The Wages and the Gift

Wages are what we earn. If we have a just boss, he will pay us what he promised us.

God's law for Adam and Eve was they were not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

God said,

Genesis 2:17 KJV - But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Adam and Eve ate of the tree.

God is just, yet in His mercy, God took an innocent animal in place of the death of Adam and Eve. This substitute sacrifice of an animal covered their sin.

Genesis 3:21 KJV - Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

From the time of Adam, God accepted the sacrifice of innocent animals to take the place of the life of a man as the wage for sin.

Romans 6:23 KJV - For the wages of sin is death…

Yet, animals could not fully be a substitute for the life of man. Only a man without sin could be a sacrifice in our place to pay the wages of our sin.

God looked for a man and there was none. So God robed Himself in flesh (“the arm of the Lord”) and was born of Mary to pay the price of death for our sin.

Isaiah 59:16 KJV - And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him.

Isaiah 53:1, 11 KJV - Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? …for he shall bear their iniquities.

Matthew 1:21 KJV - And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

Matthew 1:22-23 KJV - Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

Jesus came as the Lamb of God that could take away the sin of the world.

Hebrews 10:4 KJV - For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.

John 1:29 KJV - The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

God pronounced His justice upon Himself - He suffered with many stripes on His back, then died on the cross.

By the death of God's flesh, by His name Jesus, we are no longer faced with the sentence of death for our sins.

Hebrews 2:14-15 KJV - Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

Jesus shed His blood so we could be restored to where Adam and Eve were before the fall - without sin. By His sacrifice, we can repent of our sins, be baptized in Jesus name for the remission of our sins, and be filled with His Spirit.

Acts 2:38 KJV - Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

The wages of sin were paid by Jesus on the cross. And now the gift - the gift of the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Christ - which we did not earn - is given by God in His mercy so that we may have eternal life.

Romans 6:23 KJV - For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.