One of the brightest stars within the evangelical universe is the “Roman Road to Salvation.” The Roman Road is a group of verses from the book of Romans which, it is thought, lays out the gospel quickly and clearly. Many Christians rely heavily upon the Roman Road for teaching and evangelism. However, I believe that the Roman Road has some serious potholes that can impede our comprehension of salvation; both what salvation consists of and how it comes about. Each of the short verses used in the Roman Road has come to be understood in a very specific way within the evangelical world. The problem is that some of these interpretations are at odds with what the Apostle Paul has actually written. I hope to make good on this claim by walking down the Roman Road together!
The road begins with Romans 3:23. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” In some versions, Romans 3:10 is added: “There is no one righteous, not even one.” These two verses communicate the basic Christian claim that all humanity is enslaved by the power of sin. The original language of Romans 3:23 suggests that human beings have “missed the mark,” like an inept archer whose arrow has gone far astray from the intended target. So what’s the target? Well, humans were created to bear God’s image; to honor him by reflecting his wisdom, goodness, and love into the world around us. Instead, through sin and rebellion we’ve failed to fulfill our key role. Instead of doing the right thing in God’s eyes (or behaving “righteously”), we’ve embraced wickedness.
The next step upon the Roman Road is Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus the Messiah our Lord.” Most evangelicals think they know exactly what this verse means. Because of our sin and rebellion, we are worthy only of condemnation and death. Yet because of God’s love for us, Jesus went to the cross as a sacrifice for our sin. There Jesus took upon himself the punishment that we deserved. Through faith in Jesus, our sins are forgiven and we receive the gift of eternal life. Within this stream of thought, “faith” refers to simply trust or belief in the work of Jesus. Such faith is strictly separated from any action or behavior on our part. For many evangelicals, “Christianity is not about what we do, it’s about what Christ has done.”
There is however a significant problem with this viewpoint. Because Romans 6:23 comes at the end of a discussion beginning in verse 15. Verse 23 serves as a summary statement for what Paul has been writing about since verse 15. But when we read this section of scripture, it is strikingly at odds with the interpretation offered above. In fact, the entire section is about human behavior, about obedience to God, about acting righteously. Yet astonishingly, people can arrive at Romans 6:23 after reading this passage, and still believe that 6:23 means something which directly contradicts everything Paul has been writing. Like all scripture, if we want to understand Romans 6:23, we need to read it within its context. We must see it as the culmination of Paul’s discussion starting at verse 15. So let’s rewind to verse 15 and see what we discover.
“What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!” (v15) As often, Paul begins with a rhetorical question. He posits a potentially erroneous train of thought which he will then go on to correct. Here he says, “Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace?” For over a thousand years, the Jews had rightfully celebrated the Torah as the code of conduct which God required. For the Jews, the idea of no longer living according to the law suggested embracing the idolatry and wickedness of the Gentile nations around them. What Paul is eager to avoid here is the suggestion that just because Jewish Christians have left the law behind, that their conduct no longer matters. For Paul, the Torah, the code of conduct, wasn’t the problem. Instead, Paul saw the dark reality that Israel was “in the flesh”; that is, they were sinful and rebellious just like the rest of humankind. So even though the Torah revealed the kind of behavior which would lead to life and flourishing, Israel “according to the flesh” was unable to live up to this standard.
At this point, the standard evangelical would respond, “Yes of course. People simply cannot please God through their actions. All we can do is receive the forgiveness offered to us through the death of Jesus. And that is why we’re no longer under law but under grace!” Yet this is not what Paul means when he talks about grace. For Paul, “grace” doesn’t just mean forgiveness. It also means that God gives his people the power they need to live in the way he requires. “Grace” involves the complete restoration of the human race. This will become abundantly clear in the following discussion.
Paul immediately launches into a discussion where he will contrast two kinds of slavery. The first form of slavery is to sin which can only lead to death. Paul describes the second form of slavery from several different angles. He talks about slavery to obedience, to righteousness, and ultimately to God. Let’s explore this in detail.
“Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey – whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?” (v16) Paul sees the truth that there is no middle ground for human beings. Either they worship the one true God and live in obedience to him, or they sin by rejecting God and his wisdom. Because God is the source of all goodness, his wisdom leads to flourishing and life. The path of sin brings about misery and death. Paul’s point here is to directly contrast the slavery to sin with slavery to obedience, which leads to righteousness. Paul is clearly speaking about human behavior. Some might suggest that “righteousness” here means “right relationship,” and doesn’t necessarily involve our actions. But the context of the passage simply will not allow this meaning. Obedience, by necessity, requires our actions. And remember what we’ve learned about the word “righteousness.” The home base meaning is “doing the right thing” or “right behavior.”
In verse 17, Paul goes on to give thanks that the Roman Christians have chosen the right road. “But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you became obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.” Paul is manifestly dealing with behavior. He’s again contrasting slavery to sin with slavery to obedience, but here expands on what exactly this obedience involves. First, this new obedience comes “from the heart.” Unlike “fleshly” Israel, the Roman Christians have been renewed through and through, down to the depths of their heart. Paul doesn’t here explicitly mention the Holy Spirit, but as we’ll see later, this is certainly what he has in mind. Christians now have a power source which gives them the ability to walk the road of obedience. Second, Paul indicates that Christian obedience is specifically “to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted.” He doesn’t at this point elaborate on what exactly this teaching consists of, but the teaching clearly involves behavior because the Roman Christians have become “obedient” to it. Finally, Paul celebrates that the Roman Christians “have been set free from sin and becomes slaves to righteousness.” Notice that he has shifted his terms slightly. Whereas in verse 16 he spoke of slavery to “obedience which leads to righteousness,” here he writes about slavery directly to righteousness. But even though he has varied his terms, Paul’s meaning has not changed. Righteousness here plainly refers to “right behavior” by being used in parallel with obedience, and contrasted with “sin.”
