Romans 6:20-23
(20) For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.
(21) What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
(22) But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
(23) For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Paul once again stated that slavery to sin and to righteousness are mutually exclusive (cf. vv. 13, 16). But he went on to indicate the superiority of being enslaved to righteousness and God. The benefit (this Gr. word is usually trans. “fruit”) of enslavement to sin was that it produced things that a believer is now ashamed of. But even worse, “the end of those things is death” (lit. trans.).
Responding to the gospel by faith and accepting Jesus Christ completely reverses things for an individual. He is now . . . set free from sin (cf. v. 18) and has been enslaved to God with the result that he has the benefit of holiness (cf. v. 19), the subject of chapters 6-8. The sinful life gives no benefit (6:21), but salvation gives the benefit of a holy, clean life (v. 22). Whereas the “end” (telos) or result of sin is death (v. 21), the “end” of salvation is eternal life. Paul then summarized these contrasts. The wages (the Gr. word opsonia originally meant a soldier’s pay) of sin is death (eternal death here, in contrast with “eternal life” in v. 23b). This death is eternal separation from God in hell, in which unbelievers suffer conscious torment forever (Luke 16:24-25). This is the wages they have earned and deserve because of their sin (cf. Rom. 5:12; 7:13). By contrast, the gift (charisma, “grace-gift”) of God is eternal life (cf. John 3:16, 36). Eternal life is a gift that cannot be earned (cf. Eph. 2:8-9; Titus 3:5).
Three times in this chapter Paul wrote that sin results in death (Rom. 6:16, 21, 23). But believers have been set free from sin (vv. 18, 22) and are no longer slaves to it (vv. 6, 20) but are “slaves to righteousness” (vv. 16, 18-19; cf. v. 13). Because they are alive to God (v. 11) and have eternal life (v. 23) they should present themselves to Him (vv. 13, 19) and live accordingly, not letting sin master them (vv. 6, 11-14, 22).
Excerpt from:
Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary. (1983-c1985). The Bible knowledge commentary : An Exposition of the Scriptures. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
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