This article brings together five statements from the book of Romans that explain the Gospel. They take us from the problem of sin, through its penalty, to God’s free gift, how that gift is received, and the believer’s new standing in Christ.
Statement 1: We Have All Sinned
Romans 3:23
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Who? We all have.
What have we done? Sinned.
Where does that leave us? Short of the glory of God.
Have you ever done anything in your life that you would never tell anyone else?
Maybe you took your little sister’s treat. Maybe you did drugs. Maybe you took a pencil that didn’t belong to you. Maybe you committed murder. Maybe you yelled at someone in traffic.
We tend to look at that list and rank the sins from small to large. But Jesus pointed out that sin is a matter of the heart. It only takes one sin to separate us from a holy God.
Once that relationship is broken, we cannot restore it ourselves. We are the ones who broke it. Restoration has to come from the One we sinned against.
So where does that leave us?
Statement 2: The Wages of Sin Is Death
Romans 6:23
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
We have all sinned. Now let’s talk about the outcome.
“The wages of sin is death.”
A wage is something you earn. Romans tells us that what sin earns is death.
But that can be difficult to understand. Surely not every sin deserves death. Does it?
About 20 years ago, I had a men’s group leader who gave us an illustration that has stuck with me.
He said we were going to make smoothies. He brought out ice cream, fruit, candy, and various sweets. We picked what we wanted and put everything into the blender. Each scoop was thoroughly blended until it looked rich and creamy.
Then he took out a little baggie.
“Now we’ll just add a little dog poop.”
It was an almost microscopic piece. He dropped it in, blended everything together, and asked, “Okay, who wants some?”
There were no takers.
His point was not that every sin is equally terrible in its earthly consequences. His point was holiness.
God is perfectly holy. We sometimes look at our lives and compare ourselves with other people: “What I did wasn’t that bad.” But other people aren’t the standard. God is.
Sin brought death into God’s creation and separated sinful humanity from a holy God. Whether we consider our sins large or small, none of us meets God’s standard.
Romans 3:23 tells us:
“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Romans 6:23 tells us what our sin earns:
Death.
That is the bad news.
But Romans 6:23 does not end there.
Statement 3: The Free Gift of God
Romans 6:23
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
It is not just a gift. It is a free gift.
What does that mean?
It means we cannot earn it. We cannot deserve it. And we cannot repay God for it.
I was talking with a friend who said he was looking forward to defending his life before the Lord. But we have already seen the problem with that defense: we have all sinned, and what our sin earns is death.
There is no defense we can offer based upon how good we have been.
But Romans 6:23 does not stop with what we have earned:
“But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Notice where that eternal life is found: in Christ Jesus.
Romans 5:8 tells us why:
“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
We could not pay the debt ourselves. Jesus could—and He did.
That is why the gift is free to us. It was not free because it cost nothing. It is free because Christ paid the price for us.
The gift is eternal life—not simply life that lasts forever, but life in Christ, reconciled to the God from whom our sin separated us.
We have seen the problem.
We have seen the penalty.
Now we have seen the gift.
How do we receive it?
Statement 4: Everyone Who Calls Upon the Lord Will Be Saved
Romans 10:9–10, 13
“Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’”
Paul talks about two things here: believing in our heart and confessing with our mouth. But these are not two unrelated steps that earn our salvation.
The confession comes from what we believe.
Paul expresses this beautifully in 2 Corinthians 4:13:
“I believed, and so I spoke.”
Saying a set of words without believing them saves no one. We are not saved because we learned the correct words to say.
The belief comes from the heart.
Does that mean we need perfect faith? Perfect understanding? Do we have to understand every doctrine in the Bible before we can be saved?
Heavens no. None of us would be saved if that were true.
But we do need to understand the problem we have been talking about:
We are sinners.
God is holy.
Our sin has separated us from Him.
We cannot fix that problem ourselves.
Jesus Christ did for us what we could not do for ourselves.
He died for our sins, and God raised Him from the dead.
We place our trust in Him.
Then what we believe in our heart is naturally expressed by our mouth:
Jesus is Lord.
That is why Romans 10:13 makes the invitation so wonderfully simple:
“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Not everyone who has lived a good enough life.
Not everyone who has earned it.
Not everyone who has managed to pay off the debt.
Everyone who calls upon the Lord.
The gift is free.
Christ paid for it.
We receive it by faith.
What happens next?
Statement 5: There Is Now No Condemnation
Romans 8:1–2
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.”
Those who have trusted in Christ have been justified.
What does that mean?
It means we have been made right with God. The penalty for our sin has been paid by Christ.
Think of a courtroom.
You have been found guilty of a crime. There is no question about your guilt, and the sentence is death.
The prosecutor stands and says, “He is guilty. He deserves the sentence.”
You have no defense.
But then Christ steps forward and says, “I will pay his penalty.”
The penalty is paid.
You are free to go.
That is the picture I want you to see when Paul says:
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
Notice that Paul does not say there is now less condemnation.
He does not say we are on probation.
He does not say there will be no condemnation after we have proven ourselves worthy.
There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Does that mean we will never sin again? No.
Does it mean we will never fail? No.
It means our standing before God has changed.
We began with:
“All have sinned.”
We learned:
“The wages of sin is death.”
Then came:
“The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
We learned that:
“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
And now we arrive here:
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
For those who have trusted in Christ, that is our new state.
We are no longer condemned.
We are in Christ.
The Question
The Romans Road does not end merely with information about sin, death, or even salvation. It brings us to a Person: Jesus Christ.
We cannot repair our relationship with God, earn eternal life, or remove our own condemnation. Christ has done what we could not do. The gift is offered freely, and everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.
The question is not whether we have lived well enough to deserve the gift.
We have not.
The question is whether we have placed our trust in Jesus Christ.
