Only Bad Fruit and The Payment of Sin is Death
Chapter 2 - 1.6
The slave to sin produces nothing good, godly, or righteous. Instead, the slave to sin always yields to ungodliness and unrighteousness. “As long as you were slaves of sin, you were free [in regard] to righteousness” (Rom 6:20). Freedom from righteousness never yields good fruit. Slavery to sin is unrighteousness that always leads to sin and death.[1] Paul writes, “Therefore what fruit were you having at that time? Upon which things you are now ashamed, for the outcome of those things is death” (Rom 6:20, 21; cf. 7:5). Freedom from righteousness is not actually freedom at all, but slavery to sin and unrighteousness. Middendorf explains freedom from righteousness,
In 6:20, Paul speaks of the “before” state—slavery to sin—in terms comparable to 6:17 and 6:19: “indeed, for as long as you were slaves of sin, you were free [in regard] to righteousness.” Of course, this was not really freedom, but slavery to unrighteousness (cf. 6:13). More significantly, it was being “free” in the sense of separation from God and exclusion from the reign of his grace. It was living apart from or “independent” (BDAG, s.v., ελεύθερος, 2) of righteousness (see the textual note). This echoes Paul’s quotation of Eccl 7:20 in Rom 3:10: “there is not a righteous person, not even one.” Paul ends 6:21 by asserting what he demonstrated throughout 1:18–3:20 and will state in 6:22–23. In contrast to the “outcome” (τέλος) of “being enslaved to God” (6:22), an existence free from righteousness can only result in “death” (6:23).[2]
Slavery to sin is, therefore, spiritual deadness free of any righteousness.
Indeed, sin and death are fruitless endeavors of godlessness—a bad fruit of death for the slave to sin. Jesus said, “If your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” (Matt 6:23; cf. Luke 11:34). When the eye is bad, it remains in spiritual darkness and slavery to sin. Slavery to unrighteousness is spiritual darkness and death, resulting in bad fruit of eternal death. Middendorf elucidates,
Jesus also speaks of fruit both positively and negatively and indicates that a change in the tree must take place before good fruit is possible: Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known from the fruit.… The good man out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. (Mt 12:33, 35) Paul similarly describes the shameful fruit formerly produced by slaves of sin who used to live apart from righteousness: “Therefore what fruit were you having at that time? Upon which things you are now ashamed, for the outcome of those things is death” (6:21).[3]
Sin only produces more sin and evil, leading to death. Therefore the bad tree that bears bad fruit is evil, and the slave to sin is part of the bad tree that only can produce sin and evil. So “the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45; cf. Matt 12:35; Gen 8:21; Prov 12:20). Sadly, this is the case. Mankind is cursed forever under sin and death due to rebellion against God.
Slavery to sin and death cursed mankind and the world ever since Adam and Eve ate fruit from the forbidden tree in the Garden of Eden (cf. Gen 3).[4] Yahweh God said to Adam that he would die for eating from the tree; he would return to dust.
By the sweat of your face
You shall eat bread,
Till you return to the ground,
Because from it you were taken;
For you are dust,
And to dust you shall return” (Gen 3:19).
All of mankind would return to dust due to rebellion against Yahweh in the Garden. So mankind is enslaved to sin without the power and wisdom of God or His righteousness.[5] Therefore, the slave to sin remains under the Law, dead and bound to death and the devil.
There is no forgiveness or hope for the slave to sin who rejects Christ and remains dead apart from Christ. There is no good fruit apart from Jesus; there is only bad fruit. For Jesus says,
As the branch cannot bear fruit from itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:4-5).
The slave to sin is always subject to the masters, sin, death, and Satan, and cannot overcome their power. Indeed, the slave to sin hates God and His Son incarnate. Jesus says, “He who hates Me hates My Father also” (John 15:23). The slave to sin hates Christ and therefore remains dead and faithless, without forgiveness and liable to pay a debt of eternal death.
The Payment of Sin is Death
Sin has a price, and the payment is death for sinners under the Law (Rom 6:14, 15; 8:2). Paul wrote, “For the [οψωνια][6] payment of sin is death” (Rom 6:23; cf. 5:12). Payment of eternal death is owed to God. Yahweh’s wrath and destruction remain on unrepentant sinners.[7] Those without godly repentance (cf. 2 Cor 7:9-11) perish eternally––“unless you repent, you will all likewise perish”[8] (Luke 13:3, 5). There is no escape for the slave to sin! Slaves to sin are in the grasp of sin's infinite evil and ugliness. Sin separates mankind from God. Gerhard wrote, “Sin is an infinite evil because it offends God, who is the infinite good. It separates from God, who is the unique and highest good. Therefore it deserves infinite––that is, eternal––punishment. Rom. 6:23: ‘The wages of sin is death’––not only temporal but also eternal, as the contrast show.”[9] Sin deserves eternal punishment. No power of man or human will can ever satisfy God for redemption from sin and eternal death.
Since death is the payment due for sin, the slave to sin remains evil and forever judged as ungodly. It is impossible for man to save and redeem himself or another from sin and death. The Formula of Concord explains, “For because our nature, corrupted by sin, deserves God’s wrath and condemnation, God owes us neither his Word nor Spirit nor grace . . . For it is not unjust when they are punished and receive the ‘wages of sin’ [Rom. 6:23].”[10] Since this debt and wages of sin is eternal death, a death payment is owed to God for disobedience. Therefore, sin is a problem, and mankind is inadequate to redeem any soul from death.
