For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This verse just came to me this morning while I was in the shower and got me thinking, specifically about first part - "for the wages of sin is death". And that's the whole thing about Christianity right? In fact, the above verse does a good job of summing up what I believe as a Christian. Allow me to explain...
Ever since the beginning of time sin has equalled death.
In the Old Testament of the Bible the Israelites (Jews), God's chosen people, made a lawful covenant with God. An agreement. Basically God gave them a bunch of commandments in order to give them an idea of the definition of sin. So, for example, God says "thou shall not murder" and by that commandment they knew that to murder was a sin against God. Now this is where the "wages of sin is death" thing comes in. If an old testament Israelite were to commit a sin he would have to make amends to God by offering a sacrifice. It had to be on an alter, had to be a pure animal (often a lamb), blood had to be shed etc. But in essence if you committed a sin the result would be death. The wager of your sin was death in the form of a sacrifice (that part is important to remember). Then God was like "well these people, as well as the rest of the people in the world, are so full of sin that they will never be able to make amends for themselves." So God took it upon himself to make up for our sin. He became a human being, lived a sinless, blameless, pure life, and was slaughtered on a big cross-shaped alter. His body was broken and his blood was shed as the ultimate sacrifice to make amends for the sin of the world. In essence, the world committed sin and the result was the death of Jesus. The wager of our sins is death in the form of a sacrifice. And God's gift to us is eternal life through the death of Jesus.
In the Old Testament of the Bible the Israelites (Jews), God's chosen people, made a lawful covenant with God. An agreement. Basically God gave them a bunch of commandments in order to give them an idea of the definition of sin. So, for example, God says "thou shall not murder" and by that commandment they knew that to murder was a sin against God. Now this is where the "wages of sin is death" thing comes in. If an old testament Israelite were to commit a sin he would have to make amends to God by offering a sacrifice. It had to be on an alter, had to be a pure animal (often a lamb), blood had to be shed etc. But in essence if you committed a sin the result would be death. The wager of your sin was death in the form of a sacrifice (that part is important to remember). Then God was like "well these people, as well as the rest of the people in the world, are so full of sin that they will never be able to make amends for themselves." So God took it upon himself to make up for our sin. He became a human being, lived a sinless, blameless, pure life, and was slaughtered on a big cross-shaped alter. His body was broken and his blood was shed as the ultimate sacrifice to make amends for the sin of the world. In essence, the world committed sin and the result was the death of Jesus. The wager of our sins is death in the form of a sacrifice. And God's gift to us is eternal life through the death of Jesus.
So those are the two main applications, in my knowledge, of the verse in topic.
But I started thinking about how "the wages of sin is death" applies today, aside from the fact that the death of Jesus continues to cover our sins daily by the grace of God, and I came across an interesting irony. I thought about the definition of sin and the definition of death. The sin definition is easy. In the simplest description, anything that displeases God can be said to be sin. God tells us all over the new testament what sin is. In all Paul's letters in the New Testament he warns churches as to the things they should stay away from and calls them out on things they are doing that don't please God. Things such as sexual immorality, idolatry, homosexuality, thievery, greed, drunkenness, slander are all mentioned in 1 Corinthians 6 as Paul refers to things that, as Christians we have been called away from and washed clean of. Then in Romans 6, just prior to the verse in topic, Paul says
But I started thinking about how "the wages of sin is death" applies today, aside from the fact that the death of Jesus continues to cover our sins daily by the grace of God, and I came across an interesting irony. I thought about the definition of sin and the definition of death. The sin definition is easy. In the simplest description, anything that displeases God can be said to be sin. God tells us all over the new testament what sin is. In all Paul's letters in the New Testament he warns churches as to the things they should stay away from and calls them out on things they are doing that don't please God. Things such as sexual immorality, idolatry, homosexuality, thievery, greed, drunkenness, slander are all mentioned in 1 Corinthians 6 as Paul refers to things that, as Christians we have been called away from and washed clean of. Then in Romans 6, just prior to the verse in topic, Paul says
"When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!"
It is fair to assume that the things Paul speaks of in Romans 6 that are shameful and result in death are the things he names in 1 Corinthians 6 (to name a few). We can make this assumption, which is actually more of an observation, because after reading both passages we can make a link from "things we are ashamed of" to the things named in Corinthians (sexual immorality, drunkenness, greed, etc.) as things that we used to live in when we were slaves to sin rather than slaves to righteousness. So the sin part is pretty clear.
The death part is the more unclear bit. The bit that has, in my opinion, a few applications or meanings (not in an ambiguous or contradictory way). What I mean is that there are different meanings to the word "death", even without getting to the original Hebrew interpretation or the derivations of the word. The way the word "death" is used by Paul in Romans 6v23 is put up against eternal life, as if they are opposites:
The death part is the more unclear bit. The bit that has, in my opinion, a few applications or meanings (not in an ambiguous or contradictory way). What I mean is that there are different meanings to the word "death", even without getting to the original Hebrew interpretation or the derivations of the word. The way the word "death" is used by Paul in Romans 6v23 is put up against eternal life, as if they are opposites:
"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life..."
How about saying that the wages of sin is eternal death. Or to be more accurate, the wages of a life lived in unrepented sin is an eternity of death. That's probably the most obvious way to interpret what Paul is saying, mostly because of the big "but" that follows. That's also the spiritual way to look at it, which reinforces the statement that it's the most obvious because the Bible is a spiritual book.
So I've been through how the wages of sin was death with regard to the old testament Israelites, with regard to Jesus and with regard to a life lived in sin. But these are all examples that might only apply to you if you are a believing Christian. If you're not a Christian then the sacrifices of the Israelites means nothing to you, Jesus' death means nothing to you and the Christian ideas of eternal life and heaven and hell are all bogus. You might not even believe that sin is a thing. But this is where the irony comes in - in my last example of "the wages of sin is death." An example that is clear for all the world to see.
Consider the ideas of sin that were mentioned above and in Corinthians. Things like sexual immorality (premarital sex), homosexuality and adultery. Then consider how many babies are killed each year through abortions or even by being left in trash cans to die because their unmarried mother can't afford to keep the baby or simply doesn't want to. Consider how many people die from HIV and AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. Things like dilatory. Consider how many people are killed by terrorist bombings and suicide bombings because of the idols they worship. Things like thievery. Consider how many people are killed during muggings, break-ins and armed robberies. Things like greed. Consider how many people are killed over blood diamonds, gold, money, land and material possessions. Things like drunkenness. Consider how many lives could have been spared if the driver was sober. Things like pride. Consider how many people die because countries won't back down. And that's the irony. The whole world can see the that the wages of sin is death, death and more death but they refuse to acknowledge that sin is a thing and that there is a God who can save us from it. Who already has saved us from it if we will just accept Him. As human beings we are natural born sinners. It's in our blood and has been since Adam ate the apple. We are living dead sinful lives without God. But with Him we can enter into fullness and abundance of life and we can inherit the ultimate gift - eternal life through Jesus Christ!!!
I don't believe in coincidence
These are just my thoughts
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