Romans 5:13,14

for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.   Romans 5:13,14 ESV


for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given

Paul continues to drive home the fact that we are all sinners - not because of any written rules or laws - but because we have inherited a sin nature from Adam. For the Jews, Paul's statement here is a problem. They were convinced that keeping the religious laws handed down to them from their fathers was the way to salvation. Paul destroys the teaching that adherence to any laws has anything to do with a persons salvation by explaining the law itself cannot save anyone, because no one is condemned solely on their failure to keep any particular written law or rule - it runs deeper than that.

If salvation depended on written laws or rules, how did so many that lived before the time of Moses discern good and evil? Why were the people of Noah's time wiped off the face of the earth for their evil deeds - yet Noah was found righteous in God's eyes? (Genesis 6:9-13). Why were Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed, yet Abraham was able to discern good and evil?

Our sinfulness is not based on our inability to keep God's written laws and commands. Our sinfulness  it is embedded in our nature. We are condemned and separated from God because we have inherited a sinfulness from Adam that has spread like a cancer to every human that ever lived. Therefore:

The answer to our condemned state is not mustering up some 'ability' to keep laws that were given long after the fall of man; instead the answer to our situation lies in our reconciliation to God - which is only possible through the forgiveness of not just our sins, but our sinfulness itself, which is the root cause of our separation from God.

but sin is not counted where there is no law

It seems that Paul is contradicting himself here, but instead he is actually clearing things up for the Jews. Before the law,  men were condemned based on their inherited sin nature (original sin).  They were not condemned for specific sinful acts, but for their sinfulness in general. God was visible to them through His eternal power and divine attributes, and specifically through creation, yet man in his sinfulness refused to recognize God for who He is. (Romans 1:20)

The fact that those who lived before any written laws from God were given stood condemned puts an even greater responsibility on the shoulders of all of us who have access to God's Word - for we are condemned by the same original sin - yet we have been given access to all that God has revealed in Scripture - which should serve as a floodlight, revealing our sinfulness, our specific sinful acts, and our desperate need for redemption. If those before Adam were without excuse (Romans 1:20), how much worse off are we if we do not see the Truth in light of all the information we have been given?

We are completely condemned based on our overall sinfulness that we inherited from birth - and - we are specifically condemned on the basis of any and all transgressions of God's perfect commands and laws that have been laid out before us. Our sins are counted.

Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses

Paul restates that death (physical and spiritual - brought on by sin) was in full effect the entire time man was on the earth before Moses, and before any written laws were given. The Gentiles that Paul talks about in Romans 2:14,15 are an example of people having knowledge of God's law without access to any written laws - 

For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them

The law God gave to Moses was not the solution, but rather shed more light on the problem!

even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam

I take this as also being a reference to those who lived before the law, whose specific sins were not counted against them but instead were condemned because of their inherited sinfulness that made itself visible through their willing suppression of God's truth (Romans 1:18) This was different than Adam's sin. Adam and Eve were not condemned because of an inherited sin nature, rather they were condemned because of a specific evil act: disobedience to God. Through this specific act, every single one of their ancestors was born with the knowledge of good and evil, and a nature that opposes God.

who was a type of the one who was to come

Speaking of Adam here, Paul says that he was a type of someone who was coming after him. 

type: Greek - a die (as struck), that is, (by implication) a stamp or scar; by analogy a shape, that is, a statue, (figuratively) style or resemblance; specifically a sampler (“type”), that is, a model (for imitation) or instance (for warning): - en- (ex-) ample, fashion, figure, form, manner, pattern, print.

In the King James Version, type is translated the figure of him that was to come. 

So we can see that Paul is saying that Adam was a form, a figure, or a resemblance of someone who was coming after him. We will revisit this part of verse 14 as we dig into verse 15, where Paul reveals to us that the someone referred to here is Jesus Christ. These are some fascinating verses, as Adam and Christ stand in stark contrast to each other, yet they have similarities. Paul will explain this for us going forward. 

Romans 5:12

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned  Romans 5:12 ESV

This statement reveals who we are as humans - sinful, mortal creatures. This in turn reveals our need for something bigger than us, a Savior that can rescue us from our condemned state.

