T[ We know but little of the meaning which must fill this word so full of all that is calamitous. Our minds cannot compass the dark dimensions of the word as they appear to the omniscient Mind who here and elsewhere gives abundant sanction to its use as a vivid figure of speech. For we may need to remember that the death of what is mortal (as we say) is scarcely more than the metaphor of Death — is little else than the most fitting symbol of Death, the most characteristic step in the dreary march of Death, that our ignorance permits us to know. And we see that this death of what is mortal, this mere symbol, is the most terrible thing within our earthly experience. We acknowledge it
352 THE WAGES AND THE GIFT
to be the thing which casts the deepest of all our shadows. We can tell that the gloom of this shadow is a gloom of tears, of un- availing prayers, of bitter partings, of a confronting universe of mysteries and dreads. We can recall the shock which thrills us like an earthquake when it leaps with sudden grasp upon a brother- man at our side. And when it approaches with slowest step, it seems to leave the prints of its feet upon our memories as if it had trodden over them with brandings of fire : — the chamber of hushed voices and anxious ministries, the nights of watching, the pain you cannot soothe, the conflict you can only witness, the closed eyes from which the light has gone out, the wending funeral, the stricken home. Such are the marks of death, as it is known even to the living.1
2. To make the antithesis in this verse more striking and evident, St. Paul has left out the verb in each clause of it. Perhaps you may think that if our translators supplied a verb, they might as well have put it in the future tense as in the present. They might have said, "The wages of Sin will be Death," not " is Death." " The gift of God will be Life," not " is Life." I suspect they were quite right. They would have destroyed the force of the words, and their connexion with those which precede them, if they had given this form to their version. And what is more, they would have destroyed the connexion between the Apostle's language and our own daily experience. St. Paul is not telling us of some time when the Eighteous God will call us to account for the sins which we have committed, and will inflict death as the punishment of them. He is contem- plating the subject from a point of view altogether different. He says that every man has two masters, either of whom he may serve, but one of whom he must serve. He may be the servant of Sin ; then he must take its wages. They are slavery and death. He may be the servant of Eighteousness ; then he will have all the freedom, energy, life, he is capable of.2
T[ Again and again, in my ministry, I have witnessed the misery which comes to the mere pleasure-seeker, to those who sow their wild oats and reap a terrible harvest. With all the strength God has given me I warn the young men and women who are listening to me, against making pleasure their god. As I speak, there comes to me the memory of one of the world's victims, whom by God's grace I was able to help. I happened to be
1 J. A. Kerr Bain. 2 F. D. Maurice.
ROMANS vi. 23 353
preaching in one of the halls of the West London Mission, when I was impressed by the sad and cynical face of a young man in my congregation. At the close of the service, I made my way to the door, determining, if possible, to speak to him. When I did so, he answered me somewhat rudely. I told him I was glad he was at the service. " I didn't come here to listen to you preaching," was the answer. " I came because it was raining." " Oh," I said, " I don't mind why you came." " If you knew the kind of fellow I am," said he, " you would kick me out of the hall." " No," I answered, "we do not usually dismiss the congregation in that fashion." The hardened look went. My words had not failed. He came into my private room and told me a pitiable story. The son of godly parents, he had come to London, like so many, determined, above all else, to enjoy himself. He had indulged in pleasure of the lowest kind. He was shattered in mind and body. " Don't talk to me about hell," he said, " I have been there." And he was only twenty-three years of age.1
II.
The Free Gift of God is Eternal Life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
i. Free Gift.
1. God does not give wages. He gives something far better : for who has made God his debtor ? When we have done all that is commanded us — and when will that be, for any man ? — at last we must say, We are unprofitable servants : we have done that which it was our duty to do (Luke xvii. 10). God has a right to our entire obedience : if ever it were entire, still there would be nothing over ; no room for claims of merit, or for rewards of extra service.