My dad died when I was young. My family rarely attended church, so the most positive in uence in my life was Boy Scouts. I learned to love the outdoors, and I developed skills in many areas: camping, cooking, rst aid, canoeing, and orien- teering. I became a leader, a camp counselor, and camp director before I became a chaplain. Scouting’s ideals shaped me; the Scout Oath and Scout Law remain with me. While rules may con ne, ideals can open us to something greater.
Most of us consider ourselves to be free individuals, mak- ing choices, selecting values. Paul tells us that we are “slaves of sin.” But we have a choice. The second set of opposites calls us to choose freedom or slavery. We may be living as slaves to sin or as free persons living in the righteousness of God—either choice requires obedience. As Christians we nd ourselves ”obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which [we] were entrusted.” We have sat under the “teaching,” which has shaped us—much like my experience with scouting. Paul raises the question as to what we gained from our slavery to sin. What did we nd so compelling?
How has the gospel of Jesus Christ allowed you to over- come the pervasive power of sin? And so Paul moves to examine the third set of opposites: wages versus gifts. We may ask what is the payoff for obedience to God, for commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ. And Paul tells us: “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Notice the distinction between “wages” and “gift.” God grants us the gift of eternal life—a gift so precious we could never earn it. We do not get merit badges for choosing obedience to God. We are invited to follow so that we may know freedom and real- ize the promise Paul speaks of: “The end is eternal life.”