(Text Only)
Title: Paul’s greatest word….ever.
v7 Paul describes the thoughts of mankind.
Here Paul outlines that it is not impossible to think that for a “good” or “righteous” man would another give up his life, but it would certainly be rare. For those of you familiar with Charles Dickens work A Tale of Two Cities, this idea of giving up one’s life is echoed in the book’s final words, “This is a far far better thing I do, than that which I have ever done.”
But the qualifier is this, that these men that are being died for are either “good” or they are righteous.
V8: Paul describes how vastly different Christ’s death on the cross was for you and I.
What is the difference? That we were not worth such a sacrifice. And this it two-fold.
1. We we not just “not good” but evil. We are not just “unrighteous” but evil.
2. Christ was and is a far more costly sacrifice than simply one man for another.
I’ve shared this sentiment before, If salvation could come from another person’s sacrifice the entire situation would be a lot different. If I could go before God, pleading for the eternal judgement of my beautiful daughter and say, “Lord, punish me instead of Nevaeh for her sins.” Then there would be no need for Christ.
But if I were ever to say those words to God, the response would most certainly be, “And who then, Benjamin, is paying for your sins?”
Christ is the only one who can say, “Father, I don’t owe you anything, because I have never sinned against you. Therefore, take my blood in the place of all of these who have sinned, but confessed of these sins and accepted Me as a payment in full.”
V8 “still”
There is something poignant in this word, “still.” Paul says that before we ever made a verbal commitment to Christ, he died for us. Christ didn’t say to humanity, “Hey I’m thinking of laying down my life for you sins, who’s willing to accept that and be with me forever?”
Rather Christ just went to the cross, and no one who was even walking with him at the time like Peter, or John, had the full idea of what exactly was going on. It wasn’t until the resurrection that the disciples themselves had any idea of the magnitude and ramifications of such a sacrifice would be.
In essence, Christ died, before we committed to him. That’s love.
V9-11 (read)
The most important word in this beautiful exposition of Paul’s is this:
reconciliation.
Because of a love that Christ had for us before we had any affections for him, He died. Because of a plan for salvation that was put into works before we ever existed, he chose us before the very foundations of the world to be His chosen nation.
In order for that to happen, we have to be right with God. And there is only one path, and one blood that leads us to that reconciliation. The blood of a perfect, sinless, innocent martyr. You see, the word, “reconciliation” is left out of the modern Gospel. Why?
Because, first of all “reconciliation” suggests that we’ve done something wrong. And the world isn’t fond of hearing about it’s own sin and shortcomings.
Secondly “reconciliation” suggests that we own God something, some sort of payment to make things right. And the world isn’t fond of admitting we owe anybody anything.
And finally, the phrase “having been reconciled” suggests that we didn’t do the reconciling, but rather that the reconciling was done on our behalf by someone else. The world want to believe they set the terms of their relationship with God.
One final thought. Look again with me at verse 10. This can be a bit confusing, but follow the logic here and watch this verse literally come alive. (Read verse 10).
Essentially Paul says:
When we were God’s enemies we were made right with God b/c of Christ’s death. Now, we are right with God and we are saved, not because he died, but because he lives. Not only did he conquer physical death, proclaiming Christ’s dominion over death itself, but also that He, His Holy Spirit, lives inside us today.
Therefore we are the message of Christ on earth until He returns to reclaim his kingdom. Think about that the next time you are tempted.