Praying With An Atheist

The question “Why Did Jesus Die?” addresses the fact that He did die, and that is a big deal since the tomb was empty, and His body was never found. The Roman Empire did not want Jesus to be celebrated; they did not want Christianity to rise. They collected followers of Christ after the tomb was found empty and interrogated, tortured, and bribed them for the location of the body. No body was found or reported; all said that He had, in fact, risen, some even to the point of death. So, if we accept that Jesus did, in fact, die, the natural follow-up question is, “Why” did he die?

Romans 6:23 ESV answers that question succinctly, in that the wages of sin is death. I will admit that this is one of my favorite verses because of the simplicity of it. Not much interpretation is needed here as it leads the reader to comprehend the cost associated with sinful nature. This portion of scripture is written by a guy named Paul. Paul spent much time in jail and wrote many letters. Letters, for our post-80s babies, are correspondences written on paper, placed in envelopes, and mailed to the intended audience of that correspondence. When Paul wrote this, he had not yet visited the Roman church, yet, he knew that Rome as a city was vast and diverse, and he felt that his letter to the church in Rome must impart the importance of Christian values to be the foundation of the church. You see, Paul was…well…a huge cheerleader for Jesus. The letter to the church of Rome was written in approximately 58 A.D. This brief history lesson behind one verse is important because context is important. Almost 60 years after Jesus’ death, Paul was writing letters to churches around the known world to convey the earnest nature of Jesus’ loving act of self-sacrifice.

The wage of sin is death. That is an interesting phrase; words have meaning. Wage; why wage? Why not “cost” or something else? I mean, we work for a wage. This is not one of those “lost in translation” issues. In Greek manuscripts, the word is “opsonia,” which translates directly to “wages.” Ergo, this is a purposeful word choice, but why? We, collectively, as a people, actively seek wages whether we realize it or not. We go to work; we create a product; we perform a service; we expect to be paid. It is the same with sin, we get paid at the end of the day, and the payment is death. Paul uses the term “wages” because when we work, we expect to be paid what we deserve, what we have earned, and what is fair. So, through the work of sin, we get paid what we deserve, what we have earned, what is fair…a spiritual and physical death.