4 Words to Describe You

Instead of going line by line we are going to pick out some topics and ideas in this section. This passage is one of those very familiar passages that is quoted often and makes it into all the “encouraging scriptures to memorize” lists. Unfortunately the very familiar verses often get read over too quickly and much meaning is missed. When you plug the familiar sentence, “While we were still sinners Christ died for us” into what’s going on around it, it becomes even more powerful.
Romans 5:6-11
For while we were still helpless, at the appointed moment, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For rarely will someone die for a just person—though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. 8 But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us! 9 Much more then, since we have now been declared righteous by His blood, we will be saved through Him from wrath. 10 For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, [then how] much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by His life! 11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

1) The first thing I want to talk about is how Paul describes humanity apart from Jesus. He doesn’t just say we are “lost”. He uses 4 words to describe more fully just what kind of state we are in.
a. Verse 6 says we are helpless. The Gk word asthenes is rendered by different translations as: helpless, weak, powerless, without strength. The word is usually used to talk about being physically incapable to perform some task, but Paul is clearly talking about spiritual helplessness. We are powerless to change ourselves or help our situation. We may be able to force some changes in behavior, but we simply cannot change our nature. Suppose there is a law that all dogs have to be put to death. Even if a dog can learn to stop barking it is still a dog in essence. Even if we could somehow learn to obey every law, we still have a sinful nature that we are powerless to change.
b. Verse 6 also says Jesus died for the ungodly. Asebes comes from a-sebomai and literally means “without worship”. It means to have no reverence for God, no connection to Him. There is no article before asebes in the Greek. This means Paul is not distinguishing THE ungodly from THE godly, but that Jesus died for godless humanity. In our natural state there is nothing about us that desires to do God’s will, worship Him, or have any connection with Him. “Not so” you say. Those desires to find truth, know God, and do right that we have before coming to Jesus are a result of the Holy Spirit working on us, not our own natural desires.
c. Verse 8 says Jesus died for sinners. Hamartolos comes from a Greek phrase meaning to miss the mark. Over time it changed form a little and became the noun that means “mark miser.” In a moral sense it insinuates a continual aiming at the wrong target, striving for the wrong things, having skewed goals and priorities. What’s interesting is that in ancient literature, a hamartolos does not need to be severely wicked man. It is not just murderers and rapists, but anyone who has missed the mark of God’s holiness. That puts us all in that category (Romans 3:23 All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God). According to one commentator, what defines a hamartolos is any “behavior or activity that does not measure up to moral expectations.” Using that definition, who would dare say they don’t belong in this category?
d. Verse 10 calls us enemies. Echthros: enemy, hostility, hatred. This is not just a notional enemy, but one against whom you actively struggle. For example, during the cold war Russia was our notional enemy. We saw them as the enemy and they saw us the enemy, but we weren’t actively fighting each other. This is not what echthros means. The word entails a deep animosity and resistance and wrath. The word can be used 2 ways. In the active voice it means to be hateful or hostile to another, to enact war and feel animosity. In the passive voice it means to be hated, to be subjected to the hostility of another. Which is the case here? Passive. Because we are sinners, we have been made the object of God’s wrath. How do we know this is the usage here? 1) 5:9 references God’s wrath, not ours. 2) 5:10 says we are reconciled, 5:11 brings more clarity saying we have received reconciliation. Greek scholars believe Paul’s intent with these statements is to say that we’ve been let off the hook as God’s enemies. The one who would subject us to wrath and hostility has done what’s necessary to remove his anger towards us.

So that is the state we are in. We are godless, sinners, who have been made God’s enemies and the subjects of His wrath, and we are completely powerless to do anything about it. Awesome. So why doesn’t Paul like people? This is pretty depressing stuff. Paul’s intent is not to berate his readers and provoke guilt. His purpose isn’t to say “You suck, you’re all sinners, there’s nothing good about you, now go home, kick your own shins, puke and die.” Once you plug these thoughts into the bigger message of what Paul is saying it becomes quite awesome.
Look at the first word in this section, “For”. “For” connects what was just said to what is said next and can usually be understood as “because”. Paul is expounding on the last statement in verse 5, “this hope will not disappoint.” Paul is addressing the worry that some people had that hope in Jesus might actually disappoint. “What if we put our faith in Jesus, are reconciled to God here on earth, and live our lives in relationship with Him, only to find out when we die that we won’t be saved? What if when we die, Jesus says we’re not good enough and sends us away?” The whole point of this section of scripture is to prove we have to reason to fear being disappointed. Why?
Paul's answer is simple, logical, and moving. Paul uses these 4 different words to describe what a wretched, hopeless state we are in then reasons that if God loved us enough in that state to suffer and die, how much more will His love see us through to the end now that we are His friends? God’s love is so great that He sacrificed all for weak, powerless, unrighteous, irreverent, unworshipful, sinful people who have been made the enemies of God and should be the object of His wrath. If He was willing to do that for people that far from Him, what can we expect now that we are redeemed, reconciled, made righteous with Christ, filled with the power of the Spirit, sanctified, adopted God worshipers?

One last side note: What is verse 7 about? Does anyone else think that seems backwards? In Hebrew culture a righteous man may be a law keeper who stiff and unloving. The Pharisees were righteous. A good man was a person who not only did what was right, but was also loving and kind and liked. The verse makes more sense when you understand the usage of these two terms in the original language. It's like saying, "It would be unlikely for someone to die for a Pharisee, but for someone like Mother Theresa, someone might die in her place."