Romans 6:23

Verse 23. For the wages of sin. The word here translated wages (oqwnia)--properly denotes what is purchased to be eaten with bread, as fish, flesh, vegetables, etc., (Schleusner) and thence it means the pay of the Roman soldier, because formerly it was the custom to pay the soldier in these things. It means hence that which a man earns or deserves; that which is his proper pay, or what he merits. As applied to sin, it means that death is what sin deserves; that which will be its proper reward. Death is thus called the wages of sin, not because it is an arbitrary, undeserved appointment, but (1.) because it is its proper desert.