Paul’s next statement might be rather puzzling. He writes, “I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves.” Paul at this point recognizes that he’s been contrasting slavery to sin with slavery to obedience. He realizes that this is a strange way of describing things. After all, slavery to God is precisely that which brings true freedom and flourishing to human beings. Paul adds this remark to remind his readers they shouldn’t import the negative connotations of slavery into their relationship with God.
Paul then continues to expand on the contrast between the two kinds of slavery. “Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.” (v19) This verse makes it spectacularly clear Paul is dealing with human conduct. He reminds the Roman Christians of their horrible behavior prior to giving their loyalty to Jesus. They were slaves to impurity and ever increasing wickedness. And this behavior is contrasted with righteousness. This confirms that the primary meaning of righteousness is “right behavior.”
Significantly, Paul here says that righteousness (right behavior) leads to holiness. This is well worth pondering for a moment. “Holiness” is a key word referring to moral purity. (It may also carry the idea of someone (or something) being marked out or consecrated for God’s purposes. But even within this second meaning, the idea of moral purity is still present, because God’s purposes can best be achieved through those people who have committed themselves to proper morality. For example, see II Timothy 2:21.) The thought of achieving holiness through right behavior is a very foreign thought for most evangelicals. They’ve been taught that humans can’t possibly live up to the standards of a holy and righteous God. Yet here Paul is commanding the Romans to offer themselves to “right conduct” leading to holiness.
Paul then begins to wrap up his argument. “When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What fruit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the fruit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.” (v20-22) Paul is still working within the same framework, the basic contrast between two kinds of slavery. But he now puts the emphasis on the differing outcomes. Paul uses the vivid metaphor of harvesting fruit to portray this outcome. The fruit of sin is shameful behavior which ultimately leads to death. Paul then rejoices that the Roman Christians “have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God.” Paul is now quite explicit: the Romans’ obedience, their “right behavior,” is ultimately service to God himself. And the outcome, the “fruit” of this service to God is holiness and leads to eternal life.
Paul has thereby drawn a straight line directly from our obedience to our righteousness (right behavior) to our holiness and ended up with the result of eternal life. Can that be right? To most evangelicals, this sounds like a straightforward presentation of “works” based righteousness. We arrive at eternal life, our salvation, through obedience and “right conduct”? Are we sure that Paul really wrote this? Well, it’s right there in black and white.
We’ve now arrived ourselves at the all-important Romans 6:23. And in this verse, Paul will now summarize the entire argument he’s been making since verse 15. We know this, in part, because Paul begins verse 23 using the Greek word which means “for” or “because.” In other words, Paul is explaining what has gone before. He writes, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus the Messiah our Lord.” Remember, Paul is here summarizing his entire argument. He is certainly not introducing a new idea in direct contradiction to what he has just written.
The first part of verse 23 is easy, even though Paul changes the metaphor. Before, the “fruit” of sinful behavior is death. Now it’s “the wages of sin is death.” The meaning has not changed: the outcome, the endpoint of sinful rebellion is death. The second part of the verse is fraught with potential misunderstanding. But this misunderstanding can be alleviated by remembering that the meaning of this verse must be controlled by Paul’s argument leading up to this point. We cannot simply rip Romans 6:23 out of context and force it to mean whatever we think it should say according to our predetermined system. Paul has not changed the subject. He is still explaining how our obedience, our “right behavior,” leads to holiness and eternal life. Undoubtedly the toughest part of this verse is that Paul now calls this “the gift of God.” Most evangelicals have been taught over and over that a “gift” must mean something which we receive from God that is completely unrelated to our behavior. They would say, “It’s a free gift! All you can do is receive it by faith!” But again, this viewpoint directly contradicts Paul’s entire preceding argument. How can we sort this out?
Well, we obviously need to clarify exactly what the first Christians meant when they talked about “the gift of God.” Happily, it’s really not that difficult. Let’s take a quick look at a few scriptures. In Acts 1:4, Jesus tells his disciples, “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” In Acts 2:28, Peter exhorts the crowd, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus the Messiah for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” In Acts 8, Simon offers Peter and John money, so that he might obtain the ability to grant the Holy Spirit. Peter rebukes Simon by saying, “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!” In Acts 10, Peter preaches to the household of Cornelius, and his fellow Jewish Christians are astonished “that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles.” It’s abundantly clear from these and other passages that Christians spoke of the Holy Spirit as “God’s gift.” And this fits perfectly with Paul’s overall thought. The obedience, the “right behavior” he’s been talking about comes about through the gift of the Holy Spirit. But note what Paul is not saying. He’s not saying that our conduct or our actions or our behavior is irrelevant. In fact, he’s saying that conduct is essential if we are to reach the goal of eternal life.
One final important element to discuss. When some Bibles (like the NIV) translate the Greek word for fruit in verses 21 and 22 as “benefit” or some similar term. But now we can understand why Paul specifically used the word “fruit.” Even though Paul doesn’t explicitly say it, the Holy Spirit is undoubtedly in his mind. In Galatians 5:22, Paul famously lists “the fruit of the Spirit.” And for Paul, the fruit of the Spirit are all about our conduct: things like love, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self-control. This language can be traced back to Isaiah 5, where God desires the “fruit” of justice and righteousness from the “vineyard” of Israel. Or we could look at John the Baptist, exhorting Israel to produce the “fruit” God requires. Fittingly, John immediately proceeds to proclaim the coming of Jesus, who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. The main point is that in Romans 6:23, Paul is celebrating how the Holy Spirit now empowers Christians to behave righteously, and their righteous conduct will bring about their salvation: the joy of eternal life in God’s presence. That is the message of Romans 6:23.
