The Church Fathers on this verse
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Romans 6:23Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

For the wages of sin is death. But the grace of God, life everlasting in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Douay-Rheims

τα γαρ οψωνια της αμαρτιας θανατος το δε χαρισμα του θεου ζωη αιωνιος εν χριστω ιησου τω κυριω ημων

Greek (Byzantine text)

What does Romans 6:23 mean?

Paul calls death the wages of sin: as a king pays his soldiers, sin pays its soldiers with death. For eternal life he deliberately says not wages but gift. According to John Chrysostom and Theophylact of Bulgaria, it is no recompense for labors but grace, and Theodoret of Cyrus adds that temporal labors cannot balance eternal good things.

Summary drawn from the commentaries of the Church Fathers. Based on Theophan the Recluse, John Chrysostom, Theophylact of Bulgaria, Theodoret of Cyrus.

The Church Fathers on this verse

11 Church Fathers comment on this verse

John Chrysostom

4th centuryChurch Father

Then, since he had mentioned weapons and a king, he continues the figure and says, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Having said that death is the wages of sin, the Apostle did not preserve the same order with respect to good deeds. He did not say, the reward for your merits, but "the gift of God."

He shows that we were not freed by ourselves, and that we received neither a debt, nor a reward, nor recompense for labors. Rather, all this came by grace.

From this the superiority of grace is evident. It not only freed us, and not only brought us to what is better, but accomplished all this without our efforts and labors.

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It not only freed us, but granted far more, and granted it through the Son. The Apostle indicated all this because he was speaking about grace and had to set aside the law.

So that neither point should dispose them to greater negligence, he inserted teaching on strictness of life, constantly urging the hearer to care for virtue.

Likewise, by calling death the wages of sin, he again wishes to frighten them and establish them regarding the future. By the same means with which he reminds them of the former things, he moves them to gratitude and strengthens them against whatever may meet them.

Theophylact of Bulgaria

11th centuryChurch Father

"For the wages of sin is death." Thus, he says, to you who served sin, sin gave wages: death.

"But the gift of God." He did not say, "the wages from God," but "the gift." For you did not receive it as payment or recompense for labors. Rather, all this came from grace in Christ Jesus, for everything was accomplished by Him.

Basil the Great

4th centuryChurch Father

Adam was once on a heavenly height, not by place of dwelling, but by choice. He was on high as soon as he received a soul, looked upon heaven, marveled at what was visible, and loved the Benefactor.

That Benefactor granted him the enjoyment of eternal life, placed him amid the delights of paradise, gave him rule in the likeness of angels, made him a fellow-dweller with archangels, and made him a hearer of the divine voice.

Yet despite all this, while under God's protection and enjoying His good things, he soon became satiated with everything. As though grown proud from his satiety, he preferred to noetic beauty what appeared pleasing to bodily eyes.

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He placed the filling of the belly above spiritual delights. Soon he found himself outside paradise, outside that blessed life, becoming evil not by necessity but by folly (Gen 2:7-3:24).

Therefore, as he sinned because of an evil choice, so he died because of sin: "For the wages of sin is death." To the extent that he withdrew from life, to that extent he drew near to death.

For God is life, and deprivation of life is death. Therefore Adam prepared death for himself through his withdrawal from God, according to what is written: "For behold, those who remove themselves from You perish" (Ps 72:27).

Thus God did not create death, but we brought it upon ourselves by wicked consent. God did not prevent our destruction for the reasons explained above: so that the very disease might not be preserved immortal in us.

So also a potter would not wish to put into the fire a clay vessel that leaks, until the defect in it is corrected by remaking.

Ephraem the Syrian

4th centuryChurch Father

For the tribute of sin is death, but the gifts that have been given to us through our Lord will lead to eternal life.

Ambrosiaster

4th centuryChurch Father

"For the wages of sin is death." Paul says that death is the wages of sin because death comes through sin. Consequently, those who keep themselves from sin receive eternal life as their reward (1 Tim 6:12).

He who does not sin is not subject to the second death (Rev 2:11; Rev 20:6).

"But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Just as those who follow sin receive death, so those who follow the grace of God, that is, faith in Christ, which forgives sins, will obtain eternal life.

They will rejoice that for a time they were weakened, knowing that they will enter that life which is free from cares and knows no end.

Desiring such life, holy Symeon asked for his release, that he might depart in peace, that is, into a life that knows no disturbance (Lk 2:25-32).

He also bears witness that this gift has been given to us by God through Christ our Lord, so that we must thank God not through anyone else, but through His Son.

Theodoret of Cyrus

5th centuryChurch Father

"For the wages of sin is death." Since sin once reigned, and now rules on its own, and since the Apostle called badly governed members its weapons, he rightly called the reward for sin wages.

For this is the usual name for what is given to a soldier for his support. Thus he also says in the Epistle to the Corinthians, "Who ever serves as a soldier at his own wages?" (1 Cor 9:7).

