Jesus Kneels in Grief Among Olive TreesBible World
5:8Romans 5:8
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
God demonstrates, proves and expresses His love by Christ dying for people while they were still ungodly, without strength, enemies and rebels under sentence of death, not when they were righteous, deserving, worthy or His friends. That love moved first toward sinners and did not begin because humans first loved God, but was given freely without merit or goodness in them, and Christ's death did not cause that love but proved it. In giving Christ God gave everything, all heaven, with nothing greater or more precious to bestow, giving His only beloved Son to a life of suffering and a shameful death to give life to others. The Just suffered for the unjust, bearing human guilt and the penalty of transgression in the sinner's place, so that by His blood sinners are justified, saved from wrath, reconciled to God by His death and saved by His life, with justice fully met and mercy made available. A sinner with nothing to recommend him can come in helpless unworthiness without waiting to become good, look to the cross, and by faith believe he is accepted and forgiven. Knowing that love melts the stubborn heart, changes pride to humility and enmity to love, and sets the pattern to love one another, to love enemies, to forgive as forgiven, and to give self in unselfish service to save the lost.
Wording and Context
The word commendeth means God demonstrates, proves and expresses His love toward people by Christ's death for them. That death is the proof and expression of His love, given while they were still sinners, and it grounds assurance that those justified by His blood shall be saved from wrath. It is received by walking by faith and not by sight, believing forgiveness and acceptance whether feeling is present or not, and finding relief, rest and peace in the sunshine of Christ's presence. It guarantees that God is for the sinner, will with Christ freely give all things needed to subdue evil traits and resist temptation, will never cast him out, never let him perish, and nothing can separate him from the love of God in Christ.
While we were yet sinners means while people were ungodly, without strength, under sentence of death, enemies and rebels against God and His law, in sin and degradation and without hope. Christ died not when people were righteous, deserving, worthy, grateful, good, or His friends, but while they were still sinners who had nothing to recommend them to God. He died not because they were righteous but because they were sinners, not because of any goodness or righteousness of their own but because God loved them, and His love did not wait for them to make themselves good or to love Him first. Therefore the sinner must believe now that God loves him because God has declared it, and believe that Jesus saves him now, with feeling having nothing to do with it.
The verse belongs to the chain of Romans 5:1-11 on being justified by faith, having peace with God through Jesus Christ, having access by faith into grace, rejoicing in hope of the glory of God, and glorying in tribulation that works patience and experience and hope. That hope does not shame because the love of God is shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost given, with Christ in due time dying for the without-strength ungodly and for sinners. Being now justified by His blood they shall be saved from wrath through Him, being reconciled to God by the death of His Son they shall be saved by His life, and through the Lord Jesus Christ they now receive the atonement and joy in God. This grace and truth is to be grasped by faith with thanksgiving, putting away complaint and murmuring and self-vindication, made known to the world by those of living experience, and producing joy in God and joy in tribulation as partaking of Christ's sufferings now and His glory hereafter.
The verse presents the law and the gospel bound together as a perfect whole. This united testimony must go throughout the length and breadth of the world so all may discern the light and walk in the light, giving light and understanding to contrite hearts opened to receive it and to the simple, leading to faith that appropriates God's richest gifts to a purpose and not merely nominal or legal faith. That love opens the treasures of grace where sin abounds, laying open the most marvelous vein of precious truth before church and world, and it is loss to the soul who understands the strong claims of the law yet fails to acknowledge Christ's abundant grace which much more abounds.
The verse shows the Father spared not His own Son but permitted Him to be delivered up for offenses, laying aside the endearing qualities of a father to stand toward the Sin Bearer with the character of a judge. He gave Him to shame, reproach, surveillance by spies, disgrace, insult, mocking and death on Calvary, even an ignominious death. Christ dying for men while they were still sinners, the just suffering for the unjust and bearing human sins in His own body on the tree, is a sight for angels to behold and a marvel to the heavenly host, a hope for man, and the greatest display of love, with His death no less important than His resurrection. Before man was created God and Christ covenanted that if man fell Christ would bear the penalty of transgression, and when man fell God gave Christ and with Him all heaven.
God's Love Revealed
The love shown here moved first toward sinners and did not begin because people first loved God. While they were yet sinners Christ died for them, making full and abundant provision for redemption. Though disobedience merited displeasure and condemnation, sinners have not been forsaken to fight the enemy in finite strength alone, for heavenly angels fight their battles for them, and by cooperating with the angels and trusting Christ as personal Saviour they can be victorious over the powers of evil and more than conquerors. That same first love means people are not treated according to desert, but year after year weakness and ignorance, ingratitude and waywardness, wanderings, hardness of heart, and neglect of the Holy Word are borne with, with the hand stretched out still. Grasping this truth brings peace to the troubled soul, calling sinners to trust in Jesus, His righteous life, and His sin-pardoning power rather than trying to earn peace through self-punishment.
It is unmerited, merciful love to an imperfect, undeserving object, given freely without looking for merit, goodness, or righteousness in people. Mercy is directed toward an imperfect object, and sin brought mercy into active exercise. Grace is given because people need it, not because they are worthy, and their need rather than their worthiness assures them of the gift. Of boundless goodness He heals backslidings, pardons even the greatest sins, and saves souls however dark and sin-oppressed, for He is gracious, slow to anger and of great kindness, long-suffering, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. His heart is touched with the feeling of their infirmities, and Jesus alone gives rest and peace.
Christ's death did not cause this love but proved it. While men were yet sinners and rebels against the law, God loved them and gave Jesus to bear their sins so that pardon may come to all who believe in Him. This was the only hope for the fallen race, that One who knew no sin and was equal with God would come to earth and live the law, proving in humanity that the law could be kept, so that sinners might become partakers of the divine nature and obedient children of God. It is the great work done because God is not willing that any perish, but that whosoever will may come to Him through Christ and live.
It is measureless, boundless, infinite, unfathomable love whose greatness can never be estimated. Its significance is barely half comprehended, because earthly cares and interests hide things of heavenly origin so their importance is not understood. It is believed and rejoiced in but cannot be comprehended, and language is too feeble to describe the love between the Father and the Son. At Calvary God gave His only Son to suffer shame, reproach, surveillance by spies, disgrace, and death, a wonder exceeding the grasp of finite minds, yet the greatest display of love and a marvel to the heavenly host. Christ took the sinner's place and bore the penalty of transgression so that the repentant sinner could be presented to the Father as guiltless, fully meeting the demands of justice and making mercy available.
In giving Christ God gave everything, all heaven, with nothing greater, more costly, or more precious to bestow. He gave His only begotten Son, His beloved Son, not because people had any goodness or righteousness of their own but because He loved them, that those who believe may be made righteous in Him. Christ willingly left the Father, chose a life of suffering, and died a shameful death to give life to others. Before man was created it was covenanted that if man fell Christ would bear the penalty of transgression, and when man fell God gave Christ and with Him all heaven, bridging the gulf made by sin so all may come boldly to the throne for help in every time of need. With Christ God gave all the resources of heaven, making it impossible to say He could have done more for human uplifting and for restoring the divine image, for the Son laid aside royal robe and kingly crown, clothed divinity with humanity, stooped to human estate, took position at the head of humanity to rescue from thralldom of sin, became poor that through His poverty they might be made rich, bore in their behalf the stroke of divine justice, took the place of the sinner, died that they might live, and made His soul an offering for sin, so that being just He became the justifier of all who believe.
That love does not treat people according to desert and does not forsake or condemn them though sins merited condemnation. In boundless compassion and mercy He loves freely while they are still sinners, healing all backslidings, withdrawing not His light but shining on them for Christ's sake. He is infinitely more ready and pleased to pardon than to condemn, graciously not looking for wrong in them but remembering their frame that they are but dust, so that suffering ones pressed with infirmities need only trust Him and commit the keeping of their souls to Him as a faithful Creator whose mercies are sure and whose covenant is everlasting.
The verse reveals the glory of God which is His character, and proves that God is love. God commends His love toward men in that while they were yet sinners and enemies Christ died for them, and this firm declaration of love is to be received personally and grasped by faith with thanksgiving in heart and soul and voice, putting away querulous complaints and murmurings. The cross also proves that the world's guilt is consummated and its doom sealed because the world has united with rebellion, and souls under Satan's power are without hope unless rescued from his power. It calls for reaching a higher and still higher standard and for preparing for the mansions Christ is preparing.
