When I was a teenager, my youth group taught me something called the Romans Road, which was designed as a tool to help me tell people the good news about Jesus. Romans 6:23 is part of the Romans Road. Let's start by just reading it, in the ESV:
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The way I was trained to explain this verse, went something like this: All us are sin (Romans 3:23). And Romans 6:23 shows that what we earn, because of our sins, is death. However, God has freely given us eternal life in Christ Jesus. This is a "free gift." There's nothing you can do to earn it. It has nothing to do with "good works." It's just given to you." On what basis?
The next step in the Romans Road, I think, is to turn to Romans 10:9. If you confess Jesus as Lord, you will be saved.
So the Romans Road very clearly teaches that the final judgment is based on whether or not you've made a confession of Jesus as Lord.
The awkward thing about this for me, and for many other people, is that this goes against what the church has historically taught about the basis for the final judgment. Churches across all denominations, for centuries, have taught this, instead:
The final judgment is based on the works produced by faithful disciples of Jesus, out of their obedience to Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Good trees bear good fruit. And the final judgment is based on that fruit.
If you've been here a while, you've been exposed to this. If you're newer, all of this may come as a shock to you.
So let me just pause here, and give you a few verses to chew on. I'll read one quote, from a well-respected Baptist theologian, and then we'll return to Romans 6. And if you're still unsure about how any of this is possible, I'd love to talk to more later. Fair enough?
John 5:28-29 (NRSV for both following):
28 Do not be astonished at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and will come out—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.
Matt. 25:21-46:
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33 and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. 34 Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? 39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ 40 And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family,[g] you did it to me.’ 41 Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
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Now, let me quote James Leo Garrett's systematic theology:
"In numerous texts cited earlier in this chapter (esp. Matt. 16:27; 25:34-36; 2 Cor. 5:10; Rom. 2:6; John 5:28-29; Rev. 20:12-13) final judgment is said to be based upon human deeds, actions, or works. As Anthony Hoekema puts it: 'Everything a person has done is an expression of the basic direction of his heart, and thus will be taken into account on the Day of Judgment. This includes a person's deeds, words, and thoughts.'
But, it has been objected, such a judgment surely contradicts justification by grace through faith. How can both be true? The objection tends to be antinomian, for it implies that there is no character or ethical fruitage that issues from being justified by grace through faith, or from being born from above.
'The reason why the Bible teaches that the final judgment will be according to works, even though salvation comes through faith in Christ and is never earned by works, is the intimate connection between faith and works. Faith must reveal itself in works, and works, in turn, are the evidence of true faith.'
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I could also quote from our own denomination's statement of faith (NAB):
9. We believe God, in His own time and in His own way, will bring all things to their appropriate end and establish the new heaven and the new earth (Ephesians 1:9-10, Revelation 21:1). The certain hope of the Christian is that Jesus Christ will return to the earth suddenly, personally and visibly in glory according to His promise (Titus 2:13; Revelation 1:7; 3:11; John 14:1-3). The dead will be raised, and Christ will judge mankind in righteousness (John 5:28-29). The unrighteous will be consigned to the everlasting punishment prepared for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25-41, 46; Revelation 20;10). The righteous, in their resurrected and glorified bodies, will receive their reward and dwell forever with the Lord (Philippians 3:20-21; II Corinthians 5:10; I Thessalonians 4:13-18).
There's a reason my denomination (and virtually every systematic theologian) uses John 5:28-29, and not 3:16, to explain the final judgment.
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So, let's back up, and sort of start over. Romans 6:23, in the ESV:
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And, again, how is this verse often understood at a popular level of Christianity? Something like this:
What we earn because we are sinners is death. But God freely gives eternal life to us, if we believe in Jesus.
If we take this understanding, and compare it to the way the church has historically talked about the final judgment, we should be confused. If the Romans Road is right, either Paul is wrong, or the church is wrong. Right?
So what I'd like to do this morning is help you understand Romans 6:23 in its larger context. And, more importantly, to help you understand what Romans 6 teaches you about what life in Christ looks like.
Before we jump into Romans 6 as a whole, we should see four immediate problems with the way I was taught Romans 6:23.
