I was pondering on this verse and thinking what it means that the wages of sin is death. In this article, I will elaborate more on physical and spiritual death.

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Rom 6:23, KJV

In the middle of the garden of Eden was the forbidden fruit, which God told Adam and his wife Eve not to eat (Gen 2:16-17, Gen 3:3).

For in the day they do so, they “shalt surely die”.

From the word “surely”, we see God is serious about the punishment of disobedience with regards to eating of the fruit.

And He is warning them, against eating the fruit.

And the Hebrew word for “die” means: what we understand as the loss of the life / destruction.

It is the same word used when Lot and his family were led by angels to flee from Sodom and Gomorrah, lest they “die” / be destroyed (Gen 19:19).

Now, we know later the serpent / satan tempted Eve to eat the fruit, by enticing her that eating the fruit will allow her to be wise like God: knowing good and evil (Gen 3:1-5).

And deceiving her that she would certainly not die (Gen 3:4).

And Eve believed the serpent, that eating the fruit would relax some of the “restrictions” God placed upon them, and ate it (Gen 3:6).

Here we can see how sin typically seems so enticing at first glance, when we’re tempted to it.

Please refer to 1 John 2:16-17 article, for three common kinds of struggles / sins.

And they seem to give us an instant short-term satisfaction / gratification.

But in the long-run, we’re the ones who actually suffer.

Eve disobeyed and although God forgave her, there was consequence in her sins: through painful childbearing (Gen 3:16).

Same for Adam too, where one now he has to toil and labour for food, instead of relying on God’s provision (Gen 3:17-19).

No doubt God had mercy and compassion, where although He knew Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, He still gave them a chance to explain (Gen 3:7-11).

And they did not die immediately on that day they ate the fruit as God said, but a curse was pronounced upon mankind of their physical aging and death.

Adam did eventually die at hundred and thirty years of age (Gen 5:3).

Spiritual death was also pronounced on both of them and mankind, as the eternal destruction in hell, also known as the second death (Rev 20:12-15).

Please refer to Pretribulation article, and Luke 23:42-43 article, for the eschatological events leading the final judgement day, and eternal punishment in hell for those who do not believe Christ.

And in this passage of Romans 6, we see that the wages of sin is death (both physical and spiritual).

And all have inherited sin from Adam / Eve, and also evil deeds / thoughts we have committed in our lives, so we will have to face physical and spiritual death.

In fact any sin we committed, warrants an immediate (physical) death.

Like in Acts, when Ananias and his wife Sapphira lied to Peter / the church about the amount the sold their property so they could keep some, Ananias died almost immediately and his a few hours after (Acts 5:1-11).

And in the story of David committing adultery with Bathsheba, he was due to die immediately but God had mercy on him (2 Sam 12:13).

And many times we may commit sin and evil without thinking about the severity of it, against a great and high God.

And because God is also eternal (please refer to John 1:1 article), the punishment of sin: death, is also eternal: spiritual death.

And many times when we sin, we don’t die immediately, even though we deserve it, because of God’s mercy.

He mitigates / lightens the punishment from us. For example, David’s son Uriah conceived with Bathsheba still died (2 Sam 12:14-18).

Just like in the case of Tarshish, God spared the immediate destruction he was planning to execute on them, after Jonah preached repentance to them.

Please refer to Jon 4:2 article.

But because God is eternal, the spiritual death for sin, is non-negotiable: where everyone has to face it.

And this is where Jesus comes in to do what only God could do.

He came as God incarnate to this world, took upon Himself our eternal punishment due to us, referred to as the cup of wrath on the cross that He was pleading the Father to take away from Him in garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22:41-42).

And this is the gospel (good news).

Please refer to 1 Cor 1:21 article, and John 1:1 article, for the gospel contents and how to respond to it.