Christ's love is constant and stronger than death, still flowing in rich currents earthward to purchase salvation and unite sinners to Himself. Though sin has existed for ages seeking to counteract that love and obstruct its flowing earthward, and though beaten back by proud, impenitent, unthankful hearts, His mercy returns in a stronger tide of love with every evidence given and the spell of the enemy broken. It loved men in their sin and degradation and reached to the very depths of woe to uplift the erring with unwearied patience and undiminished zeal. In His humanity Christ grasped divinity so that human nature, having overcome, might through faith grasp the divine nature.
Salvation Through Christ's Death
Jesus paid a ransom with His most precious life to set sinners free from bondage to sin, self, and Satan and to give mastery over self and over Satan. By taking the sinner's guilt upon Himself He gives freedom and another trial, with power to overcome evil. He voluntarily pledged to bear the punishment due to transgressors of the law and laid down His precious life to grant a probation of test and trial, to lift sinners to purity, holiness and completeness, and to give peace and rest and joy and a share in the glories of His throne. By faith man receives Jesus, and by Christ's own obedience to the law man is placed on vantage ground with God and given another trial and opportunity to show hatred of sin as transgression of the law and to return to loyalty, resulting in holiness as wholeness for God in perfect obedience to every precept.
The just suffered for the unjust, bearing human sins in His own body on the tree. While humanity was still sinful Christ died in the sinner's place, bearing the sinner's guilt and iniquity and offering to present the repentant person to the Father as guiltless. His death was the just suffering for the unjust, a complete sacrifice that redeems every son and daughter of Adam and makes Him the justifier of all who believe. He took the sinner's place and bore the penalty of transgression and the stroke of divine justice so that the repentant sinner could be presented guiltless, asking the guilt to be laid on Himself and holding out hands bearing the nail prints to declare the sinner graven on His palms. The union of complete humanity with perfect divinity gives strong ground for that reconciliation, providing redemption through His blood which is the forgiveness of sins.
Christ's death grounds being justified by His blood and saved from wrath through Him. That death justifies repentant sinners by His blood, reconciles enemies to God, saves from wrath, saves by His life, and gives peace with God through Jesus Christ and the atonement received in Him. Those justified by faith have peace with God, access by faith into grace, rejoicing in hope of the glory of God, and glorying in tribulations because tribulation works patience and patience experience and experience hope, because the love of God is shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost given. Being reconciled to God by the death of His Son and saved by His life, believers now receive the atonement and joy in God, to be grasped by faith with thanksgiving. The cross bridges the gulf caused by sin and brings people near to God so all may come boldly to the throne for help in every time of need.
At the cross where He died justice and mercy met together and righteousness and peace kissed each other. His sacrifice fully met the demands of justice and made mercy available to sinners. God accepts Christ's offering for sin as complete and enough.
Forgiveness grounded in Christ dying for men while they were yet sinners is the free gift of God without man rendering any equivalent, received through repentance and faith by trusting not in own merits but in the merits of Christ's righteousness. Our sins caused Jesus to die a shameful death, and through His suffering and death pardon may be received by recognizing sin, repenting sincerely, relying wholly on His mercy, and yielding will and actions to His control, for without His pardoning blood we would perish. They cannot remove the stain of sin themselves, but His death makes His merits available to those in peril of destruction. His sacrifice makes divine forgiveness freely available as a blood-bought pardon to those who cannot save themselves. His blood provides the remedy, cleanses from sin and heals backsliding, for no sin is too great for Him to pardon and no soul too dark and sin-oppressed for Him to save, as He is gracious, long-suffering, and not willing that any should perish.
Genuine conversion through His death not only forgives sin upon repentance and confession but makes the sinner a child of God, a member of the royal family, an heir of God and joint-heir with Christ to an immortal inheritance, breaks the power of Satan, and brings into sacred unity with Christ, sharing with us all that He is. His death made full provision for redemption, and grace adopts, regenerates, and raises believers to heirship with Christ, freely given to the undeserving and not earned by worthiness. Christ died so that as children of God, members of the royal family, we might receive everything necessary to happiness and salvation.
Through His death those who believe may be made righteous in Him, not because of any goodness or righteousness in them but because God loved them. While men were yet sinners and rebels against His law, God gave Jesus to bear their sins so pardon may come to all who believe, making it possible for sinners to become partakers of the divine nature and obedient children of God. Seeing Christ crucified, the sinner sees he is a sinner because the law has been transgressed and that Christ died because the law was transgressed, and by living faith lays hold wholly upon the merits of a crucified and risen Saviour, clothed with Christ's righteousness alone, receiving imparted power so he will hate the sins that caused the suffering of the Son of God in his behalf and work the works of righteousness, though still liable to mistakes. Christ died to take away sin and impute His righteousness, and the cross stands between divinity and humanity to draw the sinner so he may come with loads of sin, burdens, and griefs.
His death gives redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins. With nail-pierced hands He lays hold of sinners on earth with one hand and grasps the throne of the Infinite with the other, and thus makes reconciliation. He continues this work now as Mediator and Advocate before the Father, bearing the marks of crucifixion while pleading the cause of souls, with special pity and sympathy for those who suffer most. He also serves as Advocate and Intercessor, presenting His righteousness with prayers which the Father hears when offered sincerely and in contrition, and as best Friend, the one Mediator between God and man.
Complete provision is made to redeem every son and daughter of Adam who accepts Him as personal Saviour. God's love reaches beyond professed people to every child of Adam, because Christ humbled Himself to share human nature and become Son of man and brother to every fallen son and daughter in order to lift them into the heavenly family and embrace the fallen, the erring, and the sinful. What is good and precious in character comes through faith in His sacrifice and acceptance of it, and every soul is of equal value.
People cannot restore or save themselves from sin; if human beings could accomplish their own restoration Christ would not have died. Jesus came to fight humanity's battles, and His victory over the prince of darkness is the only ground of hope. The cross reveals how deeply sin has degraded the human race and how far humanity had sunk, and Christ's death is the price paid to draw people up from that depth.
Christ was under no obligation except love, yet voluntarily pledged His sinless life. He clothed divinity with humanity and came to a world seared and marred by the curse, living not in riches but in poverty, that fallen sinners through His self-denial and poverty might be made rich with eternal treasures. While men were fallen sinners and His enemies He descended step by step in humiliation and suffering, bore bitter opposition and reproach, laid aside royal robe and kingly crown, stooped to human estate, took position at the head of humanity to rescue from thralldom, bore in their behalf the stroke of divine justice, assumed human nature to suffer the penalty of transgression, and laid down His precious life and made His soul an offering for sin. He redeemed by a life of suffering and humiliation and a death of agony and shame, endured for each sinner.
Received by Faith
A sinner with nothing to recommend him to God, feeling unable to hope for blessing, can come to Christ in helpless unworthiness without waiting to make himself good or feel reconciled, look to the cross, connect with heaven by faith, and believe he is accepted. He must believe now that God loves him because God has declared it, and believe that Jesus saves him now, breaking with the enemy who has kept him under darkness and looking to Christ to live, because Christ longs to save him. His death and blood provide the remedy for sin and cleanse those who believe, and make it possible for the erring to be accepted in the Beloved with hope that through Christ's strength they can live better. They need not wait until they feel reconciled to a brother before coming to Jesus, because Christ's Spirit and power can give victory over malice, unkindness, suspicion, hatred, and bitterness even toward enemies who seek to harm them.
The verse belongs to the beginning of true experience when an honest heart reads, marks, learns and inwardly digests truth, sees condemnation, feels conviction and trouble of heart, receives light from the Spirit to see the Word's meaning, and submits to Christ until truth spreads like blood from the heart and perfects the whole being. Seeing Christ crucified shows the sinner he is a sinner because the law has been transgressed and that Christ died because the law was transgressed, with God calling and drawing sinners without laying down conditions and impressing the mind with Christ lifted up on Calvary in love beyond anything imagined. By living faith he lays hold wholly and entirely on the merits of a crucified and risen Saviour, knowing he has no righteousness of his own and cannot make a single virtue in himself, clothed with Christ's righteousness alone as the only thing that can cleanse him. He receives imparted power and strength so he will not want to sin and will hate the sins that caused the suffering of the Son of God in his behalf, though he may still make mistakes and errors, and having come in this way he then works the works of righteousness.
