Reading the Word

Romans 5:6–11 (ESV)

6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 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. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Understanding and Applying the Word

It is through Jesus Christ that we are reconciled to God. It is not because of anything we have done or possibly could do. It is solely and totally through the sacrificial death and victorious resurrection of Christ that our sins are forgiven and we obtain eternal life. On our own, we are sinners and we are the enemies of God.

Jesus died for sinners, the enemies of God. Why? Because God loves us. When Jesus tells us to love our enemies (Matthew 5:44), he does so because such love reflects the love of God for us. He did not call us to do anything that he did not also do. Such a love is hard for us to understand and should cause us to praise God. He had no reason to love us and make salvation available to all who would believe, but he did. Let us celebrate his love and our salvation and let us take the wonderful news of God’s love to the world!

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