I think the first thing we need to notice about this verse is that it begins with "therefore" - meaning we need to look back to what Paul has written previously that would lead into this verse. When looking back, we see that Paul just finished explaining, in detail, our reconciliation through faith in Christ - which addresses our need for rescuing by a Savior. Before that, he explained in detail our lost and condemned state before Christ.

A verse that jumps out that ties into verse 12 here is 3:9 - "...for we have charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin."
Paul then goes on to quote Old Testament scripture that explains how sinful and evil we as lost people really are in our condemned state.

In Romans 3:9 and Romans 5:12, Paul is explaining clearly to the Jews in his audience that, without faith in Christ, they are just as condemned as the Greeks. This was so crucial for the Jews to understand, because they were convinced that their heritage and their adherence to physical laws set them apart and gave them an advantage at Salvation over the Greeks.

Paul's message is that we have all equally inherited sin, we are all equally condemned, and we are all in equal, desperate need of a Savior.

sin came into the world through one man

So, how did sin come into the world through one man? The account of Adam and Eve in the garden is well known, but I want to reference it here briefly so we know exactly what Paul is talking about.

God's Commandment:

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.  

Genesis 2:16,17

Satan's Temptation and the fall:

But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die.  For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.  Genesis 3:4-7

Interrogation and sinful excuses:

But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?" And he said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself." He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?" The man said, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate." Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this that you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

Genesis 3:9-13

The punishment:

To the woman he said, "I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you." And to Adam he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.

Genesis 3:16-18

Ultimately, mortality:

By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

Genesis 3:19

We can see, from Genesis, that Adam and Eve sinned before God, and received their just condemnation. When their eyes were opened, Adam and Eve were separated from God - their relationship was fractured and now in need of restoration. This separation would be passed on from generation to generation, as we all are now born with a sinful nature that separates us from God. We are all in need of Jesus Christ to restore this relationship with God for us. 

David writes about this sinful nature inherited from the womb:

Psalm 51:5 - Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Psalm 58:3 - The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies. 

Now, in Romans 5:12, God confirms through Paul that we truly are sinful and lost, having inherited this sinful nature passed down from one man - Adam - who was a perfect representation for all men, and acted as any other man would have acted. 

and death through sin

We already looked at Genesis 3:19, where God told Adam and Eve that they would return to the dust that they were made of. Not only did sin lead to death, but it requires death as a payment, or in order for reconciliation to occur.

Paul writes later on in Romans: For the wages of sin is death... (6:23). 

In Hebrews we read this: ...without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. (9:22)
In Genesis 3:21: the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.
    - here God used animals as a temporary sacrifice, using their skins as a temporary covering of the sin and shame that Adam and Eve now carried.

Sin, meaning anything unrighteous in God's eyes (1 John 5:17), or anything that does not meet His perfect standards, which in turn glorifies Him, is completely offensive to Him, and He cannot tolerate this in His presence (Habakkuk 1:13).

Therefore, in order to have a restored relationship with Him, we need to know the reconciliation through His Son that Paul talks about in Romans 5:11!



and so death spread to all men because all sinned

Adam was a perfect representation of all men, we are all guilty and justly condemned before God. Since this sin nature has been passed on to all men, so has death - both in the physical and spiritual sense. We all remain mortal, but there is hope because Jesus not only provides hope for spiritual life, but He conquered even physical death by rising from it! He is the only answer to our sinful, lost state - as Paul will go on to explain. 

Romans 5:11

More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.  Romans 5:11 ESV

I would like to look at some other things that Paul has said in this section (vs 1 - 11) as we look at this verse. 

Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.    verse 2

Here, we are called to rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. If we look at what Paul says leading up to this verse, we can understand what he means. In verse 1 Paul says we have been justified, counted righteous, by faith.

justified by faith: trust that the blood of Christ is sufficient and capable of saving, justifying, and reconciling us apart from works. 

With this faith (trust), which itself is a gift of God, we enter into grace (God's unmerited favor, salvation), and we rejoice.

Rejoicing in the hope (expectation) of the glory of God - since we have now entered into His unmerited favor (grace), we will continue to see God glorified as He is revealed in us, through us, and around us - more and more now, and for eternity in Heaven.