The verse is received by walking by faith and not by sight, believing God has forgiven and Christ receives the confessing, surrendered soul whether feeling is present or not, for feeling has nothing to do with it and must not control him. Salvation rests on trusting Christ, not on feeling that He is Saviour, by thinking on the might of God's grace and the compassion of Christ. Beholding Christ's love and mercy awakens abhorrence of sin and desire for Christ's righteousness, while seeing the Saviour more clearly also reveals defects of character, leading to confession with true contrition and cooperation with Christ in putting sins away and believing they are pardoned. This love and compassion is the ground to find relief, rest, and peace in living in the sunshine of Christ's presence.
The verse gives decisive evidence of God's goodness that leaves no ground for distrust or doubt of His love. Worrying and fretting dishonors Him by putting trust in human finite powers instead of in Him, while obedient trust with the simplicity of a child trusting its parent brings the peace that Jesus gives, not the peace the world gives. To keep questioning God and doubting His love after Christ giving His life is presumption and unbelief of the heart, for no greater proof will be given and Christ will not die a second time to make doubters believe. Wandering sheep seeking rest and peace without finding it must come to Him as the fountain of life, and if they believe in Him and in His power to save they are made free indeed, Satan has no dominion over them, and in Him they have peace, rest, and salvation.
The verse guarantees God is for the believer, will with Christ freely give all things needed to subdue every evil trait and resist every temptation, will never cast him out, will never let him perish, and nothing can separate him from God's love in Christ. Christ's death is the assurance that God accepts those who come to Him and will freely provide what they need, made atonement for us while we were still sinners and without hope, and gives reason to trust Him as Redeemer and Saviour and to rely wholly on Him for help in every time of trouble. It is the ground of hope and salvation for those who seek Him with all their heart. The verse belongs to the chain of Romans 5:1-11 on being justified by faith, having peace with God through Jesus Christ, having access by faith into grace, rejoicing in hope of the glory of God, glorying in tribulation that works patience and experience and hope, knowing the love of God shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost, Christ dying for the without-strength ungodly and for sinners, being justified by blood and saved from wrath, being reconciled by the death of the Son and saved by His life, and joying in God through receiving the atonement.
That death justifies repentant sinners by His blood, reconciles enemies to God, saves from wrath, and saves by His life, giving peace with God and the atonement received in Him. Genuine conversion through it not only forgives sin upon repentance and confession but makes the sinner a child of God, a member of the royal family, an heir of God and joint-heir with Christ to an immortal inheritance, breaks the power of Satan, brings into sacred unity with Christ, makes one with Him, shares with us all that He is, and completely identifies us with Him. It produces joy in God and joy in tribulation as partaking of Christ's sufferings now and His glory hereafter, with those justified by faith having peace, access by faith into grace, rejoicing in hope, and glorying in tribulations because tribulation works patience and patience experience and experience hope, and hope does not shame because the love of God is shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost given to us, so they do not vindicate and justify themselves. This love is the reason believers receive the Holy Spirit and glory in tribulation and have joy in Him instead of sorrow, tears, and doubt, offering atonement and assurance of God's favor so that grasping this truth brings peace to the troubled soul without trying to earn peace through self-punishment.
The verse calls for personal appropriation, for Christ died for you. Love is not to be expected in some new wonderful display, because its wonderful manner was already evidenced at Christ's crucifixion, with the light of His love still shining in bright beams from the cross. The afflicted are to come near to Christ the Mighty Healer and personally accept that love by appropriating God's promises to themselves, without doubts, without talking of self and without worry, by talking of Jesus, thinking of Him, singing of His matchless love, searching the rich promises of God, and trusting Jesus' power every moment, for though sin has long sought to counteract God's love and obstruct its flowing earthward, that love still flows in rich currents, every evidence has been given, the spell of the enemy is broken, and there is freedom in the love and compassion of Jesus. Looking at the cross brings the personal recognition that Jesus died for me, with the cross standing between divinity and humanity to draw the sinner and the Father accepting the sacrifice as enough so the sinner may come with loads of sin, burdens, and griefs, and this should make God's people the happiest people on earth, full of triumph, praise, and song. Christ's death is personal subject matter that each may dwell upon with profit, speaking it in the spirit and love of Jesus as part of individual experience, soul struggles and victories obtained, and contributing it to the life and soul of the meeting so the blessing of God comes in large measure, calling for a tribute of praise to God from a thankful heart.
God's grace meets even a weak good desire, a faltering prayer, or tears of remorse, revealing God's tender love and willingness to receive every wanderer who returns, with the Spirit moving to meet the soul before its prayer is offered or its longing made known. That love manifested in Christ's death awakens a thankful response in the heart and causes the understanding to take hold of Christ, working as God's inexhaustible supply of grace to heal every spiritual disease, cleanse hearts from all defilement, unite human beings with Christ for willing obedience, and transform taste, judgment, and heart to completeness in Christ, revealing the beauty and fragrance of His character in the life as testimony that God sent His Son, a wonderful change no other power could bring. That love has thrown open the gates of Paradise, and the heart of the mystery of redemption is love, giving the beholder the same spirit that led Christ to die for sinners, binding his life up with Christ's life, and taking possession of every part of his being with desire to serve Him. Christ's death for sinners draws and wins them to repentance, faith, and adoration of His immeasurable love, leading sinners to see the sinfulness of sin and to come to Him to have life, for though rich in heaven and in the form of God He became poor and took the form of a servant, redeeming by a life of suffering and humiliation and a death of agony and shame endured for each sinner, to form a righteous character in people and elevate the fallen race.
Living and Sharing Love
The love proved when Christ died for people while still sinners is the love with which to love one another, loving first and not because first loved, not treating people according to desert but bearing year after year with weakness and ignorance, ingratitude and waywardness, wanderings, hardness of heart and neglect of the Word, with hand still stretched out. Knowing that love melts and subdues the stubborn heart, expels sin rather than compelling, changes pride to humility and enmity and unbelief to love and faith, breaks the heart into contrition, subdues and drives out every trace of self-love and self-seeking and idolatry of self, and transforms the sinner into a child of heaven. Kept ever present in mind it produces gentle and subdued manners without deception, pretense, self-admiration or careless friendship with the world, makes praise more painful than censure, and turns from earthly and fleshly mindedness to refuge in Christ with hope, earnest continual study of Scripture and prayer.
That love calls for putting away malice, unkindness, suspicion, hatred, bitterness, selfishness, indifference, severity, sharp criticism and strife, even toward enemies who seek harm, and for showing kindness, patience, forbearance, mercy, tender-heartedness, compassion and courtesy in peace and harmony. Victory over such feelings need not wait until feeling reconciled to a brother, for Christ's Spirit and power can give it, and where love for Him who first loved is in the heart believers will be eager and earnest to overcome everything that destroys unity. Indifference to divine favors and entreaties, severity toward those supposed in error, sensitivity to blame, hints and sharp criticisms, blindness to own failings, enmity and hatred, and strife among those of the same faith and work violate the tenderness, love and forbearance of Christ, while His love learned produces loving gratitude toward God, sympathy with neighbors, making their interests our own, and love for one another.
Christ loved people first while enemies, and that sets the pattern to love one another, to love enemies as one phase of Christian perfection, and to love even those who displease and seem faulty and defective, who are weak and suffering and need it most, and who are not yet in the faith. That love is not for favored ones only but must grow from affection for special ones to embrace all who need it, with the strong bearing the infirmities of the weak as Christ did, letting it melt hard, cast-iron character and not turning healing influence away. Believers near the close of earth's history must exercise that same love toward fellow men and perishing souls through self-denial, self-sacrifice and crucifixion of self to seek and save the lost as laborers together with God, with self dead and life hid with Christ in God, which cannot exist without supreme love to God first, putting all desires and will on the Lord's side, driving out pride and desire for display, and diligent learning in the school of Christ.
