When We Could Not Help Ourselves, Jesus Came to Help Us

Thinking about Romans 5:6.

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. (Romans 5:6)

Romans 5:6 is the beginning of one of my favorite sections of Scripture.

Paul will elaborate on “the love of God” that has been poured out in our hearts by explaining how God has put His love on display.

We were incapable of providing our own escape.

“We were still without strength” describes the hopelessness of our situation. We were weak and totally incapable of lifting ourselves out of the desperate situation we found ourselves in.

We had sinned (Romans 3:23) and deserved death (Romans 1:32).

We needed a way out - but we could not provide our own way out. If we could have emptied the earth of every ounce of valuable material, it would not have been enough to buy our way out.

Our situation appeared hopeless.

In the nick of time, Christ died for the ungodly.

Christ died for the ungodly at just the right moment, providing us with the way out.

Christ came into this world in “the fullness of time” (Galatians 4:4; NRSV), meaning that conditions were exactly right in terms of God’s timing and purpose. The sense of “time,” as Paul used it, was that some decisive or crucial point had been reached, and this point had been divinely ordained. God’s fixed and predetermined plan of salvation was put into effect, and at that point “Christ died for the ungodly.” - Pollard, Truth for Today Commentary, 171

We were unable to provide our own way out - so Jesus died for us (the ungodly), providing us with a way out.

We were nothing like God in our actions; we demonstrated we cared nothing about Him - and yet, He sent His Son to die for us because He loved us that much.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. (John 3:16-17)

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After we had rejected God, suppressed the truth, spit in His face, and wanted nothing to do with Him - we found ourselves weak and helpless.

We needed help - but where would it come from? We couldn’t provide the help that we so desperately needed.

The God we treated so shamefully and disgracefully descended to live among us as one of us (John 1:14). He lived a sinless life and died for us (1 Peter 2:21-24).

He is now the only way to the Father (John 14:6). He is the only way to justification (Romans 5:9).