(1) The first, is that the verse starts with a "For." Whenever you're reading the Bible, and the first word you hear is "for," you know you're probably about to make a terrible mistake. "For" statements strengthen some point just made, in a specific way. [That's their discourse function]. They can't be read in isolation. They are open to misunderstanding, if read on their own.
(2) The second, is that Paul here isn't talking about "sins." He uses the singular. "Sin." Paul hardly ever talks about "sins," in the plural. Instead, he talks about "Sin." And when you think about Sin, you should think about it as a Personified Evil Dude. Sin, for Paul, is a Slave Owner. Sin was your old Master; Sin is who you used to serve.
So Paul is saying here, that Sin is like an Evil Employer. What Sin pays out, at the end of the week, is Death. Sin is not who you want to work for.
(3) The third problem we should see here, right away, is that the word "free" isn't in the Greek. It's an extra gloss. The word is simply "charisma," which (amusingly enough, for those who know me) is the word that's usually used elsewhere to talk about spiritual gifts. It'd be better here to translate it as a "grace gift." [The root of the word is closely linked to "grace"]. And the other thing I should say, is that Greek has a word for "gift," (doron), and that's not the word used here. There's a reason Paul uses "charisma," and I'll get to that eventually. But we should leave it a question mark here, whether or not the focus is on the gift being "free." And most English translations agree with me. Most don't have "free" in the translation. So let's just make that a question mark here.
(4) The fourth problem we should see, is that Paul doesn't tell us here what we have to do to receive this "grace gift." Everyone would say that this grace gift isn't something that's (freely!) given to everyone. Few people are universalists. And so people read into this verse the idea of faith. They say, "believe in Jesus," and you'll receive this grace gift.
But the verse itself doesn't say this.
At this point, what I'd like to do is take a wide-angled look at Romans 6 as a whole. We will fly a little higher over the trees, and try to catch Paul's main point. And I'll come back to Romans 6:23 at the end.
In Romans 5, Paul talks about how where sin increases, grace increases all the more. The word for grace, is "charis." That's key to understanding all of this.
If the way this works, is that the more we sin, the more God's grace comes out, this could lead to a very obvious question. And Paul asks this question in verse 1 (Paul uses hypothetical questions in Romans to push his argument forward).
Verses 1-3:
(1) And so then, what shall we say?
Shall we remain/persist in Sin,
in order that grace may increase?
(2) May it not be!
We who died to Sin-- how still can we live in/to it?
(3) Or don't you know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus, into his death we were baptized?
Paul is really clear about what happens at baptism. I'm afraid I'm going to lose some of you here, immediately. But, whatever. It is what it is. When you were baptized into Christ Jesus, it wasn't simply a symbol. It's not simply a public confession of faith. When you're baptized, you are joined to Christ, into his death. It's not just into water. It's into his death (and this is focused in Greek). Somehow, through baptism, you end up dying with Jesus on the cross.
Verses 4-7 (Reading up to the "de" in verse 8 which signals when Paul takes a step forward):
(4) And so then, we were buried with/in him through baptism into death,
in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the Father's glory, thus also we, in newness of life, would walk.
(5) For if united with him we have become in the likeness of his death, surely also [united with] his resurrection we will be,
(6) this knowing: that our old man was crucified with him,
in order that the body of sin would pass away /be released, so that we would no longer be slaves to Sin.
(7) For the dead/dying one has been freed from Sin.
In verse 4, Paul says God's goal, in us dying with Christ, is this: that we would be raised to a new kind of life. When you come out of the water, you come out, as someone who is no longer a slave to Sin. Your old man died. And you no longer find yourselves trapped, serving Sin. At least, that's the theory, and the goal. You are freed from Sin.
And the other thing you have, verse 5, is you will be resurrected. Now, the catch here, is that Paul isn't talking about the resurrection on the day of judgment. He's talking about rising up to a newness of life now. It's about how we walk with God, now. It's about a current resurrection on earth, that changes everything about how we live.
Verses 8-11:
(8) Now, if we died with Christ, we believe that also we will live with him,
(9) knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, won't again die-- death over him no longer being [his] master.
(10) For the death he died, to Sin he died once and for all.