Every soul around is just as precious in God's sight as one's own, of value as purchased by His blood and measured by eternal life, since the Son sacrificed Himself to save souls from destruction. That self-giving love is the pattern commanded for believers, calling each person individually to turn over a new leaf and labor earnestly for those around, teaching truth by practicing it, denying self to have means to give to the Lord's work, and working in faith that God will greatly bless. Heavenly intelligences stand close beside every soul earnestly laboring to win souls to Christ, that these souls may in turn glorify God and rejoice His heart of love as channels of the riches of Christ's mercy and grace. Those not yet in the faith are therefore to be labored for and pointed to the Saviour by speaking words of courage and hope and by tangible proof of genuine interest, including helping provide food and clothing when needed, and many can thus be reached by truth.
The ground of all forgiveness is that Christ died while yet sinners, a free gift without equivalent received through repentance and faith by trusting not in own merits but in the merits of Christ's righteousness. Men do not receive forgiveness because they forgive, but as they forgive, so as God for Christ's sake has forgiven they must willingly, freely, thoroughly forgive erring brethren. All who desire a Christlike character must ever behold the cross and have in heart the same merciful spirit that led Christ to sacrifice Himself, exercising mercy to restore every unsaved soul within influence and forgiving and accepting the repentant sinner. Just as men deal with a fellow being who has done wrong and repented, so God will deal with them for their own defects; if they refuse to share divine grace and show a merciful spirit they need not expect to be shielded by the mercy of a just God, while he who cooperates with God by showing mercy brings himself into harmony with the divine attributes where God will extend mercy to him.
Christ died to save sinners from ruin and eternal death, revealing matchless love, boundless compassion and immeasurable love toward the unworthy, and His love calls for grateful response. The gift was given first, so people would have nothing to give unless first given to, and in return those loved are to bring a thank offering and gratitude offering of self, time, talents, affections and means flowing out in a tide of love for saving the lost, using possessions in unselfish service, giving undivided energies to His work and withholding nothing. Christian service does not earn salvation but is the response of those who have received the undeserved gift, working with God to bring others to salvation, with true religion feeling a debt of love, kindness and interest owed to Christ in behalf of brethren, paid by gratitude expressed in deep interest and unselfish love for less fortunate brethren.
As Christ worked for people while unbelievers, leaving the courts of glory to share temptations and hardships in order to lift them up and make them sons and daughters of God, so believers are to work for unbelieving friends and neighbors. They are to become acquainted with spiritual needs and labor in meekness and lowliness of heart while watching for souls, guarding every word and act, refusing to cause stumbling or give any opportunity to feel justified in a wrong course. God's love toward sinners found perfect expression in Christ, who loved men in sin and degradation and reached to the very depths of woe to uplift the erring with unwearied patience and unlessened zeal, His mercy returning in stronger tide when beaten back by proud, impenitent, unthankful hearts. This love constrains those who receive it to go forth among fellow men to help the helpless and encourage the desponding, to point sinners to God's ideal for His children and lead them to Christ who alone can enable them to reach it.
The wealth of love evidenced by Christ's death on the cross, with no love equal to what God has manifested, must be presented before the people and have a part in every discourse by those whose hearts are filled with the love of Jesus. Making men know how much He loves them and what evidences He has given breaks down barriers of prejudice and impenitence and affects hearts, especially when presented from a heart filled with that love. His death for souls involved great humiliation to bring salvation, and He is now a sin-pardoning Saviour ready to forgive all iniquities, so this love should fill believers with love to Jesus and love for souls, moving them to present Him in simplicity and represent Him before people to save them, pointing each person to Him and seeking to draw them to Him. That saving death is continued by sanitariums as His helping hand, making ignorant people intelligent about health, relieving suffering, restoring health, and teaching carefulness in eating and drinking so men and women live to honor and glorify God.
That love gives Christ a right to entire obedience, so one claiming Him as Saviour must not continue to cherish sinful practices, because to do so misrepresents Him and puts Him to open shame. Keeping the Father's commandments keeps the abiding place in the Father's love, as Christ's keeping His Father's commandments kept His abiding place in the Father's love, and God loves believers as He loved Jesus Christ. Through prayer and faith it can be known that the heart is one with the heart of Christ. The gift calls for grateful love in return expressed as thank offering flowing out in love for saving the lost, using possessions in unselfish service, giving undivided energies to His work and cooperating fully with God to reveal the beauty of truth, since having a name on church books does not make a Christian.
Believers are to deny self, take up the cross and follow His example in self-denial and self-sacrifice, crucifying self to seek and save the lost as laborers together with God, serving selflessly, helping those in need, seeking the lost, and enduring hardship and reproach for His sake. Christ was under no obligation except love, yet voluntarily pledged to bear punishment due transgressors, descended step by step in humiliation and suffering, bore bitter opposition and reproach without murmur, laid aside royal robe and kingly crown, clothed divinity with humanity, became poor that through poverty they might be made rich, bore the stroke of divine justice, and laid down His precious life to grant probation, impute spotless righteousness, lift to purity, holiness and completeness, pour fullness into poverty-stricken souls, and give peace, rest, joy and a share in His throne. Contemplation of this matchless love, decided in heavenly courts and worked out by Father, Son and Holy Spirit with all heaven's resources given, fills the soul with inexpressible gratitude, cleanses from selfishness, teaches not to exalt self, and leads to deny self, lift the cross and follow the Redeemer, for those who will not follow Him in self-denial and self-sacrifice will never be overcomers.
Contemplating the greatness of God's love expressed in the gift of His only begotten Son should lead to praise and thanksgiving and opening the heart to the love and generosity of the heavenly Father, correcting narrow ideas that He is hard to propitiate. It gives every person individually the privilege to lay hold of advantages Christ provided, keep faith strong, cherish the tenderness and compassion of the Saviour, and make happiness instead of marring it by dwelling on sorrows, trials and faults of others. His death reveals God's love and compassion more fully than the kindness of even closest human friends, and should awaken gratitude, overcome indifference and move to cheerful obedience. Gratitude, praise and thanksgiving for the gift need to be searched for and cultivated as lost arts, more precious to Jesus than all gold and silver, and those who receive the gift are to share His light, bringing courage, hope and joy in the Lord to contrite and humble hearts, with glad joy for the privilege of being a child of God.
Christ gave up royalty, glory and riches, took humanity and laid down His life to reach people and save them, and His example calls followers to like self-sacrificing concern for others, with no sacrifice too great in cooperating with Him in saving souls. His love did not wait for people to become worthy or grateful, and His mercy continued even when met with proud, impenitent hearts, calling followers to keep serving with patience and generosity even when efforts are not appreciated. Christ remains ready to receive every wanderer who returns, so those who themselves need salvation must not treat struggling or straying people with indifference or contempt, but help bring them back to God with Christlike mercy.
God's love is proved daily by continual benefits with infinite tenderness, above all in Christ giving His precious life for enemies, yet the significance of that death as proof of love is barely half comprehended because earthly cares hide things of heavenly origin. A deeper sense of Calvary gives ministers and teachers a deeper sense of spiritual need and sacredness of trust, and circulates higher life through churches and institutions. That love must be realized in personal experience, producing love and fear toward God, since fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; flattering men and women in impenitence will never lead them to it, and peaceableness in unrighteousness is not pure and undefiled religion.
That spirit shapes how Christ abides within, especially in parenting even disobedient, unkind and unlovable children, not by fretting, censuring or discouraging them and not by provoking them to rebel. It works by cooperating with the teacher, encouraging wise discipline, praying much for the one teaching the children, and then God's wisdom teaches the right course in every emergency. By divine appointment God is Saviour of men, not destroyer but restorer, to renew His own image, to encourage, enlighten, sanctify, elevate and ennoble, as expressed by the cross of Calvary where He gave His life. He will not pass over any wrong committed in dealing with human agents for whom He has given His life, and those who do not with all their powers cooperate with Christ in this work will never see the kingdom, for Christ is Judge of the world.
His sacrifice gives sinners reason to trust in God's love, revealing depth of love in dying on Calvary to redeem from death. That love carries intensive interest for all suffering humanity, and when sick people who are nervous and timid are made acquainted with it, their fear is overcome.
