Romans 5:7,8 - While we were still sinners

5:7.8

Paul develops the shocking nature of God’s action. To die for someone else is a very rare thing indeed, even if the person being saved is a righteous person, is in some way deserving of it. But one can just about imagine this happening. So to die for someone else who is a good person is a momentous enough thing in itself, but this is not what God did. The Father sent the Son to die for us while we were still sinners. There was absolutely nothing in us to commend us in any way to God. We can only begin to appreciate the enormity of our salvation and the depths of God’s love when we begin to face up to just how undeserving we are.

5:9

“How much more shall we be saved from the wrath of God?” We have been justified by Christ’s blood,  so what does this mean? It probably includes the final judgement, but in Rom 1:18 Paul has said that the wrath of God is being revealed against all unrighteousness. It is something that is already happening. We are no longer a people under the wrath of God. Sin still has an effect, but rather than being under the wrath of God we are being saved from our sins and our sinfulness. God did not justify us, and at such enormous cost, in order to leave us under the domination of sin.