Most of us carry around a quiet sense of entitlement. Not always in a loud or arrogant way—sometimes it’s subtle. We feel we deserve a little more comfort, a little more recognition, a little more ease. And honestly, on a human level, some of those desires make sense. But Romans 6:23 asks a deeper question, one that cuts through all our self-justifying instincts: What do we actually deserve before God?
That question can feel uncomfortable, because we’d rather measure ourselves against other people than against a holy God. But Scripture doesn’t let us dodge it. It speaks with clarity and kindness—clarity about the danger we’re in, and kindness about the rescue God offers.
# Two masters, two outcomes
In Romans 6:15–23, Paul says every person is serving one of two masters. There isn’t a third category of “mostly neutral” or “spiritual but not committed.” We are either slaves to sin or slaves to God (Romans 6:16–18). And each master pays out what is due.
That’s why Romans 6:23 lands with such force: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Notice the word wages. Wages are earned. They’re owed. They’re what you get for your labor. Paul’s point is blunt: when sin is your master, sin pays exactly what it promises—death.
And “death” isn’t only physical, though it includes that. It’s the whole unraveling that comes from life cut off from God: broken relationships, corrosive guilt, the emptiness that achievement can’t fix, the slow decay of hope. Many people feel this even when life looks fine on the outside. You finally get what you thought would satisfy—success, romance, comfort, control—and it still doesn’t quiet the ache. That’s not random. It’s what it means to live under the curse of sin.
Paul pushes us to be honest: if God is not the center of your life—if you’re not living in glad obedience to Him—then sin is still calling the shots. And that can show up in obvious rebellion, but it can also hide behind respectable habits. You can be outwardly religious and still be serving self, using “good behavior” to try to earn credit with God. Paul himself lived that way before Christ changed him.
So yes, the first half of Romans 6:23 is sobering: sin gives us what we deserve.
# A gift you could never put on a paycheck
But then comes the turn that changes everything: “but the gift of God is eternal life…”
Not wages. Gift.
Eternal life isn’t something you can grind for, achieve, or deserve. If wages are what you earn, a gift is what you receive. And Paul is saying God offers something completely unearned: life—not just endless existence, but “the life of the age to come,” a new quality of life that begins now and is completed in eternity.
That means a life where sin no longer owns you. A life where you’re being made whole. A life of fellowship with God—the very thing you were created for. The emptiness starts to make sense once you realize it’s not ultimately a “more stuff” problem; it’s a “missing God” problem.
And here’s the question that has to be answered: how can a just God give life to people who deserve death?
Paul answers in the final phrase: “in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Eternal life is only possible because Jesus took the wages we earned. He lived the obedience we couldn’t live, and He bore the death we deserved. The gift is free to you—but it was unimaginably costly to Him.
# What do you do with this?
This isn’t just theology; it’s an invitation. Ask yourself plainly: Who is my master? What do you obey? What do you protect? What do you live for?
If you know you’ve been serving sin—whether loudly or quietly—God is not asking you to clean yourself up before coming. He’s offering you a gift. You don’t pay for a gift; you receive it. Turn to Christ. Trust Him. Hand over your allegiance.
Because payday is real—but so is grace. And the God who tells the truth about what we deserve is the same God who offers what we could never earn: eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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