"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
Romans 6v23
This is now the summing up of the whole matter, Paul is speaking here in very basic terms, such as to say, how is it all going to end? that is the basic problem with many human beings, they only live for now, they don't think of the end of things. Paul asks the question in verse 21 " what fruit did you have in those things whereof ye are now ashamed ?" He is trying to wean Christians away from dabbling in their former life. He uses the symbolism of fruit; fruit is the end product of the seed and he says concerning our former way of life " the end of those things is death."
The biblical concept of fruit is very prominent. It goes to the question of why are we here? what is the purpose of our lives? Jesus said to his disciples in the upper room ministry "herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples." John 15v8 We are all on this earth for a purpose and that purpose is to yield spiritual fruit for God, which Jesus interpreted as living a life for the glory of God. It is not for the glory of God that we dabble again in sin because as he says in verse 22 we have been made free from sin, we have become servants of God, and we have our fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life.
He now changes the metaphor from fruit to wages and he now presents the final argument of what he has being said. He presents two masters, God and sin; he presents two life styles, wages and the free gift of God; he presents two ends, death and eternal life. If you serve sin you receive sin's wages which is described as death. If you serve God you receive His free gift and eternal life. The idea in wages is receiving what we deserve. When we work we expect to receive wages and we would be horrified if we did not do so. This is part of our culture, this is how we have been brought up to understand things: we work, we use our time and energy in the service of our master and we expect to receive wages . Now says Paul in the realm of the spiritual, that is just as true as it is in the realm of the material. You serve sin, you receive the wages of sin. For those who are intent on getting to heaven by their own works, by their own efforts, the end will be death because Paul has argued that by works, by personal effort, no flesh will be justified in the sight of God.
We must now consider the biblical meaning of death; death never means the cessation of existence; death in scripture always means separation. In the bible there are three forms of death:
- Physical death - this is separation from all that we know in this world including our loved ones.
- Spiritual death - this is separation from God while we live, which is the way all of us have lived since we were born, "alienated from the life of God." We lived in a purely physical existence, but we were dead to God.
- The second death - this is the final and permanent separation from God; it will be a conscious existence devoid of any goodness or divine inspiration or divine presence.
These are the solemn facts of the world in which we live, and Paul is using these eternal realities to wean believing Christians away from living a life under the domination of sin. There is of course a glorious alternative to the above and it is the free gift of God, the grace of God. This is the opposite of wages; wages are what we deserve, and eternal death is what all of us deserve, but the gift of God is that which He gives us freely and the result will be eternal life. We have already discussed the meaning of eternal life. It is not only conscious existence forever, it is knowing God, living in His presence, experiencing all the goodness of a kind and loving God for all eternity. Since that is the glorious end to which we are going, says Paul so live your lives with that as your goal. Live your lives with that as the power of your new existence as being alive unto God.
He does not end this section until he has once again asserted the cause of all this graciousness from God. It is "through Jesus Christ our Lord." Paul delights to give Him his full title: this title appears over 100 times in the New Testament; Jesus ..... God who became man; Christ.... the Anointed One , the Messiah, the Chosen One to fulfill all the purposes of God; Lord ......Kurios, sovereign Lord, to whom every knee shall bow of things in heaven or earth or hell . This is the One who brings us the grace of God.
There is no need for any human being to do anything to merit God's approval, because Jesus Christ our Lord did it all, and all you have to do is to receive it as a free gift. The world has a saying "if a thing is too good to be true, it is probably not true." This is worldly wisdom that will take you down. God's wisdom, wisdom from above, is to receive the free gift of God's grace in Jesus Christ.
THIS IS THE TRUTH! you can depend on it.
Tomorrow d,v, we consider our change of relationship to the law.
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