How is God glorified/revealed in us, through us, and around us?
God is glorified when He is revealed, and He is most clearly revealed through the gospel message in action - which includes our salvation! So we can rejoice in the expectation (hope) that the life change we have experienced through the gospel message will work in us, through us, and affect those around us - revealing God and glorifying Him!


Then Paul says in verse 3:  More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings...  

So, more than rejoicing in the expectation that God will be revealed and glorified through our lives because of the gospel message in action (justified by faith in Christ Jesus), more than that - we are called to rejoice in our sufferings as well. 

Paul goes on to explain what this means, which we have covered previously. When we read the following verses, we can begin to see the peace that passes all understanding that Paul talks about. When we are called to rejoice in our sufferings, and then we see that even in this God is glorified through the spiritual growth of His children as He is found faithful, we begin to see this is something the world cannot understand.

Paul transitions from sufferings into Gods love, and explains what kind of love He has for us. The kind of selfless love that includes offering His innocent Son as a sacrifice, to reconcile us to Him even while we hated Him!

In light of these two reasons Paul gives us to rejoice as children of God, we can look at how verse 11 starts off:  More than that, we also rejoice in God

More than rejoicing as God is revealed in our lives, more than being called to rejoice in our sufferings, more than that, we can now rejoice in God.

To rejoice in God is to have that ultimate peace that He is our rock, our stronghold, our refuge, our source of everything and anything we will ever need. There are things in this life that are good, and can be used to glorify God - but nothing else is needed. We rejoice simply in God.

I think Paul placed this purposely as the third reason to rejoice because is sums up, and drives the other two. Because we can rejoice in Him - that He is who He says He is, we know He will reveal Himself in us, through us, and around us - so that we can rejoice in the expectation of His glory. Because we can rejoice in Him - that He is who He says He is, we can know that any suffering He allows His children to go through will ultimately reveal Him even more - and His love - so that we can rejoice even in our sufferings.

On the flip side, if we are struggling to rejoice in God, we will have hard time rejoicing in the hope that He will be revealed in our lives, and we will really have a hard time rejoicing in our suffering. It all starts with rejoicing in Him.

The path to becoming a more godly person, to rising above the temptations and struggle of this world, to glorying Him by allowing Him to be revealed begins with rejoicing in Him and who HE IS - THE GREAT I AM!

through our Lord Jesus Christ

We are able to rejoice in God through what our Savior Jesus Christ has done - there is no other way.

If God were to strip away all of the "good" things you have done, with all of the "good" decisions you made to steer clear of the sinfulness of the world, how would He see you?
If God were to strip away all the Sundays that you were in church, all the time you spent serving, all the money you gave in His name, how would He see you?
If God reminded you of all the sins you committed, from the slightest thought to the worst action, one by one from beginning to end, how would He see you?

He should see you rejoicing in Him through His Son, who has wrapped us completely in the robe of His perfect righteousness - without it we are utterly condemned, but with it we are saved to the uttermost! (Hebrews 7:25)



through whom we have now received reconciliation

It is through Jesus Christ that we have received reconciliation - He alone is the channel of this great act of love and sacrifice!

to be reconciled was covered in the last post, but I have included it here:

What does it mean to be reconciled?

In the Greek, the word reconcile means to change or exchange, to return to favor with, to receive one into favor. In English, the word reconcile mean to win over to friendliness, to compose or settle a quarrel, to bring into agreement or harmony, to make compatible or consistent.

We are reconciled, we have a restored relationship with God, through our Savior Jesus Christ. This reconciliation is not based on or maintained through things that we do or don't do - it is only based on and maintained through Him. Everything we do should flow out of appreciation not obligation. We serve our God as His children, thankful and appreciative of what He has done!

(though we will never understand or grasp the totality of His love and sacrifice, even a taste should be enough to drive us to serve Him forever!)

Lord, I pray that You would reveal to us more everyday Your love for Your children...that this love would drive us to serve you out of love, awe, wonder, and appreciation of  who You are! Forgive us when we take our eyes off of You, and guide us to seek you - that we might first rejoice IN YOU, so that we could rejoice in the hope of your glory, and so that we will rejoice in the midst of our suffering here on earth - to You be the glory forever and ever!

