“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 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. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 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. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”
Introduction
The British writer Dorothy L. Sayers wrote: “… If men will not understand the meaning of judgment, they will never come to understand the meaning of grace.” (Creed or Chaos)
In other words, good news is only appreciated when the bad news is understood. For example, we hear news of all the wonderful advances made in the treatment of different cancers, but until you receive a cancer diagnosis, you won’t fully appreciate the news of these new treatments.
In the chapter and verses that precede today’s passage, the apostle has laid out the doctrine of justification by faith, and as a result of being justified by faith, we have peace with God; we have obtained through Christ access into this grace in which we stand. We not only rejoice in hope of the glory of God, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that our suffering produces endurance, character, and a hope which does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit given to us.
As we look at today’s passage, Paul lays out the reason for our rejoicing in both hope and suffering, by reminding us of who we were before our conversion; he reminds us of who we were apart from Christ.
“For while we were still weak…”
While we were still weak, while we were still sinners, while we were enemies of God, while we were ungodly, Christ died for us.
What a picture of the love of God! In Matt. 9:35-36, as Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, he had compassion on the crowds, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a Shepherd.
This is not intended to portray the people as deserving of salvation; this is intended to show the compassion of Christ. These same crowds were also weak, ungodly sinners; they were enemies under the wrath of God, described by Paul elsewhere in the Scriptures (Romans 3) as: not righteous, not understanding, not seeking for God. There are no exceptions here, as Paul charges that all – both Jews and Gentiles – are under sin. He continues, all have turned aside, together they have become worthless, no one does good, not even one…there is no fear of God before their eyes. Paul is quoting from the Psalms and the Prophets (Isaiah and Jeremiah) to make his case – he is not introducing a new thought here.
When we begin to see the full picture of our sinful state, we begin to see the importance and impact of the words in v.6: “for while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”
We were weak; we were without strength; we were feeble and impotent. We were unable and unwilling to save ourselves. Paul describes it in his letter to the Ephesians as being dead in our transgressions.
“At the right time…”
Galatians 4:4-5 “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”
Christ died for us at a time of God’s choosing, not by any human timetable. It was not a situation of mankind being ready for the revelation of Christ, as the Scripture has established that we would never be ready. This was part of God’s larger plan, a plan for a people he had already chosen and predestined to be adopted as sons through Christ (Eph. 1: 3-7; Rom. 8:29 -30); this was part of a larger plan to unite all things in heaven and on earth in Christ (Eph. 1:10).
“While we were still sinners…”
The fact that Christ died for us while we were still sinners, shows the extent of God’s love for us. As Paul wrote, one would scarcely die for a righteous person – that is, righteous according to human standards – but the Scripture tells us none is righteous, no not one;
Paul also writes, one might dare to die for a good person – again according to human standards, but again the Scripture tells us there are none of those.
The bottom line is that Christ died for an undeserving people (that would be you and I). This is how much the Father loves us; it reveals the untold depth of John 3:16, “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…”
John exhorts us in his first letter to contemplate that love: “Behold what manner of love the father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!” (1 John 3:1 NKJV) Let’s not miss the importance of what John is saying.
This is not a casual, surface look at God’s love, designed only to give us a warm and fuzzy feeling; this is a call to take a deep, ongoing, meditative look at the love of God. It is such a deep love, that Paul prayed for the Ephesian church, that they would “have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.”
This is not a reckless love, as some songwriters would have you think. This is a love that reflects God’s eternal purpose and will to accomplish the redemption of a people that he selected from before the foundation of the earth to be conformed to the image of his Son
(Rom. 8:29).
We can tell people that God loves them, but we need to understand the love God has for us. It is a love (agape) that sacrifices and gives of itself. This love sacrificed for those who were unable and unwilling to love God in return; it sacrificed for those who were still at enmity with Him. That’s the love of God that we need to think about and understand; that’s the love that has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.
“Saved from his wrath…”
It is this love of God that has caused him to save us from His coming wrath.
We cannot contemplate the mercy of God without understanding the wrath we were under before Christ. The tax collector in Luke 18:13 understood, for as he prayed in the temple, he would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying God be merciful to me a sinner!
When we read about the wrath of God revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men (Rom. 1:18), do we think only of those who do not know Christ?
Or do we also remember that we once lived and walked among them, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind? (Eph. 2:1-3).
Do we remember that God, being rich in mercy, and because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places? (Eph. 2:4–6)?
Do we take time to contemplate the mercy we’ve been shown?
Once we grasp our true condition apart from Christ, and the justifiable wrath of a holy God from which we have been spared, we can then begin to grasp the depth of God’s love for us and the depth of our salvation in Christ. And we will truly rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have received reconciliation.
Reconciliation is the work of God. God is the one who predestines; he is the one who call; he is the one who justifies; his is the one who glorifies (Rom 8:30-31).
The work of reconciliation was initiated by the Father, carried out by the Son, and applied by the Holy Spirit. We contribute nothing to the process except the sin that made reconciliation necessary.
This is not to suggest that we engage in spiritual navel-gazing, contemplating our sin; that is dangerous and unnecessary. It is as we contemplate the Lord, through prayerful study and meditation on his Word, that we will understand more of God is, and understand more of who we were before Christ and who we are now in Christ.
Let us contemplate the love of God.
May God, according to the riches of his glory, grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Eph. 3:16–21)
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