Romans 6:23 is the conclusion to Paul's argument about two masters and two lifestyles, and it contains both the most frightening and the most glorious news in all of Scripture in a single sentence. We live in a culture of entitlement — an Irish Independent article once called it "one of this country's most crippling problems." People want what they think they deserve: rest, recognition, success, better health, a higher standard of living. But what does God say we actually deserve? The answer in this verse is as uncomfortable as it is inescapable — and the rescue that follows is as breathtaking as it is free.
Sin Gives Us What We Deserve (v. 23a)
"The wages of sin is death." The word wages tells us everything. Wages are what you earn, what you deserve, what you are owed. When your boss pays you at the end of the month, your eyes don't mist over with tears. You don't embrace him and say, "Thank you — how can I express my appreciation?" Of course not. You deserve them. It would be unjust of your boss not to pay them.
The question is: what are the wages we have laboured for as slaves to sin? What is due to us for serving sin faithfully and continually all our days? The picture is grisly. Imagine a man going into his boss's office to collect his paycheck. The boss says, "Thank you for all your hard work and loyalty. You are a valued employee. Now here's your pay." He picks up a knife from his desk and slits the man's throat. The wages of sin is death.
Perhaps you think, "I'm not a slave to sin — that doesn't apply to me." But as we saw last time, there are only two possibilities for every human being: either sin is your master or God is. And being a slave to sin does not mean you are a child molester or a terrorist. There are all kinds of ways people serve sin — sleeping around, cheating, slandering, lying, breaking promises, boasting. Others serve sin by what they don't do: they never pray, never read God's Word, couldn't care less what He says about anything. And still others are very religious yet still slaves to sin — always going to church, always saying prayers, but doing it all to earn credit with God. That is exactly what Paul himself was like before his conversion: an outstandingly moral and religious man, yet proud, covetous, and consumed by self-righteousness.
Everywhere we look, the wages of sin are being paid out even now. We see it all over Ireland, all over Galway — broken relationships, families who will not speak to one another, feuds that have dragged on for years. Greedy landlords charging exorbitant sums for tiny rooms. A society where babies are killed in the womb and the government considers helping to kill the old and the sick. A nation where one in four people are affected by depression and suicidal thoughts — living without hope or purpose, crippled by guilt and anxiety. The wages of sin is death. And all of this is just an advance on the full salary, because the final instalment — eternal death, the second death — is still owed to those who serve sin. Payday is coming.
God Gives Us What We Don't Deserve (v. 23b)
"But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." The contrast could not be greater. Paul does not say "the wages of God" — he says the gift. Death is our wages, what we have earned. But eternal life is a gift — free, undeserved, something we could never work for or obtain by our own efforts. The only thing our efforts could ever earn is death. Eternal life is a stupendous act of grace: we deserve death, but God gives us life.
What Is Eternal Life?
Eternal life does not primarily mean everlasting life — though it is that. The word "eternal" means the life of the age to come: a different quality of life altogether. Not the life of this sinful, cursed, decaying world, but the life of the next age — which begins now, the moment someone becomes a Christian, and will be experienced fully and perfectly in the world to come.
It is a life of righteousness: every last trace of sin and uncleanness removed from your heart and from the world around you. Imagine a world where there are no more lies, no more pride, no more lust, no more cruelty or suffering or disappointment, no more broken relationships, no more anxiety or depression.
It is a life of fellowship with God: the perfect, intimate relationship with God that we were created for. This is what is missing if you are not a Christian — this is the emptiness inside that nothing from this world can fill, because only God can fill a God-shaped hole. And it will be a dynamic relationship, constantly growing deeper, as we compare notes with millions of believers from every age and build an ever-expanding picture of just how great God is.
It is a life of perfect bodies: no more weakness, tiredness, sluggishness, memory loss, illness, or disease. The Bible says our bodies will be raised imperishable, full of glory and power.
It is a life of service and exploration: not sitting on clouds strumming harps (that sounds incredibly boring and unappealing), but this physical universe made perfect, given work to do — all our gifts stretched and developed with all the time in eternity. Music, creativity, art, science — everything good and God-given will find its full expression. That is what is bound up in those two beautiful words: eternal life.
How Is This Possible? "In Christ Jesus Our Lord"
But how can a just God give life to people who deserve death? At a girls' primary school in Coleraine, the headmistress was a lovely Christian lady called Mrs Campbell. But for all her qualities, she was a big softie. There was a saying among the staff: "With Mrs Campbell, you go in for a scolding and you come out with a lollipop." Children sent to her office for misbehaviour would come out sucking a sweet because she felt sorry for them. Is God like that?
It is frustrating enough when it happens in a headmistress's office, but imagine it in a court of law. A guilty criminal stands before the judge. The judge might want to be sympathetic, might want to let the criminal go — but he can't. That would be a gross miscarriage of justice. So how can God give the gift of eternal life to people who deserve death?
The answer is in the last five words of the verse: in Christ Jesus our Lord. That is the only way it is possible. The gift is free to us — it costs us nothing. But it cost God everything. His Son had to leave heaven and come into this cursed world, live the perfect life of obedience that we cannot live, and then suffer the death that we deserve. To use the picture language of this verse: Jesus, God's Son, collected the wages that were due to you. Though He had never sinned, He experienced death — He experienced hell in those three hours of darkness on the cross — so that God could offer to you and me this free gift of eternal life.
The question for every one of us is: who is your master? If you are still serving sin, payday is coming. But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord — and He is holding it out to you today. However much of a slave to sin you have been, no matter what you have done, God says: "I am offering you this free gift. It is yours if you will take it."
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