Romans 5:10

For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. Romans 5:10 ESV

In verse 9 we saw that we have been justified by the blood of Christ. We looked at what Paul had said previously - Christ died for the ungodly, Christ died for us. Now Paul goes a step further to describe the sad, condemned state we where in when God saved us.



For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God

What does it mean to be an enemy of God?

enemy (Greek): hateful (passively odious, or actively hostile); usually as a noun, an adversary (especially Satan): - enemy, foe.  used of men at enmity with God by their sin, opposing God in the mind

enemy (English):  a person who feels hatred for, fosters harmful designs against, or engages in antagonistic activities against another; an adversary or opponent.  persons, nations, etc., that are hostile to one another

These definitions paint a clear picture of who we are in our relationship to God, how He sees us in our sinful, unforgiven state. We are enemies of God - we oppose Him, we hate Him, we are His adversaries. 

Some verses that describe this further:  

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. John 3:19

For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.  John 3:20

No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. Mathew 6:24

By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. 1 John 3:10

These verses explain the truth that while we are in darkness we hate the light, we can only serve one master, and we are either children of God or children of Satan - there is no in between. From these verses and what Paul has written in Romans we should come away understanding that before we are forgiven we are evil creatures, children of Satan serving only Satan, lost lovers of darkness wanting nothing to do with God who is perfect light. 

One might wonder about those who are not Christians yet seem to be "good" people. People who give money to the poor, who donate millions to charity, people who are moral and upright even if they don't love God or have a relationship with Him. There are people who are "good" from our perspective, but we must look at things from God's perspective. God is the foundation and standard of good, and anything that is truly good will come from Him and glorify Him. 

Anyone who seems to do "good" things without a relationship with God is merely imitating, in a very fractured and incomplete way, what God has revealed about Himself to the world - things that are moral, ethical, and right. 

At the end of the day, God has told us that we either serve Him or the Devil, we either love Him or we hate Him, we are either His children or His enemy. 

So, what does Scripture say about those of us that are now children of God? We were saved while we were enemies of Him! The bible doesn't say that we were people who no longer wanted to be enemies of God and He saved us. The bible doesn't say that we began to hate the darkness and as we looked for the light God saved us. The bible doesn't say that we realized our condemned state and began to clean ourselves up in search of God. No - the bible says that while we were enemies - while we actively opposed God, while we actively hated God, while we were actively serving Satan, while we actively despised the Light, God saved us from our condemnation. 

Salvation is not a reward for moving away from our sinful, lost, condemned state - Salvation is God removing us from our sinful, lost, condemned state. 

It's very important for us to try to understand this, because it is laid out as truth in Scripture and the more we can grasp the truth of Scripture the more God is glorified in our lives. When we realize that God saved us in the midst of our sinfulness, while we were His enemies, we remove ourselves from the equation of salvation. This is very important because salvation is by grace through faith, having nothing to do with us, or our ability. When we can remove ourselves from the equation, salvation becomes only about God saving us from condemnation, by an act of pure grace on His part - and as Paul said - apart from any of our works. 

we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son

Paul has said previously that we were justified by faith in Christ, we were justified by His blood, and now we are reconciled to God by the death of His Son. Jesus had everything to do with our relationship with God being restored - there is no other way we can come to know God other than through His Son that paid the ultimate price.

What does it mean to be reconciled?

In the Greek, the word reconcile means to change or exchange, to return to favor with, to receive one into favor. In English, the word reconcile mean to win over to friendliness, to compose or settle a quarrel, to bring into agreement or harmony, to make compatible or consistent. 

God has promised us that, while we were His enemies (hating Him, opposing Him, adversaries of His serving the Devil), He has reconciled us to Himself (changed us, returned us to favor with Him, settled the hatred, brought us into harmony with Him, made us compatible with Him) through the death of His Son!  What an awesome, loving, holy God!

much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life

Mathew Henry, in his commentary, made a point I don't want to miss on the last part of this verse, and how verse 9 and 10 tie together as one truth. Here the the two verses in order, with the parts I want to emphasize highlighted: 

Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.  (verse 9)

For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. (verse 10)

We can see that we were justified and reconciled, and much more than that, we are saved from the wrath of God by the life of our risen Christ. I have included part of Henry's commentary as he explains this with such beautiful clarity:

Hence results salvation from wrath: Saved from wrath, saved by his life. When that which hinders our salvation is taken away, the salvation must needs follow. Nay, the argument holds very strongly; if God justified and reconciled us when we were enemies, and put himself to so much charge to do it, much more will he save us when we are justified and reconciled. He that has done the greater, which is of enemies to make us friends, will certainly the less, which is when we are friends to use us friendly and to be kind to us. And therefore the apostle, once and again, speaks of it with a much more. He that hath digged so deep to lay the foundation will no doubt build upon that foundation. - We shall be saved from wrath, from hell and damnation. It is the wrath of God that is the fire of hell; the wrath to come. The final justification and absolution of believers at the great day, together with the fitting and preparing of them for it, are the salvation from wrath here spoken of; it is the perfecting of the work of grace. - Reconciled by his death, saved by his life. His life here spoken of is not to be understood of his life in the flesh, but his life in heaven, that life which ensued after his death.

 I highlighted to two major points that stuck out to me. Will not God, who saved us from condemnation through the brutal death of His Son, not follow through and bring us now to an eternal life with Him, through His risen Son? Hallelujah!

Romans 5:9

Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.  Romans 5:9 ESV


We know, when a sentence starts off with "therefore" that we ought to be looking back at what this sentence is referencing that has been stated previously. In this case, Paul is talking about being justified by the blood of Christ. I think there are three things that Paul has written in the previous verses that really jump out and tie into what he is saying here.

1. Christ died for the ungodly. (Romans 5:6)
     - This verse tells us that Christ died, his blood was shed, for the sins of the ungodly, whose just punishment would have been eternal condemnation - separation from God. However, Christ died for those sinful creatures who hated God, and shed His blood for them.
     - So, we can then insert Paul's sentence - Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood

2. Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
     - Paul tells us in this verse that we are the ungodly ones that Christ died for. We are the ones that hated God, that hated the light in favor of darkness. We are the ones that Romans 1:18-32 is describing. We are the ones that desperately needed a perfect Savior. We are the ones Christ died for, to rescue us from our just condemnation.
     - So, we can then insert Paul's sentence - Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood

3. We are justified by faith. (Romans 5:1)
     - I included this verse, because it also talks about being justified, but it doesn't mention blood. We need to look at what Paul was talking about before we said we are justified by faith - he describes the faith of Abraham, and then says we too are justified by faith.
     - So, how are we justified (made righteous) by faith, and also justified (made righteous) by the blood of Christ? When Christ's blood was shed, He was taking the punishment that satisfied God's wrath over our complete sinfulness - from beginning to end - the debt we owed was paid in full.
     - The only way we can be counted as righteous then, is through faith in His shed blood. We are justified by faith in his blood, the blood that made our justification possible.

For me personally, I wish I could grasp more what Jesus did when He erased my debt through His sacrifice. The fact that He died for me, an ungodly, evil creature, and made it possible for me to be counted as righteous...I think if any of us truly understood what took place here we would be on our knees day and night, praising Him!



much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God

In the second part of verse 9, Paul talks about the wrath of God. There has been a movement in churches today to move away from speaking of the wrath of God and focusing on the love of God alone. While God is perfect love, He is also perfectly just - which means He cannot overlook sinfulness, nor can it be in His presence. God, being perfect in every way, would cease to be God if He for a moment tolerated sin in any way, which is why the finished work of Christ on the cross was so desperately needed for us to enter in to a restored relationship with God. 

Paul does not dodge the issue of the wrath of God, instead he says that we are spared from the wrath of God because of the blood of Christ. Not only did the blood of Christ make it possible for us to be counted as righteous, but it saved us from the just wrath of God at the same time!

I think that the order that Paul chose to write the beginning of Chapter 5 is interesting. He didn't start by saying we have been saved from the wrath of God, and you have been justified as well. Instead, Paul said you have been justified by faith in verse 1, then told us we now stand in His grace, and gave us two reasons to rejoice (in the glory of God and in our sufferings) , then explained that we are justified by the blood of Christ, and now, finally, he includes that we are also saved from God's wrath.