God demonstrates, proves and expresses His love by Christ dying for people while they were still ungodly, without strength, enemies and rebels under sentence of death, not when they were righteous, deserving, worthy or His friends. That love moved first toward sinners and did not begin because humans first loved God, but was given freely without merit or goodness in them, and Christ's death did not cause that love but proved it. In giving Christ God gave everything, all heaven, with nothing greater or more precious to bestow, giving His only beloved Son to a life of suffering and a shameful death to give life to others. The Just suffered for the unjust, bearing human guilt and the penalty of transgression in the sinner's place, so that by His blood sinners are justified, saved from wrath, reconciled to God by His death and saved by His life, with justice fully met and mercy made available. A sinner with nothing to recommend him can come in helpless unworthiness without waiting to become good, look to the cross, and by faith believe he is accepted and forgiven. Knowing that love melts the stubborn heart, changes pride to humility and enmity to love, and sets the pattern to love one another, to love enemies, to forgive as forgiven, and to give self in unselfish service to save the lost.
Wording and Context
The word commendeth means God demonstrates, proves and expresses His love toward people by Christ's death for them. That death is the proof and expression of His love, given while they were still sinners, and it grounds assurance that those justified by His blood shall be saved from wrath. It is received by walking by faith and not by sight, believing forgiveness and acceptance whether feeling is present or not, and finding relief, rest and peace in the sunshine of Christ's presence. It guarantees that God is for the sinner, will with Christ freely give all things needed to subdue evil traits and resist temptation, will never cast him out, never let him perish, and nothing can separate him from the love of God in Christ.
While we were yet sinners means while people were ungodly, without strength, under sentence of death, enemies and rebels against God and His law, in sin and degradation and without hope. Christ died not when people were righteous, deserving, worthy, grateful, good, or His friends, but while they were still sinners who had nothing to recommend them to God. He died not because they were righteous but because they were sinners, not because of any goodness or righteousness of their own but because God loved them, and His love did not wait for them to make themselves good or to love Him first. Therefore the sinner must believe now that God loves him because God has declared it, and believe that Jesus saves him now, with feeling having nothing to do with it.
The verse belongs to the chain of Romans 5:1-11 on being justified by faith, having peace with God through Jesus Christ, having access by faith into grace, rejoicing in hope of the glory of God, and glorying in tribulation that works patience and experience and hope. That hope does not shame because the love of God is shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost given, with Christ in due time dying for the without-strength ungodly and for sinners. Being now justified by His blood they shall be saved from wrath through Him, being reconciled to God by the death of His Son they shall be saved by His life, and through the Lord Jesus Christ they now receive the atonement and joy in God. This grace and truth is to be grasped by faith with thanksgiving, putting away complaint and murmuring and self-vindication, made known to the world by those of living experience, and producing joy in God and joy in tribulation as partaking of Christ's sufferings now and His glory hereafter.
The verse presents the law and the gospel bound together as a perfect whole. This united testimony must go throughout the length and breadth of the world so all may discern the light and walk in the light, giving light and understanding to contrite hearts opened to receive it and to the simple, leading to faith that appropriates God's richest gifts to a purpose and not merely nominal or legal faith. That love opens the treasures of grace where sin abounds, laying open the most marvelous vein of precious truth before church and world, and it is loss to the soul who understands the strong claims of the law yet fails to acknowledge Christ's abundant grace which much more abounds.
The verse shows the Father spared not His own Son but permitted Him to be delivered up for offenses, laying aside the endearing qualities of a father to stand toward the Sin Bearer with the character of a judge. He gave Him to shame, reproach, surveillance by spies, disgrace, insult, mocking and death on Calvary, even an ignominious death. Christ dying for men while they were still sinners, the just suffering for the unjust and bearing human sins in His own body on the tree, is a sight for angels to behold and a marvel to the heavenly host, a hope for man, and the greatest display of love, with His death no less important than His resurrection. Before man was created God and Christ covenanted that if man fell Christ would bear the penalty of transgression, and when man fell God gave Christ and with Him all heaven.
God's Love Revealed
The love shown here moved first toward sinners and did not begin because people first loved God. While they were yet sinners Christ died for them, making full and abundant provision for redemption. Though disobedience merited displeasure and condemnation, sinners have not been forsaken to fight the enemy in finite strength alone, for heavenly angels fight their battles for them, and by cooperating with the angels and trusting Christ as personal Saviour they can be victorious over the powers of evil and more than conquerors. That same first love means people are not treated according to desert, but year after year weakness and ignorance, ingratitude and waywardness, wanderings, hardness of heart, and neglect of the Holy Word are borne with, with the hand stretched out still. Grasping this truth brings peace to the troubled soul, calling sinners to trust in Jesus, His righteous life, and His sin-pardoning power rather than trying to earn peace through self-punishment.
It is unmerited, merciful love to an imperfect, undeserving object, given freely without looking for merit, goodness, or righteousness in people. Mercy is directed toward an imperfect object, and sin brought mercy into active exercise. Grace is given because people need it, not because they are worthy, and their need rather than their worthiness assures them of the gift. Of boundless goodness He heals backslidings, pardons even the greatest sins, and saves souls however dark and sin-oppressed, for He is gracious, slow to anger and of great kindness, long-suffering, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. His heart is touched with the feeling of their infirmities, and Jesus alone gives rest and peace.
Christ's death did not cause this love but proved it. While men were yet sinners and rebels against the law, God loved them and gave Jesus to bear their sins so that pardon may come to all who believe in Him. This was the only hope for the fallen race, that One who knew no sin and was equal with God would come to earth and live the law, proving in humanity that the law could be kept, so that sinners might become partakers of the divine nature and obedient children of God. It is the great work done because God is not willing that any perish, but that whosoever will may come to Him through Christ and live.
It is measureless, boundless, infinite, unfathomable love whose greatness can never be estimated. Its significance is barely half comprehended, because earthly cares and interests hide things of heavenly origin so their importance is not understood. It is believed and rejoiced in but cannot be comprehended, and language is too feeble to describe the love between the Father and the Son. At Calvary God gave His only Son to suffer shame, reproach, surveillance by spies, disgrace, and death, a wonder exceeding the grasp of finite minds, yet the greatest display of love and a marvel to the heavenly host. Christ took the sinner's place and bore the penalty of transgression so that the repentant sinner could be presented to the Father as guiltless, fully meeting the demands of justice and making mercy available.
In giving Christ God gave everything, all heaven, with nothing greater, more costly, or more precious to bestow. He gave His only begotten Son, His beloved Son, not because people had any goodness or righteousness of their own but because He loved them, that those who believe may be made righteous in Him. Christ willingly left the Father, chose a life of suffering, and died a shameful death to give life to others. Before man was created it was covenanted that if man fell Christ would bear the penalty of transgression, and when man fell God gave Christ and with Him all heaven, bridging the gulf made by sin so all may come boldly to the throne for help in every time of need. With Christ God gave all the resources of heaven, making it impossible to say He could have done more for human uplifting and for restoring the divine image, for the Son laid aside royal robe and kingly crown, clothed divinity with humanity, stooped to human estate, took position at the head of humanity to rescue from thralldom of sin, became poor that through His poverty they might be made rich, bore in their behalf the stroke of divine justice, took the place of the sinner, died that they might live, and made His soul an offering for sin, so that being just He became the justifier of all who believe.
That love does not treat people according to desert and does not forsake or condemn them though sins merited condemnation. In boundless compassion and mercy He loves freely while they are still sinners, healing all backslidings, withdrawing not His light but shining on them for Christ's sake. He is infinitely more ready and pleased to pardon than to condemn, graciously not looking for wrong in them but remembering their frame that they are but dust, so that suffering ones pressed with infirmities need only trust Him and commit the keeping of their souls to Him as a faithful Creator whose mercies are sure and whose covenant is everlasting.
The verse reveals the glory of God which is His character, and proves that God is love. God commends His love toward men in that while they were yet sinners and enemies Christ died for them, and this firm declaration of love is to be received personally and grasped by faith with thanksgiving in heart and soul and voice, putting away querulous complaints and murmurings. The cross also proves that the world's guilt is consummated and its doom sealed because the world has united with rebellion, and souls under Satan's power are without hope unless rescued from his power. It calls for reaching a higher and still higher standard and for preparing for the mansions Christ is preparing.
