For the wages of sin is death
By sin, is meant every sin, original sin, actual sin, every kind
of sin, lesser and greater: the "death" which sin deserves, is a
corporeal death; which is not owing to the original nature and
constitution of men; nor merely to the divine appointment; but to
sin, and the decree of God, on account of it; which is inflicted
on Christless sinners, as a punishment for sin, though not on
believers as such, because Christ has took away the sting and
curse of it: a death of diseases and afflictions also follows
upon sin, as its proper demerit; which are properly punishments
to wicked men, and are occasioned by sin in believers: there is a
death of the soul, which comes by sin, which lies in an
alienation from God, in a loss of the image of God, and in a
servitude to sin; and there is an eternal death, the just wages
of sin, which lies in a separation of soul and body from God, and
in a sense of divine wrath to all eternity; and which is here
meant, as is clear from its antithesis, "eternal life", in the
next clause. Now this is "the wages" of sin; sin does in its own
nature produce it, and excludes from life; it is the natural
issue of it; sin is committed against an infinite God, and
righteously deserves such a death; it is its just wages by law.
The Greek word (oqwnia) ,
signifies soldiers' wages; see ( Luke 3:14 ) ( 1
Corinthians 9:7 ) and in
``At which time Simon rose up, and fought for his nation, and spent much of his own substance, and armed the valiant men of his nation and gave them wages,'' (1 Maccabees 14:32)Sin is represented as a king, a mighty monarch, a tyrannical prince; sinners are his subjects and vassals, his servants and soldiers, who fight under him, and for him, and all the wages they must expect from him is death. So the word is interpreted in the Glossary, (misyov stratiwtikov) , "soldiers' wages"; and so it is used by the Jewish writers, being adopted into their language; of a king, they say F1, that he should not multiply to himself gold and silver more than to pay (aynpoa) , which they F2 interpret by (twlyyx rkv) , "the hire of armies", or the wages of soldiers for a whole year, who go in and out with him all the year; so that it denotes wages due, and paid after a campaign is ended, and service is over; and, as here used, suggests, that when men have been all their days in the service of sin, and have fought under the banners of it, the wages they will earn, and the reward that will be given them, will be death: and it is frequently observed by the Jewish doctors F3, that (ajx alb htym Nya) , "there is no death without sin": sin is the cause of death, and death the fruit and effect of sin:
but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ
our Lord.
These words, at first sight, look as if the sense of them was,
that eternal life is the gift of God through Christ, which is a
great and glorious truth of the Gospel; but their standing in
opposition to the preceding words require another sense, namely,
that God's gift of grace issues in eternal life, through Christ:
wherefore by "the gift of God" is not meant eternal life, but
either the gift of a justifying righteousness, or the grace of
God in regeneration and sanctification, or both, which issue in
eternal life; the one is the saints' right and title, the other
their meetness for it: so that as death is the wages of sin, and
is what that issues in, and brings unto, eternal life is the
effect of grace, or what the grace of God in justifying and
sanctifying his people issues in; even a life free from all
sorrow and imperfection; a life of the utmost perfection and
pleasure, and which will last for ever: and as the grace of God,
which justifies and sanctifies them, is "through Christ", so is
the eternal life itself which it brings unto: this is in Christ,
comes through his righteousness, sufferings, and death; is
bestowed by him, and will greatly consist in the enjoyment of
him. All grace is the gift of God, and is freely given, or
otherwise it would not be grace; particularly the justifying
righteousness of Christ is the gift of God; and the rather this
may be meant here, since the apostle had been treating of it so
largely before, and had so often, in the preceding chapter,
called it the gift of righteousness, the free gift, and gift by
grace, and justification by it, the justification of life,
because it entitles to eternal life, as here: it may be said to
issue in it; for between justification and glorification there is
a sure and close connection; they that are justified by the
righteousness of Christ, are certainly glorified, or enjoy
eternal life; and though this may be principally intended here,
yet is not to be understood to the exclusion of other gifts of
grace, which have the same connection and issue: thus, for
instance, faith is the gift of God, and not of a man's self, and
he that has it, has eternal life, and shall, Or ever possess it;
repentance is a free grace gift, it is a grant from the Lord, and
it is unto life and salvation; and on whomsoever the grace of God
is bestowed, so as to believe in Christ for righteousness, and
truly repent of sin, these shall partake of eternal glory. It may
be observed, that there is a just proportion between sin, and the
wages of it, yet there is none between eternal life, and the
obedience of men; and therefore though the apostle had been
pressing so much obedience to God, and to righteousness, he does
not make eternal life to be the fruit and effect of obedience,
but of the gift of the grace of God.