It is important that we don't get this turned around. We are not saved simply to keep from going to hell. We are not saved simply to get to heaven. We dare not live our life as a Christian thinking our main objective is to stay out of hell and get to heaven - this is not how Paul laid it out. We ought to seek a clear understanding of what happened when Christ died on the cross.

He made it possible - through faith in His blood - to be counted as righteous (meaning our sins, no matter how many, are no longer counted against us). Which in turn means that we can now enter into a restored relationship with a perfect and holy God for eternity! 

Oh, and by the way, we are saved from a complete and eternal separation from Him where evil and torment will have full reign (hell), and instead will enjoy being in His presence where He dwells (heaven) forever!

While heaven and hell can be motivators, they should always be seen in their connection to the presence of God, or the lack of His presence. We are saved to a restored relationship with God, this is the miracle every single one of His children experiences, and our lives become a living sacrifice for Him! We miss the point badly, and steal glory from God when we reduce our salvation to simply getting to heaven or staying out of hell - it's so much more, and so much better than that for those who know Him!

Romans 5:7,8

For one will scarcely die for a righteous person--though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die-- but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:7,8 ESV



For one will scarcely die for a righteous person--though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die

Would you willingly and knowingly give your life for your child? Would you willingly and knowingly give your life for someone you know is a good person? Would you willingly and knowingly give your life for a murderer - would you willingly be executed in place of someone who was guilty of murder - what if the victim was your child - what if they showed no repentance whatsoever, would you take their place?

This is a horrible scenario, it is hard to even think about, and was hard to type. I can't fathom being in that situation, and I never want to be. I believe, however, that sometimes we need to be cut deep, while pondering the things of God, in order to properly grasp them.

I believe most people would give their lives for their children. Paul says that yes, some people would perhaps even give their lives for a good or righteous person. These things are not completely out of the question for humans to do - even with our sinful nature we have some knowledge of God and what is "good" within us.

However, God's ways are far, far above ours. When He acts, it is in opposition to what we would do or what we would think makes sense according to our human "wisdom" - God made a restored relationship with Him possible by having His Son brutally beaten and murdered - all for people that hated Him - for the very people that were guilty of so much sin and evil.



but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us

Coming up in verse 10, Paul says that we were reconciled to God while we were enemies of God. We will dig into that when we get there, but I think that gives us an important perspective. When Christ died on the cross, He was paying the debt for those that were enemies of God. While we may think that rewards are given to those who deserve or earn them, God acts in opposition to our thinking.

Christ's blood is was not shed for those who would prove their desire/ability to be righteous - 

 this is what would make sense to us. 

Paul makes a clear contrast to what makes sense to us and what God does. We would maybe die for those who desire to be righteous, but God shows His love for us by sending His Son to die for us while we were still sinners, and loving it! While we were His enemies, and loving it! God didn't wait for us to make a righteous move, He made a grace move when, according to verse 6, He made salvation possible while we were weak and ungodly! 

Jesus summed this up when He said, ""Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners." Mark 2:17. 

Why would God do this? God shows his love for us - God is glorified when He is revealed, and God is revealed when His love is shown. This is why it is so important to grasp how desperately we needed God to help us, when we were His enemies. I don't think that we will ever completely grasp how much love was shown, but if we are not spending time thinking about this truth, about the sacrifice that was made on behalf of people that hated Him, I think we are hindering the pure love of God from being revealed.

Romans 5:6

 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.  Romans 5:6 ESV

We know, from the previous verse, that God reveals His love to us by pouring the Holy Spirit into our hearts. Now, in the next few verses, Paul explains this love of God even more.  I think it will make more sense if we look at this verse out of order, and then put it back together at the end.


Christ died

As Christians, it's common knowledge that Christ died for our sins. While it may by impossible for us to truly grasp the immense love that was shown, or what was truly accomplished when Christ gave His life, I would like to look at some scripture that may build in us a deeper appreciation for God and His act of selfless love.

Jesus Christ willingly suffered the brutal beatings, torture, crucifixion:
   - Knowing what was ahead, Jesus prayed to the Father -   "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done."  Luke 22:42

Jesus Christ, completely sinless, felt the full impact of God's just wrath on our behalf by taking the punishment we deserved:
   - we deserve this:  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. Romans 1:18
   - Jesus did this: He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. 1 John 2:2
            - propitiation: is the act of appeasing, atonement, satisfied the debt by paying it in full!


