Today, Paul discusses slavery and sin and tells us in Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Sin has devastating effects on the lives of people, not just the ones who sin. It affects everyone around them. For example, drunk driving can kill others who have no relationship with the person, and their family is affected. The drunk driver's family is affected and so on. If we think of sin as an employer, than the compensation paid by sin for services rendered to it is death. We work for sin, and do so everyday. But we have a gracious gift from God that is eternal life, and we receive that in our Lord Jesus. God's gift is deliverance from sin, and it transforms our whole being. Eternal life is a new kind of life, and we know that we have done nothing for it, we have not worked for it as a wage. It's provided as a favor from God. And, it only comes from one person, Jesus Christ our Lord. When Paul says "our Lord", he recognizes that Jesus belongs to us just as we belong to Him. He became our Lord when we made our commitment to Him.
From Proverbs 20:17 we read, "Bread gained by deceit is sweet to a man, But afterward his mouth will be filled with gravel."
If we apply this verse to business transactions, we can see what Solomon is talking about. We can cheat someone and think we outsmarted the person, but afterward we feel awful. That's God reminding us that "diverse weights are an abomination" and we need to deal in a righteous manner with everyone.
Blessings to all
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