Now, what [life] he lives, he lives to God.
(11) Thus also you, consider yourselves to be dead, on the one hand, to Sin.
On the other hand, living to God in Christ Jesus.
When you think about how you should live on earth, Jesus is your model. Consider yourselves dead to Sin. You, like Jesus, died to Sin once and for all. You, like Jesus, live to/for God. And you do this, in Christ. You do this as people who have been joined to Christ in his death. You do this as a people who have been resurrected to a new kind of life toward God, in Christ.
Verse 12-14:
(12) And so then, Sin must not reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires,
(13) and don't present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to Sin,
but present yourselves to God as ones, from-the-dead, living,
and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
(14) For Sin over you must not master/dominate.
For you aren't under the law, but under grace.
Before you became a Christian, you had one real choice in life. And it wasn't really a choice. You lived as a slave to Sin.
Now, though, you have a choice. There are two paths open to you. The first path, is the one you started on. You can still choose to let Sin reign as a King over you. You can still choose to obey Sin's desires. You can still take your body parts, and offer them to Sin, to do unrighteous things. God will not keep you from doing this, if this is what you want.
The second path is the one you need to take. Present yourselves to God, as dead men walking. Present your body parts to God, as instruments of righteousness. Your hands, your feet, your mouth, can all be used to do good works. To act rightly toward God and people. And that's what you need to do.
Paul then strengthens this, in verse 14, using two "for" statements. [The tricky thing with double "for" statements, is whether they are in tandem, or whether the second "for" statement strengthens the first "for"]. You can't let Sin reign over you. And the reason for that, is because you aren't under the law, but under grace.
Christians aren't "under" the law. "Law" here means "Mosaic covenant." They "fulfill" the law (Romans 8:4). But they do so in Christ, through the Spirit (again, Romans 8:4).
Now, though, we are "under grace." We are working under God's favor, and blessing.
And what does it mean to live "under grace"? The grace God gives, isn't a grace to live as a slave to Sin. The grace God gives, is a grace to live a cross-shaped life toward God. It's the grace to live entirely for God, as people who have died to ourselves, and live to Christ. That's grace.
So we find ourselves with part of our answer to Paul's first question. We can't live as slaves to sin, because that's not how grace works.
In verse 15, Paul pushes his argument forward with the same question he started Romans 6 with. Only now, we are set up to answer his question the right way. And it's here, that we find ourselves approaching the actual meaning of Romans 6:23:
(15) And so then, what?
Shall we sin because we aren't under law but under grace?
May it not be!
(16) Don't you know that to whomever you present yourselves [as] slaves for obedience, slaves you are to whomever you obey--
whether of Sin, [leading] toward death,
or obedience, [leading] toward righteousness?
There are two paths available to you, right? You can choose to live as a slave to Sin, which leads to death. OR, what? You can choose to be a slave to obedience, which leads to righteousness.
Righteousness here isn't something given (=imputed) to you. That's also biblical language. But it's not what Paul is talking about here. When you live obediently, it leads toward righteousness toward God. Righteousness here is ethical. Righteousness is something you can also gain (so also Matt. 5:20).
Those are the two options. And these options, are your paths, as Christians. Paul is talking to Christians, about how they will live. If you live as a slave to Sin, you will die. If you live as a slave to Obedience, you will have righteousness.
Verse 17:
(17) Now, thanks [be] to God that you were slaves of Sin.
Now, you obeyed from the heart to the pattern of teaching to which you were entrusted.
Paul has talked about these two options, and two paths. You can be slaves to Sin, or to righteousness. And now Paul pauses, and he talks about the path the Roman church took. They chose obedience. Which means, they are on the path toward righteousness.
Verse 18-21 (still working from "de" to "de"):
(18) Now, being freed from Sin, you became slaves to righteousness.
(19) From a human perspective, I am speaking because of the weakness of your flesh.
For just as you presented your members as slaves to uncleanness and lawlessness [leading] toward lawlessness, thus also you present your members [as] slaves to righteousness [leading] toward holiness/sanctification.
(20) For when, slaves, you were of Sin, free you were with respect to righteousness.
When you use your body parts rightly, and present yourselves as slaves to righteousness, what does it lead toward?
