Useful Bible Studies > Romans Commentary > chapter 5
Of course, people do sometimes die for other people. In fact, sometimes a person has even died in order to rescue an evil person.
However, nobody who is reading this page has yet carried out such a noble act. To us, who are still alive, Paul writes. He causes us to ask ourselves for whom we would be willing to die.
To give our own life seems to us the greatest gift that we could make. We would have to act in a completely unselfish manner; we would lose everything that we had in this world.
Certainly, we would not want to do that on behalf of someone who was ungrateful. We would not wish to die on behalf of a wicked person. In fact, it would be hard to make such a decision in order to save even a good person. However, perhaps we might even dare to die on behalf of one of the best people.
If this argument only shows the weakness of our character, it also proves the greatness of God’s love. Christ did not come into this world to die only for good people. He died for us, although we are guilty of many wrong and evil acts (3:23). We only deserved God’s anger (1:18), but he chose to show us his love (5:8).
God wants not only to forgive us, but also to do the most wonderful things for us (1 Corinthians 2:9-10). He wants to adopt us, who formerly were his enemies (5:10), as his own sons and daughters (8:15-19). Such love astonishes us. We cannot pay God for his love, but we can accept it. The Bible urges us to turn from our evil deeds (Acts 3:19) and to receive Christ into our lives (John 1:12).
Next part: Christ died to save sinners (Romans 5:8)
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© 2022, Keith Simons.