Friday DIVE – January 17, 2025 – Romans 5:6-21

THE TEXT FOR TONIGHT’S DISCUSSION

Romans 5:6-11    

6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.  7 Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person — though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die.  8 But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.  9 Much more surely, therefore, since we have now been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God.[e]  10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life.  11 But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.   

CONTEXT 

• Romans 1 … The Reason for Paul’s Desire to Preach the Gospel
  • • There is no need to be ashamed of  the Gospel
    • There is Power in The Gospel (  )
    • The Gospel Reveals God’s Righteousness (Romans 1:16-17)    
• Romans 2 … The Universal Need for Righteousness
  • • The Guilt of The Gentiles (Those without the Law)    
    • The Guilt of Jews (Those with the Law)
• Romans 3 … The Righteousness that Matters
  • • Given by God
    • Receive by Faith … in what Christ has done
    • All have sinned (Romans 3:23) … so there is a universal need for righteousness (  ) … BUT that righteousness can never come by law-keeping (Romans 3:20) … Thankfully, there is a righteousness that is apart from the law ( ) 
• Romans 4 … The Righteousness That is By Faith Alone
  • • Example of Abraham, who was declared righteous before the Law came into being.
    • Abraham’s Faith — a Type of Our Faith
• Romans 5 … The Results of Justification 
  • • Peace (Romans 5:1-5) that comes from Justification by Faith  
    • Access to God’s grace  (Romans 5:2)
    • Rejoicing in Christ (Romans 5:3) 
    • Hope (Romans 5:4)
    • Reconciliation (Romans 5:5) 
• Romans 5:1-5  NRSVue   Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we^[a] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,  ² through whom we have obtained access^[b] to this grace in which we stand, and we^[c] boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.   ³ And not only that, but we^[d] also boast (rejoice) in our afflictions (sufferings ~ NET Bible) , knowing that affliction produces endurance, ⁴ and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵ and hope does not put us to shame (does not disappoint ~ NET Bible), because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.  

VERSE-BY-VERSE DISCUSSION  . . .

Romans 5:6-11  NRSVue

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

• “while we were still weak” … weak / helpless
• “at the right time” …  See Galatians 4:4
• “Christ died for the ungodly” … Who are the “ungodly” being referred to? … See Romans 3:9 … Romans 3:23 … Romans 11:32

⁷ Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person — though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die.   ⁸ But God proves his love for us in that  while we still were sinners  Christ died for us.  

• According to John, how did God SHOW His love for us?  … John 3:16
• According to Paul, how did God PROVE His love for us? … Romans 3:8

⁹ Much more surely, therefore, since we have now been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God.^[e]  

• What do you make of the distinction between “justified” and “saved” in Romans 3:9?
  • • What are we justified by?
    • What will we be saved by?

¹⁰ For if  while we were enemies  we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. 

• What do you make of the distinction between “reconciled” and “saved” in Romans 3:10?
  • • What were we reconciled by?
    • What will we be saved by?

¹¹ But more than that, we even boast (rejoice ~ NET) in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. 

WHAT, for you, IS THE MAIN TAKEAWAY?

From Barclay’s commentary …

THE FINAL PROOF OF LOVE

Romans 5:6-11

While we were still helpless, in God’s good time, Christ died for the ungodly.  A man will hardly die for a just man.  It may be that a man would even dare to die for the good cause.  But God proves his love to us by the fact that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.  Since we have been brought into a right relationship with God at the price of his life’s blood, much more through him we shall be saved from the Wrath.  For if while we were still at enmity with God, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, now that we have been reconciled, we shall go on being saved by his life.  Not only that, but we glory in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have received this reconciliation.  

The fact that Jesus Christ died for us is the final proof of God’s love.  It would be difficult enough to get a man to die for a just man; it might be possible for a man to be persuaded to die for some great and good principle; a man might have the greater love that would make him lay down his life for his friend.  But the wonder of Jesus Christ is that he died for us when we were sinners and in a state of hostility to God.  Love can go no further than that.

Rita Snowdon relates an incident from the life of T. E. Lawrence.  In 1915, he was journeying across the desert with some Arabs. Things were desperate. Food was almost done, and water was at its last drop. Their hoods were over their heads to shelter them from the wind which was like a flame and full of the stinging sand of the sandstorm. Suddenly someone said, “Where is Jasmin?” Another said, “Who is Jasmin?” A third answered, “That yellow-faced man from Mean. He killed a Turkish tax-collector and fled to the desert.” The first said, “Look, Jasmin’s camel has no rider. His rifle is strapped to the saddle, but Jasmin is not there.” A second said, “Someone has shot him on the march.” A third said, “He is not strong in the head, perhaps he is lost in a mirage; he is not strong in the body, perhaps he has fainted and fallen off his camel.” Then the first said, “What does it matter? Jasmin was not worth ten pence.” And the Arabs hunched themselves up on their camels and rode on. But Lawrence turned and rode back the way he had come. Alone, in the blazing heat, at the risk of his life, he went back. After an hour and a half’s ride he saw something against the sand. It was Jasmin, blind and mad with heat and thirst, being murdered by the desert. Lawrence lifted him up on his camel, gave him some of the last drops of precious water, slowly plodded back to his company. When he came up to them, the Arabs looked in amazement. “Here is Jasmin,” they said, “Jasmin, not worth ten pence, saved at his own risk by Lawrence, our lord.”

That is a parable. It was not good men Christ died to save but sinners; not God’s friends but men at enmity with him.

Then Paul goes on a step.  Through Jesus our status with God was changed.

Sinners though we were, we were put into a right relationship with God.  But that is not enough.  Not only our status must be changed but our state.  The saved sinner cannot go on being a sinner; he must become good.  Christ’s death changed our status; his risen life changes our state.  He is not dead but alive; he is with us always to help us and guide us, to fill us with his strength so as to overcome temptation, to clothe our lives with something of his radiance.  Jesus begins by putting sinners into a right relationship with God even when they are still sinners; he goes on, by his grace, to enable them to quit their sin and become good men.  There are technical names for these things.

• The change of our status is justification; that is where the whole saving process begins.
• The change of our state is sanctification; that is where the saving process goes on, and never ends, until we see him face to face and are like him.

There is one thing to note here of quite extraordinary importance.  Paul is quite clear that the whole saving process, the coming of Christ and the death of Christ, is the proof of God’s love.  Sometimes the thing is stated as if on the one side there was a gentle and loving Christ, and on the other an angry and vengeful God; and as if Christ had done something which changed God’s attitude to men.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  The whole matter springs from the love of God.  Jesus did not come to change God’s attitude to men; He came to show what it is and always was.  He came to prove unanswerably that God is love.

TEXT FOR NEXT WEEK

Romans 5:12-21

Adam and Christ   

¹² Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin, and so death spread to all because all have sinned — ¹³ for sin was indeed in the world before the law, but sin is not reckoned when there is no law. ¹⁴ Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin in the likeness of Adam, who is a pattern of the one who was to come.   

¹⁵ But the free gift is not like the trespass.  For if the many died through the one man’s trespass, much more surely have the grace of God and the gift in the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for the many.   

¹⁶ And the gift is not like the effect of the one man’s sin.  For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the gift following many trespasses brings justification. ¹⁷ If, because of the one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one, much more surely will those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.   

¹⁸ Therefore just as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all. ¹⁹ For just as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so through the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. ²⁰ But law came in, so that the trespass might increase, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, ²¹ so that, just as sin reigned in death, so grace might also reign through justification leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.    

CLOSING SONG