Christ's love is constant and stronger than death, still flowing in rich currents earthward to purchase salvation and unite sinners to Himself. Though sin has existed for ages seeking to counteract that love and obstruct its flowing earthward, and though beaten back by proud, impenitent, unthankful hearts, His mercy returns in a stronger tide of love with every evidence given and the spell of the enemy broken. It loved men in their sin and degradation and reached to the very depths of woe to uplift the erring with unwearied patience and undiminished zeal. In His humanity Christ grasped divinity so that human nature, having overcome, might through faith grasp the divine nature.
Salvation Through Christ's Death
Jesus paid a ransom with His most precious life to set sinners free from bondage to sin, self, and Satan and to give mastery over self and over Satan. By taking the sinner's guilt upon Himself He gives freedom and another trial, with power to overcome evil. He voluntarily pledged to bear the punishment due to transgressors of the law and laid down His precious life to grant a probation of test and trial, to lift sinners to purity, holiness and completeness, and to give peace and rest and joy and a share in the glories of His throne. By faith man receives Jesus, and by Christ's own obedience to the law man is placed on vantage ground with God and given another trial and opportunity to show hatred of sin as transgression of the law and to return to loyalty, resulting in holiness as wholeness for God in perfect obedience to every precept.
The just suffered for the unjust, bearing human sins in His own body on the tree. While humanity was still sinful Christ died in the sinner's place, bearing the sinner's guilt and iniquity and offering to present the repentant person to the Father as guiltless. His death was the just suffering for the unjust, a complete sacrifice that redeems every son and daughter of Adam and makes Him the justifier of all who believe. He took the sinner's place and bore the penalty of transgression and the stroke of divine justice so that the repentant sinner could be presented guiltless, asking the guilt to be laid on Himself and holding out hands bearing the nail prints to declare the sinner graven on His palms. The union of complete humanity with perfect divinity gives strong ground for that reconciliation, providing redemption through His blood which is the forgiveness of sins.
Christ's death grounds being justified by His blood and saved from wrath through Him. That death justifies repentant sinners by His blood, reconciles enemies to God, saves from wrath, saves by His life, and gives peace with God through Jesus Christ and the atonement received in Him. Those justified by faith have peace with God, access by faith into grace, rejoicing in hope of the glory of God, and glorying in tribulations because tribulation works patience and patience experience and experience hope, because the love of God is shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost given. Being reconciled to God by the death of His Son and saved by His life, believers now receive the atonement and joy in God, to be grasped by faith with thanksgiving. The cross bridges the gulf caused by sin and brings people near to God so all may come boldly to the throne for help in every time of need.
At the cross where He died justice and mercy met together and righteousness and peace kissed each other. His sacrifice fully met the demands of justice and made mercy available to sinners. God accepts Christ's offering for sin as complete and enough.
Forgiveness grounded in Christ dying for men while they were yet sinners is the free gift of God without man rendering any equivalent, received through repentance and faith by trusting not in own merits but in the merits of Christ's righteousness. Our sins caused Jesus to die a shameful death, and through His suffering and death pardon may be received by recognizing sin, repenting sincerely, relying wholly on His mercy, and yielding will and actions to His control, for without His pardoning blood we would perish. They cannot remove the stain of sin themselves, but His death makes His merits available to those in peril of destruction. His sacrifice makes divine forgiveness freely available as a blood-bought pardon to those who cannot save themselves. His blood provides the remedy, cleanses from sin and heals backsliding, for no sin is too great for Him to pardon and no soul too dark and sin-oppressed for Him to save, as He is gracious, long-suffering, and not willing that any should perish.
Genuine conversion through His death not only forgives sin upon repentance and confession but makes the sinner a child of God, a member of the royal family, an heir of God and joint-heir with Christ to an immortal inheritance, breaks the power of Satan, and brings into sacred unity with Christ, sharing with us all that He is. His death made full provision for redemption, and grace adopts, regenerates, and raises believers to heirship with Christ, freely given to the undeserving and not earned by worthiness. Christ died so that as children of God, members of the royal family, we might receive everything necessary to happiness and salvation.
Through His death those who believe may be made righteous in Him, not because of any goodness or righteousness in them but because God loved them. While men were yet sinners and rebels against His law, God gave Jesus to bear their sins so pardon may come to all who believe, making it possible for sinners to become partakers of the divine nature and obedient children of God. Seeing Christ crucified, the sinner sees he is a sinner because the law has been transgressed and that Christ died because the law was transgressed, and by living faith lays hold wholly upon the merits of a crucified and risen Saviour, clothed with Christ's righteousness alone, receiving imparted power so he will hate the sins that caused the suffering of the Son of God in his behalf and work the works of righteousness, though still liable to mistakes. Christ died to take away sin and impute His righteousness, and the cross stands between divinity and humanity to draw the sinner so he may come with loads of sin, burdens, and griefs.
His death gives redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins. With nail-pierced hands He lays hold of sinners on earth with one hand and grasps the throne of the Infinite with the other, and thus makes reconciliation. He continues this work now as Mediator and Advocate before the Father, bearing the marks of crucifixion while pleading the cause of souls, with special pity and sympathy for those who suffer most. He also serves as Advocate and Intercessor, presenting His righteousness with prayers which the Father hears when offered sincerely and in contrition, and as best Friend, the one Mediator between God and man.
Complete provision is made to redeem every son and daughter of Adam who accepts Him as personal Saviour. God's love reaches beyond professed people to every child of Adam, because Christ humbled Himself to share human nature and become Son of man and brother to every fallen son and daughter in order to lift them into the heavenly family and embrace the fallen, the erring, and the sinful. What is good and precious in character comes through faith in His sacrifice and acceptance of it, and every soul is of equal value.
People cannot restore or save themselves from sin; if human beings could accomplish their own restoration Christ would not have died. Jesus came to fight humanity's battles, and His victory over the prince of darkness is the only ground of hope. The cross reveals how deeply sin has degraded the human race and how far humanity had sunk, and Christ's death is the price paid to draw people up from that depth.
Christ was under no obligation except love, yet voluntarily pledged His sinless life. He clothed divinity with humanity and came to a world seared and marred by the curse, living not in riches but in poverty, that fallen sinners through His self-denial and poverty might be made rich with eternal treasures. While men were fallen sinners and His enemies He descended step by step in humiliation and suffering, bore bitter opposition and reproach, laid aside royal robe and kingly crown, stooped to human estate, took position at the head of humanity to rescue from thralldom, bore in their behalf the stroke of divine justice, assumed human nature to suffer the penalty of transgression, and laid down His precious life and made His soul an offering for sin. He redeemed by a life of suffering and humiliation and a death of agony and shame, endured for each sinner.
Received by Faith
A sinner with nothing to recommend him to God, feeling unable to hope for blessing, can come to Christ in helpless unworthiness without waiting to make himself good or feel reconciled, look to the cross, connect with heaven by faith, and believe he is accepted. He must believe now that God loves him because God has declared it, and believe that Jesus saves him now, breaking with the enemy who has kept him under darkness and looking to Christ to live, because Christ longs to save him. His death and blood provide the remedy for sin and cleanse those who believe, and make it possible for the erring to be accepted in the Beloved with hope that through Christ's strength they can live better. They need not wait until they feel reconciled to a brother before coming to Jesus, because Christ's Spirit and power can give victory over malice, unkindness, suspicion, hatred, and bitterness even toward enemies who seek to harm them.
The verse belongs to the beginning of true experience when an honest heart reads, marks, learns and inwardly digests truth, sees condemnation, feels conviction and trouble of heart, receives light from the Spirit to see the Word's meaning, and submits to Christ until truth spreads like blood from the heart and perfects the whole being. Seeing Christ crucified shows the sinner he is a sinner because the law has been transgressed and that Christ died because the law was transgressed, with God calling and drawing sinners without laying down conditions and impressing the mind with Christ lifted up on Calvary in love beyond anything imagined. By living faith he lays hold wholly and entirely on the merits of a crucified and risen Saviour, knowing he has no righteousness of his own and cannot make a single virtue in himself, clothed with Christ's righteousness alone as the only thing that can cleanse him. He receives imparted power and strength so he will not want to sin and will hate the sins that caused the suffering of the Son of God in his behalf, though he may still make mistakes and errors, and having come in this way he then works the works of righteousness.
