There were two verses in Romans 6 that stuck out to me: "... you live under the freedom of God's grace. (v.14) ... the free gift of God is eternal life... (v.23)" And, Romans 5:17, "... all who receive [God's gracious gift] will live in triumph over sin and death."
When I did a word study, I found the following:
- free gift of God - the operation of grace (undeserved or divine favor)
- eternal life - Eternal life does not focus on the future per se, but rather on the quality of the age it relates to. Thus, believers live in "eternal life" right now, experiencing this quality of God's life now as a present possession.
So here's "Cara's Interpreted Version" of verse 23 in Romans 6:
... the operation of divine favor from God is experiencing the quality of God's life now as a present possession.
Now, lets put Romans 6:23 in the context of 6:14 and Romans 5:17:
When our lives operate under the influence of undeserved, divine favor from God, we experience the present realization of the quality of God's life as a tangible gift and are thus living triumphantly over sin and death! What freedom we have as children of God!
