Thank you, Lord, for your gift of eternal life.

Part 1

“For the wages of sin is death;”

“For”

“For” points back to these last words, verses 21-22 (please read these verses).

“Wages”

The original word that “wages” comes from is a word that means “cooked meat.”  Later the word came to mean “provisions.”  To the people of Athens, they thought of “provisions” as the “fish” that the general gave his men in his army to feed them.  As the word changed in time, it came to mean “provision-money,” as it was used to supply an army.[1]  In Jesus’ day, the word had come to mean “wages” (Luke 3:14; 1 Corinthians 9:7; 2 Corinthians 11:8).

Wages are earned. A fee is a payment for the work rendered.

“Sin”

Sin is “missing the mark,”[2] God has set the target, we are to be holy as He is holy.  But as sinners, we “miss the mark” every time.  Our sin offends the Holy God, and we habitually violate His Law.  On our own, we can never measure up to God’s perfect standard.  As sinners, we must understand that our sin earned us wages.

“The wages of sin” deserves death.  The sinner has sinned, and he must receive the just compensation for his efforts.  Sin makes the difference between life and death.

“Death”

Death is the ripened fruit of sin.  In the physical-natural realm, the death of the body is the separation of the body from the soul.  The body is dead and subject to decay as it returns to the dirt from which it was made.  Spiritually, the death of the soul is the separation of the soul from God.”  The soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:20a).  This second death is eternal, and the soul is punished in Hell.  At this point, there is no remedy for the sinner.

“What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death” (Romans 6:21).

“Paul does not say, the wages of great sins, or the wages of some sins, or the wages of certain sins; he simply says: ‘The wages of sin,’ of any sin, of all sins, of the least sin, ‘is death.’  A single sin, however insignificant it may appear, brings guilt of death; as St. James writes: ‘Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.’”[3]

Friend, we are all sinners before the holy God.  And the problem with our sin is that there are wages we earned because of it.  The salaries we have coming for your sin, and mine is death.  And Jesus is the only remedy for our sin problem.  Please come back tomorrow as we see how we can receive God’s free gift!

[1] See Vincent for the Greek word meaning.
[2] Hamartia, “a missing the mark.” Thayer’s second definition for hamartia is “that which is done wrong, sin, an offence [sic], a violation of the divine law in thought or in act.” J.H. Thayer, Thayer’s Greek Definitions, the electronic version in eSword.
[3] Great Texts of the Bible, the electronic version in eSword.