The End?

Last week Leslie and I were in Romans 6. On Sunday night my brilliant wife was used by God to impart wisdom to me. It was one of those moments where a verse we have read hundreds of times became clear in a new way.

We have been reading Roman with the thought of sovereignty and salvation in the back of our minds. The first question was, "Do I play any part in my own salvation?", to which the answer is a rather clear "no"; unless you count "receiving it" as an action.

The next, and more difficult, question was, "Do I then play any part in my damnation?" I have written many pages on these two questions over the lat few weeks. Then God, in His wonderful wisdom and simplicity, answered them both in a single verse.

Generally I consider it bad form to build doctrine and theology on a single verse. That is not what I am doing here. I just believe this verse sums up God's position, a position He expresses throughout Scripture.

Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Do you see it? Remember in Romans 4:4 where it says, "Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation."

In chapter 6 Paul completes the thought. We see that salvation is not something we earn, as if God owed us mercy and righteousness due to our works. Death, however, is something that we are owed. It is the fitting wage of our sin. Wages are awarded to a man for his work, not as a gift from God as it were.

So we see that we work our way to hell, and God pays us the wage we have rightfully earned. Yet it is His grace and mercy alone that leads us to salvation in Christ Jesus our Lord.