The Gift of God is Eternal Life—Romans 6:23

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23)

Do you ever notice how the good news comes last? Even in conversations we always start with the bad news so that we can end on a good note. We like to have the good news last so that we can focus on that and not worry about the bad new. With Christ, there is always a good news!

In today's passage, Paul mentions the problem so he could introduce the solution. "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." ( Romans 6:23 ) This verse is a well know verse. I remember memorizing it as a child. I also remember hearing mention of it every time I heard someone share the gospel. As a child, this is what I heard... 'the wages of sin is death.' But that is simply the bad news. Thankfully Paul did not end the sentence there.

Neither did Jesus. The good news is that there is a gift. The good news or gospel literally means, 'the almost too good to be true news', meaning that this gift is so good, we always look for a catch. But there isn't one. Paul said the 'gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord'. If we focus on what we can earn, then our wages result in death. However if we accept this free gift then the gift brings eternal life instead of death. Isn't that amazing!

I am so glad that Paul ended this chapter with the good news. No longer are we bound under sin or our old nature. But we have been freed of it and introduced to our new nature which was obtained through Christ Jesus as a gift from God. Today, celebrate this free gift and the good news! Amen!

For further information about becoming born again or eternal life, please visit these article:
The Gospel: How To Know Without a Shadow of a Doubt that You Have Eternal Life
Born of Water and of Spirit

 

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Original article published October 26, 2009.