wages”
ὀψώνια opsōnia (Strongs G3800) (Thayer) properly denotes what is purchased to be eaten with bread, as fish, flesh, vegetables, etc. and therefore, it means the pay of the Roman soldier, because formerly it was the custom to pay the soldier in these things.
Death is as due to a sinner when he hath sinned as wages are to a servant when he hath done his work. This is true of every sin. There is no sin in its own nature venial.
It means hence, it is what a person earns for himself or what they deserve. It is their proper pay. It is what they merit. As applied to sin: it means that death is what sin deserves. Death is consequently called the wages of sin, not because it is an arbitrary, undeserved appointment, but
- Because it is its proper desert. Not a pain will be inflicted on the sinner which he does not deserve. Sinners even in hell will be treated just as they deserve to be treated; and there is not to man a more fearful and terrible consideration than this. No one can conceive a more dreadful doom than for himself to be treated forever just as they deserve to be. But,
- This is the wages of sin, because, like the pay of the soldier, it is just what was threatened, Eze_18:4, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.”
Is death - God will not inflict anything more than was threatened, and then it is just. Death of one’s soul is a sufficiently ample reward to the wicked.
Death stands opposed here to eternal life, and proves that one is just as enduring as the other. It means the separation of our soul from God for eternity.
But the gift of God - Not the wages of man; not what is due to him; but the mere gift and mercy of God. The apostle is careful to distinguish, and to specify that this is not what man deserves, but what is gratuitously conferred on him; Note,
Rom_6:15-21.
Eternal life - The same words which in
Rom_6:22 are rendered “everlasting life.”
You notice that Paul did not write that the wages of righteousness is eternal life because we cannot purchase our way into God’s presence by works or money. It is given to us freely by God: God’s Grace.
Everlasting life is opposed to death; and proves incontestably that that means eternal death. We may remark, therefore,
(1) That the one (everlasting life or eternal death) will be as long as the other. Oh our bodies will die, It’s our soul that is the great concern. Our earthly bodies will be resurrected once Jesus returns for us.
(2) as there is no doubt about the duration of death, so there can be none about the duration of eternal life. The one will be rich, blessed, everlasting; the other sad, gloomy, lingering, awful. Both are, however, eternal.
(3) if the sinner is lost, he will deserve to die. He will have his reward. He will suffer only what shall be the just due of sin. He will not be a martyr in the cause of injured innocence. He will not have the compassion of the universe in his favor. He will have no one to take his part against God. He will suffer just as much, and just as long, as he ought to suffer. He will suffer as the common criminal wastes away in prison, or as the murderer dies in the death chamber, because this is the proper reward of sin.
(4) they who are saved will be raised to heaven, not because they merit it, but by the rich and sovereign grace of God. All their salvation will be ascribed to him; and they will celebrate his mercy and grace forever.
(5) it becomes us, therefore, to flee from the wrath to come. No man is so foolish and so wicked as he who is willing to reap the proper wages of sin. None so blessed as he who has part in the mercy of God, and who lays hold on eternal life.
Our sin is washed away by the shed blood of Jesus, washed away and we are made clean by the perfect Lamb of God. If God can accept the Blood of Christ as payment for our sins then it becomes the price of our redemption. We can therefore rest assured that our debt has been paid in full.
“Neither skill or [prior] knowledge was needed to go to God but only a heart determined to devote itself to Him, for Him, and to love Him only.” Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection: “The Practice of the Presence of God.
With further acknowledgements from St. Augustine, Albert Barnes, Matthew Henry, John Calvin, James Strong, Joseph Thayer, Charles Spurgeon, Watchman Nee, and The Word of God: The Holy Bible.