Scandalous love

Romans 5:1-10 (TNIV) -

1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;4 perseverance, character; and character, hope.

5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die.

8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

My thoughts -

Sometimes I think we're so accustomed to our own beliefs that we forget the scandal of them; we forget how ridiculous they are. We use the word Jesus and it means something to us. We use the word Savior and it means something to us. We use the words Lamb of God and it means something to us. We're so used to what those words mean to us that we forget, I think, how ridiculous that meaning is. In this section Paul comes right out and spells out their absurdity.

Look at verse 6: "You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly."

Now, what does "Christ" mean to us? This is God incarnate. We say "Son of God" and this is true, but this "son" is God itself. It's tough to wrap my mind around the concept but that's what we believe. Jesus was God, the Creator, the Sustainer, Being itself, I Am, in human form. And not only did God lower itself to become like us, a human being, but God in human form died for us. Not only did God die for us, but God did so at a time when we were unworthy of this sacrifice from ANYONE, let alone GOD.

We were unworthy of this sacrifice. It was a gift. It was a way, THE way, to be reconciled to God. We were enemies and now are no longer so not because of anything we did or could do but because God sent Jesus, God's own son and not only that but God itself, to die in our place. There is no boasting for us that can be found here. There's nothing we can do to earn it. There's no "entrance exam" to come into God's love. Christ wasn't sent for just us. Jesus was the sacrifice to atone for all of our sins. All of humanity has available to it the grace of God through Jesus Christ. Jesus is not ours to be held on to, hoarded, and lorded over the other sinners. Grace is not ours to keep for ourselves but to share freely with all of God's children.

What does Paul say again in verse 6? I think we need to meditate on this for a while. He doesn't say Christ died for Christians. He doesn't say Christ died for the righteous. He doesn't say Christ died for those Christ foreknew would "receive" that gift and repent. He says "Christ died for the ungodly."

That is the scandal that we believe. That is God's scandalous love not for us but for EVERYBODY. Christ, God in human form, the Creator and Sustainer of all things, died for the ungodly. We didn't deserve it. We can't earn it. And there's no way we can keep it to ourselves.