"But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Here he did not say "reward," but "gift," because eternal life is God's gift.

Even if someone advanced in the highest righteousness, eternal good things are not balanced by temporal labors.

Constantius

5th centuryChurch Father

The "reward" that God offers for our having deceived Him is death.

Isidore of Pelusium

5th centuryChurch Father

Sin is far more grievous than death. Therefore Paul, more skilled than all in distinguishing such things, called sin a king and death wages, as though subordinating the latter to the former.

He called sin a king not because of its dignity, for nothing is more vile than sin, but because of the great submission of those taken captive by it.

For if the wages of sin is death, then let sin not reign in you, since for those who have understanding it is more grievous than death.

If I had the choice, and if it were possible, I would rather choose to die without having sinned than to sin and not die. In my judgment, the latter is more terrible than the former.

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For death will be destroyed by the resurrection. Therefore the sinner, speaking hypothetically, gains nothing by not dying, if after the resurrection he will suffer punishment.

By another powerful example the Apostle makes this clear, saying, "The sting of death is sin." Therefore, just as no one fears a serpent or scorpion without teeth or sting to inject poison, so death should be received without fear if it had not been introduced by sin.

If death came for the sake of virtue, it would even be pleasant. Do you think this impossible? Take as witnesses the martyrs, who loved death as the beginning of immortality.

Beda Venerabilis

7th centuryChurch Father

The good merits themselves, for which eternal life is given, were freely granted to us by the merciful Savior.

Ivanov A.V.

19th centuryChurch Father

"The wages of sin is death." Death is called the wages, the recompense, for sin, that is, something deserved. Eternal life, however, the fruit of holiness, is not a reward deserved by men, but the gift of God.

Theophan the Recluse

19th centuryChurch Father

The wages of sin are the same as above: the fruit of sin, or its end and recompense. The Apostle used this expression because earlier he had portrayed sin as a king. Sinners therefore resemble the army of sin the king.

As soldiers live at the king's expense, or on his pay, which is called wages, so sin the king has its own wages for its soldiers. What are they? Death.

Blessed Theodoret writes: "Since sin formerly reigned, and the Apostle called the badly governed members its instruments, he rightly called the reward for sin wages. For this is the usual name for what is given to a soldier for his maintenance. In the Epistle to the Corinthians he also says, 'Who ever serves as a soldier at his own wages?' (1 Cor 9:7)."

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When sin summons sinner-soldiers to itself, it does not declare, "Come to me, serve under my banner, and receive death from me for this." Rather, it covers both itself and its consequences with various seductive names and apparitions. Thus the one who rushes toward it thinks he will be immersed in a sea of blessedness.

This sinful deceit is so great that even after every sin proves such hope false, sinners do not cease hoping that they will receive this blessedness. Only one who has managed to come out of this sinful abyss sees that the wages of sin are death: death of soul, death of body, and eternal death.

But the gift of God is eternal life. The king opposite to sin is righteousness, or the God of righteousness. He has His own soldiers, the workers of righteousness. One might expect the Apostle to say, "the wages of righteousness," or, "God's wages for righteousness." Instead he said, "the gift of God."

Why so? Because eternal life will indeed be the portion of those who served under the banner of righteousness and labored in its work. Yet the recompense for it will not be measured by our righteousness, but by the boundless goodness of God.

Therefore it is more fitting to call it a gift than a reward for righteousness, although it will be given on the condition of righteousness. The very ordering of eternally blessed life, as well as the means of attaining it, are gifts of God's goodness. Here everything is the gift of God.

Blessed Theodoret writes: "Here, he said, it is not a reward, but a gift, because eternal life is God's gift. Even if someone had advanced in the highest righteousness, eternal blessings are not equal in weight to temporal labors."

Chrysostom says: "Having said that death is the recompense for sin, the Apostle did not keep the same order when he began to speak of eternal life. He did not say, 'It is the reward for your merits,' but, 'the gift of God.' By this he teaches that we were not freed by ourselves, and that we received neither a debt, nor a reward, nor a recompense for labors. On the contrary, all this is the work of goodness. From this the superiority of grace is clear. It not only freed us and improved our lot, but did all this without our exertions and labors. It not only freed us, but bestowed much more. It bestowed this through the Son."

In Christ Jesus our Lord. Eternal life is the crown of the ordering of our salvation in the Lord Christ. Yet the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, the incarnate Son of God, is for us the gift of the goodness and love of the all-good God. He so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son for us.

Therefore eternal life also is God's gift to us in Him who was first given. The way into eternal life was closed, and the door into it was shut. The Lord Jesus Christ first passed along this way and opened the entrance. He passed by the new and living way and entered within the veil.

After Him all who have believed in Him, and who have remained faithful to the laws of faith, now go there also. He Himself promised that where He is, there His servant will be also.