“For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23 NASB 

Footsteps #318 In Romans 6:23 salvation is a gift. That is nothing new to those who have stayed with Paul thus far through Romans. From Romans 1:18 to 3:20 he showed us why it had to be a gift; because sinners had no way to earn it. (Wages are something we earn.) Then between Romans 3:21 and 5:21 he set forth and expounded on the gracious gift itself. And now in chapter 6, he has been reflecting upon its effects in human lives, telling us that those who have accepted the gift enter a new life in which their highest desire will be to walk with God in the principles of His kingdom. Here in Romans 6:23, he is merely reinforcing the fact that those who accept the gift and have chosen to walk in the way of holiness rather than in the way of sin will live with God through eternity. 

Eternal life for Christians is not something completely new but rather is a continuation of what they have begun with Christ here on earth. John wrote, “He who believes in the Son HAS eternal life” (John 3:36). Again, Jesus promised that “he who hears my word and believes Him who sent Me, HAS eternal life; he does not come into judgment [i.e. condemnation], but has passed from death to life” (John 5:24). 

Romans 7 is a major shift in Paul’s argument. In the last half of chapter 6, he stressed that the believer is not under the rule of sin. Now in chapter 7, he goes on to make the point that believers are not under the mastery of the law either. 

The parallels between chapters 6&7 are quite forceful. In Romans 6:2 Paul tells us that the believer has died to sin, in Romans 7:4 that they have died to the law. In Romans 6:7&18 he depicts believers as free from sin, and in Romans 7:4 they are free from the law. Finally, in Romans 6:4 believers walk in newness of life, while in Romans 7:6 they serve in newness of Spirit. 

In these two chapters, Paul indicates that Christians look at things and experience life and even religion from a new perspective. Romans 7 in particular is an expansion on Paul’s statement in Romans 6:14 that “ye are not under the law, but under grace.”