Romans 6:21

And what was the result of this shameful liberty? The apostle analyzes it into a fruit, καρπός, and an end, τέλος. What fruit had ye then? he asks literally. The verb ἔχειν, to have, no more here than in Romans 1:13, signifies to produce. Paul would rather have used for this meaning one of the verbs φέρειν or ποιεῖν. By saying that they have this fruit, he wishes to express not only the idea that they produce it, but that they possess and keep it in themselves, that they drag it with them as forming part of their own moral life. “Their works follow them,” as is said. Commentators are not at one as to the meaning of the following words: things of which ye are now ashamed. Some, like the Peshitto, Theod., Theoph., Er., Luth., Mel., Thol., De W., Olsh., Philip., take these words as the answer to the question put: “This is the fruit, namely, acts of which, now that ye are in Christ, ye cannot think without confusion; for ye now see clearly that the goal to which they were leading you inevitably was death.” But some commentators (Chrys., Grot., Beng., Fritzs., Mey.) regard these words as a continuation of the preceding question: “What fruit did ye derive from those things of which ye are now ashamed?” The answer in this case would be understood. According to Meyer, it would simply be: none, of course taking the word fruit in an exclusively good sense. Or the answer might be supposed to be: a very evil fruit, finding the proof of this evil quality in the following words: “For their end is death.” But whatever may be the answer which is sought to be supplied, this construction, by prolonging the question with this long incidental proposition, has the disadvantage of taking away from its vivacity, and making the sentence extremely heavy. Besides, we must supply before the relative ἐφ᾿ οἶς, of which, some antecedent or other, such as ἐκείνων or ἐξ ἐκείνων, which is not very natural. If account is taken of the very marked contrast between the two adverbs of time, then and now, τότε and νῦν, we shall be led rather to see here two distinct propositions than only one. Finally, we find in Romans 6:22 the result described under two distinct aspects: as fruit, καρπός, and as end, τέλος. Should it not be the same in our verse, to which Romans 6:22 corresponds? This would not be the case in the sense preferred by Meyer. It would be necessary to make τέλος (end) almost the synonym and explanation of καρπός (fruit). This commentator relies especially on the fact that the apostle gives to the word fruit only a good sense; so Galatians 5:19; Galatians 5:22, where he speaks of the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit, and Ephesians 5:11, where he characterizes the works of darkness as being without fruit (ἄκαρπα). But Meyer does not take into consideration that the mind of the apostle is here moving in the domain of a sustained figure, which he applies successively to the two opposite servitudes. On both sides he sees: 1. A master (sin, God); 2. A servant (the natural man, the believer): 3. Some work or other in the service of the master; 4. Fruit, which is the immediate product of the labor, the work itself (the things of which the workers are ashamed, or those which lead to holiness); 5. An end, as retribution at the hand of the master (death, eternal life). It is therefore evident that the figure of fruit is in place on the one side as well as on the other. So thoroughly is this the thought of the apostle, that in Romans 6:22 he says to the believer: Ye have “ your fruit,” in evident contrast to that which they had previously as sinners. As to those who to the question: What fruit had ye? understand this wholly different answer: a bad, detestable fruit, it is impossible for them to explain so important an ellipsis. We do not therefore hesitate to prefer the first of the two explanations proposed: “What fruit did ye then derive from your labor in the service of sin? Such fruit, that now when ye are enlightened, it only fills you with shame,” ἔργα τοῦ σκότους (the works of darkness), Ephesians 5:11.

The for which connects the last proposition with the preceding bears on the notion of shame. In point of fact, the final result of those things, their τέλος (end), which is death, demonstrates their shameful nature. “It is most fitting indeed that ye should blush for them now; for their end is death.” In this fact: death, as the end, there is expressed the estimate of God Himself. I regard as authentic the particle μέν, which is read here by five Mjj. It seems to me impossible that it should have been added; its omission, on the contrary, is easily explained. It is the particle known under the name of μέν solitarium, to which there is no corresponding δέ, and which is merely intended expressly to reserve a certain side of the truth which the reader is guarded against forgetting: “For (whatever may be the virtue of grace) it remains nevertheless true that”...

The end differs from the fruit in that the latter is the immediate result, the very realization of the labor, its moral product; while the end is the manifestation of God's approval or displeasure.

Death here evidently denotes final death, eternal separation from God, a)pw/leia (perdition).