Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Truth to Learn
God offers all of us a free gift of inestimable value.
Behind the Words
The Greek word translated “wages” is opsonia, which is the plural form of opsonion. This word is a compound word made up of opson, which means “meat” and a form of oneomai, which means “to buy.” According to The Complete Word Study Dictionary, “It primarily signifies whatever is bought to be eaten with bread, provisions, or supplies from a soldier’s pay. Metaphorically, it means general wages, recompense.” It is what a soldier has earned for being a soldier.
“Gift” is translated from charisma, which means “a gift of grace or an undeserved benefit.” In the New Testament, this word is only used in reference to an undeserved gift or favor from God.
The Greek for the gift that God gives us is, dzoe aionios. Dzoe is the word for “life” and aionios means “belonging to the continuance of time.” In other words, it means “perpetual, everlasting, or eternal.”
Meaning Explained
This verse is one of the pinnacles of Paul’s teaching in the Book of Romans. It is the second step in what has been called “The Romans Road,” the road to salvation. The first is found in Romans 3:23:
for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Now, after having talked at length about the fact that we used to be slaves to sin, Paul has just taught us that we are now the slaves of God. We learned that when we were slaves to sin, we were dead (separated from God).
In this verse Paul tells us why we were dead when we were the slaves to sin. He says:
For the wages of sin is death,
Paul is saying that death is what we earned for our sin (and we worked hard for it!). But, Paul says, God does not pay us what we have earned if we have received His gracious gift through faith in the blood of Jesus Christ. Instead of giving us what we deserve (what we’ve earned), God gives us a free gift that we don’t deserve (and didn’t earn).
If you stop to think about it, there is no greater gift that God could possibly give to us than an eternal existence with Him. The one constant in this earthly existence is the fact that we all will die physically some day and we will be separated from our earthly body. But because of this marvelous gift that God has given us, we will continue our existence in His presence in a heavenly body. We will join with all of our loved ones who have likewise received God’s gift, and together we will glorify God for eternity.
Application
God offers a free gift to all who will believe and that gift is eternal life! Wow!
Do you believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay the price for your sins? I certainly hope so!
In God’s service, for His glory,
Copyright © 2010 Will Krause. All rights reserved.
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