The verse is received by walking by faith and not by sight, believing God has forgiven and Christ receives the confessing, surrendered soul whether feeling is present or not, for feeling has nothing to do with it and must not control him. Salvation rests on trusting Christ, not on feeling that He is Saviour, by thinking on the might of God's grace and the compassion of Christ. Beholding Christ's love and mercy awakens abhorrence of sin and desire for Christ's righteousness, while seeing the Saviour more clearly also reveals defects of character, leading to confession with true contrition and cooperation with Christ in putting sins away and believing they are pardoned. This love and compassion is the ground to find relief, rest, and peace in living in the sunshine of Christ's presence.
The verse gives decisive evidence of God's goodness that leaves no ground for distrust or doubt of His love. Worrying and fretting dishonors Him by putting trust in human finite powers instead of in Him, while obedient trust with the simplicity of a child trusting its parent brings the peace that Jesus gives, not the peace the world gives. To keep questioning God and doubting His love after Christ giving His life is presumption and unbelief of the heart, for no greater proof will be given and Christ will not die a second time to make doubters believe. Wandering sheep seeking rest and peace without finding it must come to Him as the fountain of life, and if they believe in Him and in His power to save they are made free indeed, Satan has no dominion over them, and in Him they have peace, rest, and salvation.
The verse guarantees God is for the believer, will with Christ freely give all things needed to subdue every evil trait and resist every temptation, will never cast him out, will never let him perish, and nothing can separate him from God's love in Christ. Christ's death is the assurance that God accepts those who come to Him and will freely provide what they need, made atonement for us while we were still sinners and without hope, and gives reason to trust Him as Redeemer and Saviour and to rely wholly on Him for help in every time of trouble. It is the ground of hope and salvation for those who seek Him with all their heart. The verse belongs to the chain of Romans 5:1-11 on being justified by faith, having peace with God through Jesus Christ, having access by faith into grace, rejoicing in hope of the glory of God, glorying in tribulation that works patience and experience and hope, knowing the love of God shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost, Christ dying for the without-strength ungodly and for sinners, being justified by blood and saved from wrath, being reconciled by the death of the Son and saved by His life, and joying in God through receiving the atonement.
That death justifies repentant sinners by His blood, reconciles enemies to God, saves from wrath, and saves by His life, giving peace with God and the atonement received in Him. Genuine conversion through it not only forgives sin upon repentance and confession but makes the sinner a child of God, a member of the royal family, an heir of God and joint-heir with Christ to an immortal inheritance, breaks the power of Satan, brings into sacred unity with Christ, makes one with Him, shares with us all that He is, and completely identifies us with Him. It produces joy in God and joy in tribulation as partaking of Christ's sufferings now and His glory hereafter, with those justified by faith having peace, access by faith into grace, rejoicing in hope, and glorying in tribulations because tribulation works patience and patience experience and experience hope, and hope does not shame because the love of God is shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost given to us, so they do not vindicate and justify themselves. This love is the reason believers receive the Holy Spirit and glory in tribulation and have joy in Him instead of sorrow, tears, and doubt, offering atonement and assurance of God's favor so that grasping this truth brings peace to the troubled soul without trying to earn peace through self-punishment.
The verse calls for personal appropriation, for Christ died for you. Love is not to be expected in some new wonderful display, because its wonderful manner was already evidenced at Christ's crucifixion, with the light of His love still shining in bright beams from the cross. The afflicted are to come near to Christ the Mighty Healer and personally accept that love by appropriating God's promises to themselves, without doubts, without talking of self and without worry, by talking of Jesus, thinking of Him, singing of His matchless love, searching the rich promises of God, and trusting Jesus' power every moment, for though sin has long sought to counteract God's love and obstruct its flowing earthward, that love still flows in rich currents, every evidence has been given, the spell of the enemy is broken, and there is freedom in the love and compassion of Jesus. Looking at the cross brings the personal recognition that Jesus died for me, with the cross standing between divinity and humanity to draw the sinner and the Father accepting the sacrifice as enough so the sinner may come with loads of sin, burdens, and griefs, and this should make God's people the happiest people on earth, full of triumph, praise, and song. Christ's death is personal subject matter that each may dwell upon with profit, speaking it in the spirit and love of Jesus as part of individual experience, soul struggles and victories obtained, and contributing it to the life and soul of the meeting so the blessing of God comes in large measure, calling for a tribute of praise to God from a thankful heart.
God's grace meets even a weak good desire, a faltering prayer, or tears of remorse, revealing God's tender love and willingness to receive every wanderer who returns, with the Spirit moving to meet the soul before its prayer is offered or its longing made known. That love manifested in Christ's death awakens a thankful response in the heart and causes the understanding to take hold of Christ, working as God's inexhaustible supply of grace to heal every spiritual disease, cleanse hearts from all defilement, unite human beings with Christ for willing obedience, and transform taste, judgment, and heart to completeness in Christ, revealing the beauty and fragrance of His character in the life as testimony that God sent His Son, a wonderful change no other power could bring. That love has thrown open the gates of Paradise, and the heart of the mystery of redemption is love, giving the beholder the same spirit that led Christ to die for sinners, binding his life up with Christ's life, and taking possession of every part of his being with desire to serve Him. Christ's death for sinners draws and wins them to repentance, faith, and adoration of His immeasurable love, leading sinners to see the sinfulness of sin and to come to Him to have life, for though rich in heaven and in the form of God He became poor and took the form of a servant, redeeming by a life of suffering and humiliation and a death of agony and shame endured for each sinner, to form a righteous character in people and elevate the fallen race.
Living and Sharing Love
The love proved when Christ died for people while still sinners is the love with which to love one another, loving first and not because first loved, not treating people according to desert but bearing year after year with weakness and ignorance, ingratitude and waywardness, wanderings, hardness of heart and neglect of the Word, with hand still stretched out. Knowing that love melts and subdues the stubborn heart, expels sin rather than compelling, changes pride to humility and enmity and unbelief to love and faith, breaks the heart into contrition, subdues and drives out every trace of self-love and self-seeking and idolatry of self, and transforms the sinner into a child of heaven. Kept ever present in mind it produces gentle and subdued manners without deception, pretense, self-admiration or careless friendship with the world, makes praise more painful than censure, and turns from earthly and fleshly mindedness to refuge in Christ with hope, earnest continual study of Scripture and prayer.
That love calls for putting away malice, unkindness, suspicion, hatred, bitterness, selfishness, indifference, severity, sharp criticism and strife, even toward enemies who seek harm, and for showing kindness, patience, forbearance, mercy, tender-heartedness, compassion and courtesy in peace and harmony. Victory over such feelings need not wait until feeling reconciled to a brother, for Christ's Spirit and power can give it, and where love for Him who first loved is in the heart believers will be eager and earnest to overcome everything that destroys unity. Indifference to divine favors and entreaties, severity toward those supposed in error, sensitivity to blame, hints and sharp criticisms, blindness to own failings, enmity and hatred, and strife among those of the same faith and work violate the tenderness, love and forbearance of Christ, while His love learned produces loving gratitude toward God, sympathy with neighbors, making their interests our own, and love for one another.
Christ loved people first while enemies, and that sets the pattern to love one another, to love enemies as one phase of Christian perfection, and to love even those who displease and seem faulty and defective, who are weak and suffering and need it most, and who are not yet in the faith. That love is not for favored ones only but must grow from affection for special ones to embrace all who need it, with the strong bearing the infirmities of the weak as Christ did, letting it melt hard, cast-iron character and not turning healing influence away. Believers near the close of earth's history must exercise that same love toward fellow men and perishing souls through self-denial, self-sacrifice and crucifixion of self to seek and save the lost as laborers together with God, with self dead and life hid with Christ in God, which cannot exist without supreme love to God first, putting all desires and will on the Lord's side, driving out pride and desire for display, and diligent learning in the school of Christ.