Whatever the slave to sin does always leads to death. Paul writes, “Do you not understand that to whom[ever] you present yourselves [as] slaves for obedience, you are slaves to whom[ever] you respond, whether of sin leading to death or of responsiveness to God leading to righteousness?” (Rom 6:16). Slaves who respond to sin are slaves of sin and death.
[1] “Paul introduces another metaphor in 6:21, that of ‘fruit’ (καρπός). It is a negative image in 6:21, but expressed positively in 6:22 in a manner comparable to ‘the fruit of the Spirit’ in Gal 5:22–23.” Middendorf, Romans 1–8, 506.
[2] Ibid; Textual note, “6:20 ὅτε γὰρ δοῦλοι ἦτε τῆς ἁμαρτίας—The temporal particle ὅτε serves as a ‘marker of a period of time coextensive with another period of time, as long as, while’ (BDAG, 2). It is followed by the imperfect of εἰμί. Together they describe a past state of being, ‘as long as you were slaves of sin,’ the first of two eras.” Middendorf, Romans 1–8, 491.
[3] Ibid.
[4] “And Yahweh God commanded the man, saying, ‘From any tree of the garden you may surely eat; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat from it; for in that day that you eat from it you will surely die . . . And the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die! . . .Then the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, that the tree was desirable to make one wise, so she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate” (Gen 2:16-17; 3:4, 6; cf. 3:1-12).
[5] Yahweh said to the serpent, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel” (Gen 3:15). This fulfillment is seen in Jesus Christ, God incarnate, “But when the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under Law” (Gal 4:4). The slave to sin has no hope for freedom from slavery to sin but Christ alone, the promised offspring/seed of the woman (cf. Gen 3:15). Christ would bring hope, salvation, and freedom from sin for all sinners expounded upon in the next chapter, the promise and deliverance from spiritual slavery to sin in Christ.
[6] “6:23 τὰ γὰρ ὀψώνια—The picture now shifts from slavery to military and/or fiscal language.” Middendorf, Romans 1–8, 492; “ὀψώνιον, ου, τό . . . ① pay, wages . . . ⓑ in imagery of Christians as soldiers (on the Christian life as military service s. πανοπλία 2), whose wages are paid by the heavenly general: ἀρέσκετε ᾧ στρατεύεσθε, ἀφʼ οὗ καὶ τὰ ὀψώνια κομίζεσθε IPol 6:2.—The military viewpoint seems to pass over into a more general one in λαβὼν ὀψώνιον πρὸς τὴν ὑμῶν διακονίαν accepting support so that I might serve you 2 Cor 11:8 . . . Ro 6:23 is still further fr. the military scene, and it is prob. better to class it under the foll . . . ② compensation (IPriene 121, 34 [I B.C.], public services χωρὶς ὀψωνίων; 109, 94; 106 [II B.C.] ἄτερ ὀψωνίου) τὰ ὀψώνια τ. ἁμαρτίας θάνατος the compensation paid by sin (for services rendered to it) is death Ro 6:23 . . .” BDAG, 747; οψωνια, “ὀψώνιον opsōnion; from the same as G3795 and G5608; provisions, wages: — expense” NASEC, G3800.
[7] God’s Word of warning and strange alien work of destruction for unrepentant scoffers. One can see Yahweh’s “unusual [זוּר,זר–foreign, strange] work . . . His exceptional [נָכְרִי–alien] labor . . . Of complete destruction [כִּֽי־כָלָ֨ה]” (Isa 28:21, 22); “I. [זוּר] vb. be a stranger . . .מַעֲשֵׂ֙הוּ֙ זָ֣ר Is 2821 his work is foreign (as if dealing with enemies) . . .” BDB, 266; “זרו . . . turn away from . . .” CHALOT, 87; “זוּר zur (266b); a prim. root; to be a stranger: — adulteress.” NASEC, H2114a; “נָכְרִי adj. foreign, alien . . . נָכְרִיָּ֖ה עֲבֹדָתֽוֹ Is 2821 strange is his task !” BDB, 648-49; “נָכְרִי foreign, strange . . . 2. strange, alien . . . odd, surpassing Is 2821.” CHALOT, 239; “נָכְרִי nokri (648d); from the same as H5235b; foreign, alien: — adulteress.” NASEC, H5237; Paul said to those in the synagogue on the Sabbath with Barnabas in Pisidia, “Therefore watch out, so that the thing spoken of the Prophets may not come upon you: LOOK YOU SCOFFERS, AND MARVEL, AND PERISH; FOR I AM ACCOMPLISHING A WORK IN YOUR DAYS, A WORK THAT YOU WILL NEVER BELIEVE, THOUGH SOMEONE SHOULD RECOUNT IT TO YOU” (Acts 13:40-41; cf. Hab 1:5).
[8] Jesus speaks of repentance as He said to some in the crowd inquiring about the Galileans' blood Pilate mixed with their sacrifices, “Do you think that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered these things? “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. “Or do you think that those eighteen on whom the tower fell and killed them were worse offenders than all the men who live in Jerusalem? “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:2-5; cf. Matt 11:20; 25:412-46; Rev 9:20, 21; 16).
[9] Gerhard, 202.
[10] Kolb, 650. FC SD, Article XI.60-61.