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6. ‘WHILE WE WERE STILL SINNERS, CHRIST DIED FOR US’

Romans 5:6-8 is a succinct, and yet, eloquent testimony of the love of God. The apostle writes:
     You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.
     Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone
     might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this:
     While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Twice in the passage, it is said that ‘Christ died’. ‘Christ died’ ‘when we were still powerless’ - i.e., without the will, the strength, and the means to free ourselves from our bondage to sin (see Romans 6 for Paul’s imagery of ‘slaves to sin’) - when we did not acknowledge God even though he was known to us through his creation (1:18-23). In this refusal to recognise the Creator God, we gave in to our ‘wisdom’ and worshipped the images of our own creation. We succumbed to our ‘sinful desires’ and we sought every means to do evil. In Paul’s words, we were ‘senseless, faithless, heartless, [and] ruthless’ (1:31). Yet it is precisely in this woeful condition of ours that ‘Christ died’. Put plainly, ‘Christ died’ ‘while we were still sinners’.

That Christ should die for sinners is something which is not plainly understood and accepted by many as they could not reconcile themselves to this Christian doctrine. They could not do so for a variety of reasons; but chiefly, these reasons have to do with human pride. The homo sapiens is a proud creature who will not allow his salvation to be hinged upon one person only. He thrives in a merit oriented world. He believes in his own self to make his own good in this world and in the next (i.e., if he believes in an afterworld). His pride will not tolerate the belief that he is completely helpless in things spiritual. On the contrary, he believes that he has a role in his own salvation and he does not need someone like Christ to help him make it there. In his mind, he can ‘DIY’ himself to heaven. Besides, sin is a controversial matter. It is too subjective for anyone to be dogmatic about.

Yet Paul in his writings to the Romans is very clear and adamant on this subject. ‘For all have sinned’ (3:23), ‘we were powerless’, ‘we were sinners’ (5:6, 8), ‘slaves to sin’ (6:6, 16) are some of his expressions when writing on the subject. In fact, in a very personal self-examination in chapter 7, the apostle grimly asks: ‘What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?’ (7:24) to which he quickly and gratefully supplies the answer: ‘Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord’ (7:25).

The Christian faith is unapologetic in its doctrine of the gospel of Jesus Christ because it is both the revelation and the power of God for the salvation of all who will come to believe in Jesus and his death on the cross (1:16-17). For it is on the cross that God expresses his grace to provide the legal and cultic solutions to the human problem of sin. In this one act of his love, God justifies, redeems, and atones anyone who will have faith in the blood of Jesus Christ (3:24-25) to wash away his sins freely - at no cost and abundantly too.

In writing about ‘Christ died’, Paul makes the comment: ‘Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die’ (5:7). The apostle knows the human experience and he is using this human experience to contrast and to bring out in sharp focus the readiness of God to show his love even to persons undeserving - persons who are ‘sinners’ (v. 8) and ‘enemies’ (v. 10). In stark contrast, no human will ever want to give his life to some wretched unknown person; much less, to an enemy. In very rare circumstances will anyone die for someone else; and if this happens it is usually for a ‘righteous’ person, or, a cause, or, in the heat of the moment, where no thought is given to personal safety and life. The death of the Italian security agent who threw his body to shield his journalist countrywoman against the ‘friendly fire’ of the U.S. armed forces in Iraq is a most recent example of this ‘very-rarely-will-anyone-die-for’ phenomenon. But we need to scratch our heads hard to find another example.

With God, and in particular, with Jesus Christ, it is very different. Christ died for us when we were still sinners. He did not demand that we make good first before he gave his life for us. He did not ask that we display some form of righteousness. He died regardless of our condition. He died that we shall be saved from God’s wrath (5:9) - future-looking to the eschatological day of judgement. He died that we may now receive reconciliation (5:10-11) - present time restoration of our relationship with God. In other words, through the death of Jesus, and our being justified through faith in him, we are brought into a restored and forgiven relationship with God and thus, we can confidently look to the judgement day, knowing that we have escaped ‘the wrath of God’ and are saved.

Archive
The Romans Series
1. Being the Community of God’s People
2. Ethno-Religious Tensions
3. The Power and the Wrath of God
4. Justification by Faith
5. Justification Brings Blessings
6. While We Were Still Sinners
7. Died to Sin
8. Slaves to Righteousness
9. The Difference of the Spirit
10. The Israel Problem
11. The Gentile Problem
12. Community Living
13. Community Unity
14. Community Ethics
15. Loving the Enemy Ethic
16. Extra-Community Ethics
17. The Weak and the Strong
18. Community Formation
19. Paul, the Minister
20. Gems in Greetings

Articles on The Da Vinci Code, Gnosticism and
the Gospel of Judas
1. The Da Vinci Code: A Christian Response
2. The Nag Hammadi Documents and Gnosticism
3. The Gospel of Judas
4. The Gospel of Judas - A Retake
5. Teachings in the Gospel of Judas Compared (Part 1)
6. Teachings in the Gospel of Judas Compared (Part 2)
7. Teachings in the Gospel of Judas Compared (Part 3)
8. Canonicity and the Gospel of Judas

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