Every soul around is just as precious in God's sight as one's own, of value as purchased by His blood and measured by eternal life, since the Son sacrificed Himself to save souls from destruction. That self-giving love is the pattern commanded for believers, calling each person individually to turn over a new leaf and labor earnestly for those around, teaching truth by practicing it, denying self to have means to give to the Lord's work, and working in faith that God will greatly bless. Heavenly intelligences stand close beside every soul earnestly laboring to win souls to Christ, that these souls may in turn glorify God and rejoice His heart of love as channels of the riches of Christ's mercy and grace. Those not yet in the faith are therefore to be labored for and pointed to the Saviour by speaking words of courage and hope and by tangible proof of genuine interest, including helping provide food and clothing when needed, and many can thus be reached by truth.
The ground of all forgiveness is that Christ died while yet sinners, a free gift without equivalent received through repentance and faith by trusting not in own merits but in the merits of Christ's righteousness. Men do not receive forgiveness because they forgive, but as they forgive, so as God for Christ's sake has forgiven they must willingly, freely, thoroughly forgive erring brethren. All who desire a Christlike character must ever behold the cross and have in heart the same merciful spirit that led Christ to sacrifice Himself, exercising mercy to restore every unsaved soul within influence and forgiving and accepting the repentant sinner. Just as men deal with a fellow being who has done wrong and repented, so God will deal with them for their own defects; if they refuse to share divine grace and show a merciful spirit they need not expect to be shielded by the mercy of a just God, while he who cooperates with God by showing mercy brings himself into harmony with the divine attributes where God will extend mercy to him.
Christ died to save sinners from ruin and eternal death, revealing matchless love, boundless compassion and immeasurable love toward the unworthy, and His love calls for grateful response. The gift was given first, so people would have nothing to give unless first given to, and in return those loved are to bring a thank offering and gratitude offering of self, time, talents, affections and means flowing out in a tide of love for saving the lost, using possessions in unselfish service, giving undivided energies to His work and withholding nothing. Christian service does not earn salvation but is the response of those who have received the undeserved gift, working with God to bring others to salvation, with true religion feeling a debt of love, kindness and interest owed to Christ in behalf of brethren, paid by gratitude expressed in deep interest and unselfish love for less fortunate brethren.
As Christ worked for people while unbelievers, leaving the courts of glory to share temptations and hardships in order to lift them up and make them sons and daughters of God, so believers are to work for unbelieving friends and neighbors. They are to become acquainted with spiritual needs and labor in meekness and lowliness of heart while watching for souls, guarding every word and act, refusing to cause stumbling or give any opportunity to feel justified in a wrong course. God's love toward sinners found perfect expression in Christ, who loved men in sin and degradation and reached to the very depths of woe to uplift the erring with unwearied patience and unlessened zeal, His mercy returning in stronger tide when beaten back by proud, impenitent, unthankful hearts. This love constrains those who receive it to go forth among fellow men to help the helpless and encourage the desponding, to point sinners to God's ideal for His children and lead them to Christ who alone can enable them to reach it.
The wealth of love evidenced by Christ's death on the cross, with no love equal to what God has manifested, must be presented before the people and have a part in every discourse by those whose hearts are filled with the love of Jesus. Making men know how much He loves them and what evidences He has given breaks down barriers of prejudice and impenitence and affects hearts, especially when presented from a heart filled with that love. His death for souls involved great humiliation to bring salvation, and He is now a sin-pardoning Saviour ready to forgive all iniquities, so this love should fill believers with love to Jesus and love for souls, moving them to present Him in simplicity and represent Him before people to save them, pointing each person to Him and seeking to draw them to Him. That saving death is continued by sanitariums as His helping hand, making ignorant people intelligent about health, relieving suffering, restoring health, and teaching carefulness in eating and drinking so men and women live to honor and glorify God.
That love gives Christ a right to entire obedience, so one claiming Him as Saviour must not continue to cherish sinful practices, because to do so misrepresents Him and puts Him to open shame. Keeping the Father's commandments keeps the abiding place in the Father's love, as Christ's keeping His Father's commandments kept His abiding place in the Father's love, and God loves believers as He loved Jesus Christ. Through prayer and faith it can be known that the heart is one with the heart of Christ. The gift calls for grateful love in return expressed as thank offering flowing out in love for saving the lost, using possessions in unselfish service, giving undivided energies to His work and cooperating fully with God to reveal the beauty of truth, since having a name on church books does not make a Christian.
Believers are to deny self, take up the cross and follow His example in self-denial and self-sacrifice, crucifying self to seek and save the lost as laborers together with God, serving selflessly, helping those in need, seeking the lost, and enduring hardship and reproach for His sake. Christ was under no obligation except love, yet voluntarily pledged to bear punishment due transgressors, descended step by step in humiliation and suffering, bore bitter opposition and reproach without murmur, laid aside royal robe and kingly crown, clothed divinity with humanity, became poor that through poverty they might be made rich, bore the stroke of divine justice, and laid down His precious life to grant probation, impute spotless righteousness, lift to purity, holiness and completeness, pour fullness into poverty-stricken souls, and give peace, rest, joy and a share in His throne. Contemplation of this matchless love, decided in heavenly courts and worked out by Father, Son and Holy Spirit with all heaven's resources given, fills the soul with inexpressible gratitude, cleanses from selfishness, teaches not to exalt self, and leads to deny self, lift the cross and follow the Redeemer, for those who will not follow Him in self-denial and self-sacrifice will never be overcomers.
Contemplating the greatness of God's love expressed in the gift of His only begotten Son should lead to praise and thanksgiving and opening the heart to the love and generosity of the heavenly Father, correcting narrow ideas that He is hard to propitiate. It gives every person individually the privilege to lay hold of advantages Christ provided, keep faith strong, cherish the tenderness and compassion of the Saviour, and make happiness instead of marring it by dwelling on sorrows, trials and faults of others. His death reveals God's love and compassion more fully than the kindness of even closest human friends, and should awaken gratitude, overcome indifference and move to cheerful obedience. Gratitude, praise and thanksgiving for the gift need to be searched for and cultivated as lost arts, more precious to Jesus than all gold and silver, and those who receive the gift are to share His light, bringing courage, hope and joy in the Lord to contrite and humble hearts, with glad joy for the privilege of being a child of God.
Christ gave up royalty, glory and riches, took humanity and laid down His life to reach people and save them, and His example calls followers to like self-sacrificing concern for others, with no sacrifice too great in cooperating with Him in saving souls. His love did not wait for people to become worthy or grateful, and His mercy continued even when met with proud, impenitent hearts, calling followers to keep serving with patience and generosity even when efforts are not appreciated. Christ remains ready to receive every wanderer who returns, so those who themselves need salvation must not treat struggling or straying people with indifference or contempt, but help bring them back to God with Christlike mercy.
God's love is proved daily by continual benefits with infinite tenderness, above all in Christ giving His precious life for enemies, yet the significance of that death as proof of love is barely half comprehended because earthly cares hide things of heavenly origin. A deeper sense of Calvary gives ministers and teachers a deeper sense of spiritual need and sacredness of trust, and circulates higher life through churches and institutions. That love must be realized in personal experience, producing love and fear toward God, since fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; flattering men and women in impenitence will never lead them to it, and peaceableness in unrighteousness is not pure and undefiled religion.
That spirit shapes how Christ abides within, especially in parenting even disobedient, unkind and unlovable children, not by fretting, censuring or discouraging them and not by provoking them to rebel. It works by cooperating with the teacher, encouraging wise discipline, praying much for the one teaching the children, and then God's wisdom teaches the right course in every emergency. By divine appointment God is Saviour of men, not destroyer but restorer, to renew His own image, to encourage, enlighten, sanctify, elevate and ennoble, as expressed by the cross of Calvary where He gave His life. He will not pass over any wrong committed in dealing with human agents for whom He has given His life, and those who do not with all their powers cooperate with Christ in this work will never see the kingdom, for Christ is Judge of the world.
His sacrifice gives sinners reason to trust in God's love, revealing depth of love in dying on Calvary to redeem from death. That love carries intensive interest for all suffering humanity, and when sick people who are nervous and timid are made acquainted with it, their fear is overcome.