Opsonion (G3800) was specifically the provisions or pay given to a soldier โ the rations, the paycheck that sustained the fighting man. Paul uses it twice with penetrating theological force: sin's wages (opsonion) are death, but God's gift is eternal life.
Romans 6:23 is perhaps the most famous wage statement in all of Scripture: 'For the wages [opsonion] of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.' The contrast is deliberate: wages are earned, deserved, due โ gift is unearned, undeserved, free. Sin is a brutal employer whose final paycheck is death. God is a generous Father whose gift no one could afford to purchase.