"Holiness." "Sanctification." You could also translate it, "Consecration." You become a people, who are dedicated to God.
Verse 21:
(21) And so then, what type of fruit did you have then, about which things you are now ashamed?
For the end of those things [is] death.
When you lived as a slave to Sin, presenting your body parts to Sin, what did it lead to? Paul doesn't unpack that here-- we'd have to turn to Galatians for that answer. But we know the answer. It led to fighting, envy, anger, sexual immorality. Embarrassing things. Shameful things. And where does that path end? For like the second or third time (?), Paul says, the end of those things is death.
This brings us to verses 22-23. English Bibles make a little bit of a mess of this. I've tried to translate this woodenly, in the same way I've translated everything else:
(22) Now, being now freed from sin-- now, being enslaved to God-- you have your fruit [leading] toward holiness/sanctification.
Now, its end [is] eternal life.
(23) For the wages of Sin [is] death.
Now, the grace/gift of God [is] eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
What is Paul saying here?
What has he been saying, this entire chapter?
If you live as slaves to obedience, and to righteousness, and to God, it leads toward holiness. Consecration. Sanctification.
And the end result of that, verse 22, is eternal life. That's where that path takes you.
Paul then strengthens his point, in verse 23, by comparing where the two roads end. That's what he's doing, in verse 23. What Sin pays out, if you take the path of unrighteousness, is death. Paul has already said this, at least three times.
Now, what does the last line mean? "The grace gift of God [is] eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Let's start by saying what it doesn't mean. It doesn't mean that everything else Paul said in Romans 6 is somehow wrong. Paul isn't saying that eternal life is a gift, given to those who believe in Jesus, and that it has nothing to do with the path you take now. That it has nothing to do with whether or not you present your body parts as slaves to God, in obedience, for righteousness.
But Paul is making a point about whether eternal life is "earned."
You woke up this morning, and you resolved, "I am dead to Sin. The life I live today, I live today for God. I give him my hands, and feet, and mouth."
You took the right path. And this is the path you take every day. When you sin, you confess, and repent. You get back on the path. But this is your path.
The end of this path, is first of all, sanctification. Consecration. Holiness. You are committed to God. You are rightly related to God (you "have righteousness"). You are that person who takes God too seriously, in the eyes of the world. There's nothing half-hearted about the way you live.
And when you stay on this path, its ultimate end, is eternal life.
This doesn't mean that your good deeds will "earn" you eternal life. Eternal life is not the "wages" of obedience.
Eternal life is a grace gift. It's a kindness, and an act of favor, on God's part.
Let me just say this again, so I'm not misunderstood. A life of righteousness, and holiness, and obedience to God don't "earn" eternal life. But they are the basis for God's decision. People who show up at the end of that path, receive eternal life.
So let me go back to how I was first taught Romans 6:23. It's explained to me as though eternal life is given as a free gift to people who "believe in Jesus," apart from how you live. It's explained as though obedience, and holiness, and righteousness, have no bearing on whether or not you receive eternal life. You should do those things, but you don't have to.
And this is completely wrong. It's abusive to Paul, and to God. It makes a mockery of Paul's entire argument.
But even worse than this, is that it keeps people from hearing Paul's cautionary warning.
Some of you are not like the Roman church. You don't wake up every day, presenting your body parts to God as instruments of righteousness. You don't live as a people who have died to Sin, and live to God.
You wake up, acting like you are still under old ownership. Like you are still slaves to Sin. You still present your body parts to Sin, and you say, in an ongoing way, "Use them however you want." You lie. You cheat. You steal. You are greedy. You live angry lives. You're sexually immoral. This is your path in life. This is how you live. You've embraced sin. You live in it.
Let me give you an example. Imagine that you're a guy, and you see a stunning blonde walking down the street. You notice her, which is no sin. But you keep looking, and you give in to lust. You sin.
What do you do? You confess, you repent, you get back on the path. Your path is still the path of slavery to obedience, to righteousness, to God.
Now, this is an entirely different thing that keeping dirty magazines under your bathroom sink, and lusting after the women in those magazines. There's a willfulness to this. There's an ongoing, deliberate lifestyle involved here. Your path has changed. You've made a commitment, in buying those magazines, and keeping them. You've deliberately made yourself a slave to your old master, Sin.