Jesus Christ felt unparalleled agony and anguish on the cross, according to the will and perfect plan of the Father:
   - Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Isaiah 53:10

This link is to a sermon by Charles Spurgeon on the death of Christ on the cross. It sheds a lot more light on what took place, and really reveals how terrible it was in light of who Jesus is.
http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/0173.htm

After reading these few Scripture references (there are so many more), we can see that this death that Christ suffered was horrible, brutal, and undeserved. He took the full penalty of our sin in a small amount of time - yet the torture and death was so severe that it satisfied the the condemnation that we would have suffered for eternity.

Below is John Piper's response to a question on the suffering of Christ:

If our sins are punished by eternal separation from God, why did Jesus only have to suffer momentary separation?
That's a good question, and I think there's a pretty clear answer.
Another question would be, How can one man suffer when millions should've suffered? Same kind of issue. How does one suffering become the suffering of millions? The math doesn't work! How does suffering for 3 hours on a cross correspond to delivering people from eternity in hell? All those kinds of questions apply here.
The answer is that the degree of suffering, indignity, reproach, degradation, and fall that Jesus endured is not simply determined temporally. And it's not simply determined by the exquisiteness of the pain of a nail cutting through a nerve in your wrist.
It's determined by the difference between the glory that he had with the Father in heaven and the ignominy that he suffered, naked and hanging like a piece of meat as the Son of God on the cross. It's that distance that is the magnitude that provides the scope needed in his suffering to cover an eternity in hell and to cover the sins of millions of people.
The way to think about it is that we commit a greater indignity against God, not just in accord with how many sins we commit or how bad they are, but in accord with how great he is. Therefore our sins are infinitely great because they're against an infinite person and deserve an infinite punishment.
Christ, being an infinite person, became so low that that drop in suffering, that drop in indignity was such a huge drop—it was an infinite drop—that it suffices to cover the sins of millions and to cover the entire length of eternity that we deserve to be in hell.
He is a great Savior.


So, if Christ willingly suffered to the degree discussed above, who did He do it for?

while we were still weak
Christ died for the ungodly

Jesus died for us while we were weak and ungodly! 

When someone needs an organ transplant, there are several things that come into play. The health of the patient plays a major role in where they may land on the transplant list. How old is the patient, does the patient smoke, does the patient have a history of substance abuse, what is the mental status of the patient? All of these questions, and many more, determine if the patient is suitable for a transplant - and for good reason; donated organs are not be taken lightly. Part of handling them responsibly is ensuring that the one receiving the organ has a high potential of making the most of the donated organ.

When we are lost sinners, we are in desperate need of a heart "transplant":

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. Eze 36:26

Like the organ donor recipients at the hospital, are there certain requirements we must meet that determine how qualified we are to receive this new heart?  God's Word says NO!

Christ died for us, paid the debt in full for us, while we were weak (Greek - without strength), we could not even reach out to Him if we wanted to.

Christ died for us, paid the debt in full for us, while we were ungodly (Greek - wicked, showing no respect for God), when we wanted nothing to do with God - He took care of our debt.

There is nothing we can do or anything we can stop doing that will make us more qualified to know a restored relationship with God through Christ, because of the ultimate sacrifice He made on our behalf. No amount of self sacrifice, cleaning ourselves up, or trying to change who we are or what we do has any bearing on whether or not we can enter into a restored relationship with God.

God performs the miracle of conversion in weak, spiritually dead, ungodly, wicked people - not because of anything we do, but in spite of all that we do!

This conversion is a result of grace, which by definition cannot be a result of works or effort, or it would no longer be grace (Romans 11:6). 

Clinging to Romans 5:6, we can know that Christ's sacrifice and atonement for sins can apply to us when we are at our worst - and transform us into a new creation, with a new heart that desires to glorify God completely! 

These Casting Crown lyrics from the song "Who Am I" seem to sum it up pretty well:

Not because of who I am
But because of what You've done
Not because of what I've done
But because of who You are

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

What an amazing God we serve, so full of love that He would make salvation available to us at our worst moment, when we are too weak to do anything good, when we don't even want anything to do with Him. WOW!