For the wages of sin [is] death; but the act of favour of God, eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Read Full Chapter →Commentary for this Verse
This verse closes the chapter by setting a wage beside a gift. One life is what a person has earned; the other is what God hands over free — and the commentators press hard on that difference.
Sin the Employer
The verse assumes a service relationship. A wage means work has been done for someone. One writer asks whether a person can ever quit that job.
James BoydBut someone may ask: is man, in his natural condition, a slave of sin? Can he never practise righteousness? Must he always obey this terrible master? This master pays death as wages for all the service his poor, degraded servants give him. Yes. Unless a power greater than his own sets him free, he must serve that merciless tyrant as long as he is in this world. That master's only payment brings him to the grave in disgrace.
Death as Payment, Not Nature
Calling death a wage rules out treating it as simply how bodies work.
H Forbes Witherby"The wages of sin is death," a solemn sentence which Adam and countless others have proved in their own bodies. Death is the wages of sin, not the debt of nature. God did not make man to die, but by sin man forfeited his life.
Both Sides Reach Further
Commentators notice what the sentence does not say. It never claims death is the entire settlement, and it never claims eternal life is the whole of what God gives.
William KellyNote carefully how the phrase is built. The Holy Spirit avoids saying that the wages of sin stop at death. Judgment remains, and God appoints it to man just as He appoints death. Together they are the full wages of sin. It would not be safe to say that even eternal life is the whole of God's free gift. As we shall find in Romans 8, and in many other Scriptures, He gives the Holy Spirit to be the believer's portion. Add to that the relationship of a son, and the inheritance that goes with it.
What You Can Do With a Gift
The second half of the verse changes category, not just outcome. A gift has only one possible response.
A. J. PollockWhat a contrast between "wages" and "gift" — wages earned: death, the judgment of God in all its terror. Gift — what can you do with a gift? You cannot buy a gift — then it would be a sale. You cannot earn a gift, or it would be your due. All you can do with a gift is receive it and thank the giver. Sin has forfeited our natural life. But eternal life is God's gift. It cost the atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Wages Paid at the Cross
If God simply waived the wage, the first half of the verse would be empty. One writer points to the cross. There God did not cancel the penalty He had announced. He paid it.
J. N. DarbyWhere was His truth, which had pronounced death on the offender? Where was His majesty, which had been trampled underfoot? Sin called the whole character of God into question. The Lord offers Himself for His Father's glory, according to the counsels of God. His truth is made good. The wages of sin is death. The cross is absolute proof of it. It was the wages of sin paid by the Son of God Himself. No one escaped except through His dying for them — and He was the Son of God.
Life Held in a Person
The closing phrase locates the life. Some older translations read "through Jesus Christ our Lord." One writer argues that the wording matters more than it looks.
Frederick W GrantThis is not just life from another source. It is life of a completely new character and quality. It is not the old failed life restored, but a far higher life — a divine life. Only one life is eternal. The words "in Christ Jesus our Lord" show that its source is a divine Person who has now become man. The wording is "in," not "through," as the older translation has it. And it is "Christ Jesus," not "Jesus Christ." Such differences may look small, but in Scripture they always carry meaning.
Given, Not Earned at the Finish
The previous verse made eternal life the end of a road of holiness, which could sound like a prize for good conduct. This verse blocks that reading — and one writer turns the phrase around to show how large the gift is.
J. N. DarbyThe end is everlasting life, received in its full result in glory, as it is in God's purpose. But that is the gift of God. The path to it is the path of obedience and holiness, but the thing itself is the gift of God. Death we have earned — it is the wages of sin; but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. It is not merely that eternal life is the gift of God, but that the gift of God is nothing less than eternal life.
Summary
- Master. Sin is not a mood but an employer, and no one serves it part-time. Without a rescue greater than himself, a man works for it until the grave.
- Wage. Death is what that work earns, not what nature owes. Judgment still waits beyond it, so death alone is not the full settlement.
- Substitute. God did not cancel the wage; the cross is proof He paid it, and none escape except through the Son who died for them.
- Gift. A gift cannot be bought or deserved, only received with thanks. Eternal life is never the reward for the holy path, though holiness is the path.
- Life. The gift is held in a Person: not the old forfeited life patched up, but divine life in Christ Jesus. And even that is not the whole of what God gives.