Let me give you another example. At some point in your life, you may lose your temper at your spouse, and snap at them. Maybe you even have a pretty explosive, verbal fight. Eventually, you both cool down, confess your sins to each other and God, and repent. The path you are on, is a path of obedience toward God. Which means, it's a path marked by love and faithfulness toward each other.
This is a very different thing, than a drunk, abusive husband. If a man gets drunk every Friday night, and abuses his wife every Friday night, what's his path?
It doesn't matter what he tells his wife, or God, on Saturday morning. God isn't mocked. God knows that the man is sowing to please his flesh (Gal. 6:4-8), and not the Holy Spirit. God knows that this man's path is the path that leads to death. His lifestyle, is a lifestyle of slavery to Sin.
If you live as a slave to Sin, what is your end fate? Where does your road of slavery to Sin take you?
Death.
Paul isn't talking here about non-Christians. He's talking to you. If this is you, please, repent. Live as people who are dead to Sin, but alive to God. Be like the Romans. Take the path that leads to eternal life.
So what is grace? God gave you kindness and favor in Christ, by freeing you from Sin. You died to that, when you became connected to Jesus. You were freed from that. And now you are freed to a lifestyle of obedience toward God. That's also grace. It's a kindness, and privilege, to serve God. And if you live as faithful disciples of Jesus, this leads to obedience, to righteousness, to holiness. And the end result of those things-- the end of that path-- is eternal life. God is waiting there for you, at the end of that path, to live with you forever. That's the "grace gift" God will give you. Unearned. Not deserved. A kindness on God's part.
So choose the right path. Live as slaves to God, rejoicing at the freedom He has given you in Christ.
Translation:
(1) And so then, what shall we say?
Shall we remain/persist in Sin,
in order that grace may increase?
(2) May it not be!
We who died to Sin-- how still can we live in it?
(3) Or don't you know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus, into his death we were baptized?
(4) And so then, we were buried with/in him through baptism into death,
in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the Father's glory, thus also we, in newness of life, would walk.
(5) For if united with him we have become in the likeness of his death, certainly also [united with] his resurrection we will be.
(6) this knowing: that our old man was crucified with him,
in order that the body of sin would pass away /be released, so that we would no longer be slaves to Sin.
(7) For the dead/dying one has been freed from Sin.
(8) Now, if we died with Christ, we believe that also we will live with him,
(9) knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, won't again die-- death over him no longer being [his] master.
(10) For the death he died, to Sin he died once and for all.
Now, what [life] he lives, he lives to God.
(11) Thus also you, consider yourselves to be dead, on the one hand, to Sin.
On the other hand, living to God in Christ Jesus.
(12) And so then, Sin must not reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires,
(13) and don't present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to Sin,
but present yourselves to God as ones, from-the-dead, living,
and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
(14) For Sin over you must not master/dominate.
For you aren't under the law, but under grace.
(15) And so then, what?
Shall we sin because we aren't under law but under grace?
May it not be!
(16) Don't you know that to whomever you present yourselves [as] slaves for obedience, slaves you are to whomever you obey--
whether of Sin, [leading] toward death,
or obedience, [leading] toward righteousness?
(17) Now, thanks [be] to God that you were slaves of Sin.
Now, you obeyed from the heart to the pattern of teaching to which you were entrusted.
(18) Now, being freed from Sin, you became slaves to righteousness.
(19) Humanly, I am speaking because of the weakness of your flesh.
For just as you presented your members as slaves to uncleanness and lawlessness [leading] toward lawlessness, thus also you present your members [as] slaves to righteousness [leading] toward holiness/sanctification.
(20) For when, slaves, you were of Sin, free you were with respect to righteousness.
(21) And so then, what type of fruit did you have then, about which things you are now ashamed?
For the end of those things [is] death.
(22) Now, being now freed from sin-- now, being enslaved to God-- you have your fruit [leading] toward holiness/sanctification.
Now, its end [is] eternal life.
(23) For the wages of Sin [is] death.
Now, the grace/gift of God [is] eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
