Lord’s Library editors offer this Romans 6:23 meaning and commentary with supporting Scriptures for your edification.
To obtain a Romans 6:23 meaning, see the verse in Scripture: “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” As it is written, this verse presents a vivid contrast between the consequence of sin and the free gift of salvation offered through Jesus Christ. The word “wages” signifies what is deserved, and Scripture makes it clear that all have sinned, see Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”
Because of sin, death entered the world through Adam according to Romans 5:12: “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:” This death is not only physical but more importantly spiritual, and leads to eternal separation from God in hell, as revealed in Revelation 20:14: “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.”
Romans 6:23 Meaning
However, Paul contrasts the wages of sin with “the gift of God,” emphasizing that eternal life cannot be earned via righteous works but is imputed. See Ephesians 2:8-9: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
As one can see, salvation is found in Christ alone, for He bore the penalty of sin, fulfilling God’s perfect plan. See Romans 5:8: “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” His final words on the cross, “It is finished” (John 19:30), confirm that His Finished Work of salvation was complete.
Receiving this gift requires faith. See Romans 10:9-10: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
Salvation cannot be secured through works of the law, according to Isaiah 64:6: “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” Romans 5:1 confirms this: “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:”
Jesus Himself declared it so in John 14:6: “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
Once a person is saved, their eternal life is secure. Jesus says in John 10:28: “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” The Apostle Paul reinforces this idea in Romans 8:38-39 “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Eternal life then is not conditional; it is secured by God’s promise, sealed by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14), and guaranteed by Christ’s resurrection. See Ephesians 1:13-14: “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.”
Romans 6:23 is an important encapsulation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in one verse: sin earns death, but God offers eternal life as a free gift through the Blood Atonement of Jesus Christ. This salvation can only be by grace through faith alone, ensuring that all glory belongs to God. Let us close with Titus 3:5, which says: “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;”
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