²² But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. ²³ For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Martin Luther King, in his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech at the great civil rights demonstration in Washington D.C. in 1963, quoted a line from the old negro spiritual, “Free at last, Free at last, Great God a[l]mighty, we are free at last.” Although he applied that to political, cultural and social freedom, the underlying truth comes from Scripture. We have been freed through justification by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ from the tyranny of sin, the persecution of the liar and deceiver who had enslaved us to sin. Praise God Almighty, we are now free at last, forever, never to be enslaved again.

The benefits of our emancipation from spiritual slavery are huge, far eclipsing any paltry, temporal enjoyments of the spiritual slavery of sin. Paul mentions two, although as we study Scripture, we discover, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” (Eph 1:3). Foundational to “every spiritual blessing” is eternal life, the means to our sanctification. Or to put it another way, because we have been justified, God sanctifies us with the ultimate goal in mind: eternal salvation. Not that our eternal destiny is still in question, for it is not (see Rom 8:28-39).

To sanctify means to set apart as special, for a purpose. God justified us, and in so doing set us apart for His purposes, restoring us to the full expression of His image. The outcome, in contrast to the death resulting from sin, is eternal life. And this brings us to Paul’s second summary statement in Romans 6:23 (see also Rom 3:23): “[F]or the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” What a contrast—stark and horrifying for the unrepentant sinner, but wonderful for us who have come to Jesus Christ.

Sin earns us death. Just like a man who works for a week expects to get paid for what he earned, so sin merits a person, earns him death. But the grace of God (the Greek word “charis” emphasizes the unearned aspect of a gift) is completely free, unattached to any merit or worthiness on the part of the recipient. Some may scoff at such charity, but the stakes are too high for pride to stand in the way of the issue of life or death. The humble person is the one who submits to God’s truth—we are saved only by His grace, not by our efforts.

Lord, thank You for Your amazing, free gift of eternal life to me.