wages of sin, the

Idioms  

1. The results or consequences of evildoing, as in She ate all of the strawberries and ended up with a terrible stomachache—the wages of sin, no doubt. This expression comes from the New Testament, where Paul writes to the Romans (6:23): “The wages of sin is death.” Today it is often used more lightly, as in the example.

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Example Sentences

Thus, some 18 years ago, while some of the press gave restrained and sober accounts of the Thaw case, the gum-chewers' sheets ranted ad nauseum about the pitfalls on the Great White Way; the "wages of sin"; the wily, wicked life of White; the uselessness of Thaw; the warning to young girls; the eternal law of Justice which prompted Thaw to avenge his wife's honor; the pathetic face of Mrs. Evelyn, etc., etc.

From Time Magazine Archive

Aunt Victoria discoursed earnestly on the wages of sin, the sufferings of sinners, the glories of salvation, the peace on earth from knowing you are saved, and the pleasures of the world to come; but the more Beth heard of the joys of heaven, the more she dreaded the horrors of hell.

From Project Gutenberg

Death is the wages of sin: the consecrated one was alike to keep aloof from sin and from its consequences.

From Project Gutenberg

She has saved, from the wages of sin, the convenient sum of 2,056l. a year, secured upon excellent mortgages.

From Project Gutenberg

He is the ease of pain and the end of sorrow, the liberty of the imprisoned and the joy of the faithful; it is both the wound of sin and the wages of sin, the sinner's fear and the sinner's doom.

From Project Gutenberg