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“But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”
— Romans 5:8 (NLT)
And again:
“And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s judgment.”
— Romans 5:9 (NLT)
These verses are the foundation of the Gospel. They describe:
The song you’ve provided is essentially a sung exposition of Romans 5:6–9. It takes Paul’s argument and puts it on our lips as confession and worship. If you truly understand this passage, it will change how you see God, yourself, sin, judgment, and the cross.
We are not dealing with vague religious feelings. We are dealing with specific, objective, historical, and spiritual facts:
Everything in the Christian life flows out of this revelation: God’s love revealed in the death of Christ for helpless sinners.
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These words are from Paul’s letter to the Romans, chapter 5. Paul is writing to believers in Rome—Jews and Gentiles—explaining systematically the Gospel of God.
In chapters 1–3, Paul demonstrates that:
“There is none righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10).
“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” (Romans 3:23, NLT)
In chapter 4, Paul shows that justification by faith is not a new concept. Abraham was justified by faith, not by works.
Now in Romans 5, Paul turns to the results of being justified by faith. He begins:
“Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.”
— Romans 5:1 (NLT)
From that point, Paul unfolds:
Romans 5:6–9 is part of a logical argument:
1. Our condition: helpless, ungodly, sinners
2. God’s initiative: Christ died for us in that condition
3. The demonstration: This is how God shows His love
4. The assurance: If God did that while we were sinners, how much more now that we are justified will He save us from His wrath
Paul is not speculating. He is arguing. He is showing that the cross is the final, decisive proof of God’s love and the absolute ground of our confidence for the future.
When the lyrics say:
> “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.”
they are echoing:
> “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.”
> — Romans 5:6 (NLT)
The believers in Rome lived under the shadow of imperial power and persecution. Many faced death. They needed assurance. They needed to know that their standing with God was not built on their performance, but on something already accomplished: Christ’s death for them while they were still sinners.
---
Two key words here open the passage:
1. “Helpless” (Romans 5:6)
2. “Showed” / “Demonstrates” (Romans 5:8)
### 1) “Helpless” – ἀσθενῶν (*asthenōn*)
Romans 5:6:
“For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” (KJV)
The Greek word is ἀσθενής / asthenēs, here in a related form ἀσθενῶν – meaning:
This is not mild weakness. It is total inability to save ourselves, to make ourselves righteous, to climb up to God.
Spiritually, humanity is:
This demolishes all religious pride. You were not a “good person who needed a little help.” You were a helpless sinner who needed a Savior.
The lyrics capture it plainly:
> “When we were utterly helpless…”
That phrase is faithful to Paul’s meaning. You had nothing to offer. No strength. No moral credit. No bargaining power. And in that condition Christ died for you.
### 2) “Showed” / “Demonstrates” – συνίστησιν (*synistēsin*)
Romans 5:8 (ESV):
“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
The Greek verb συνίστημι / synistēmi means:
This is crucial. God’s love is not left as an undefined emotion. It is demonstrated, proven, presented as fact in history by a specific event: the death of Christ on the cross.
You never have to ask, “Does God really love me?” The cross is God’s permanent, objective, unchanging answer.
The song’s chorus:
> “But God showed his great love for us
> by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”
That echoes the precise force of the Greek: God demonstrated His love. Love is not defined by your feelings, your circumstances, or your failures. Love is defined by the cross.
This frees you from a feelings-based Christianity to a fact-based faith:
---
Let us now walk through the lyrics in the light of scripture.
### A. “When we were utterly helpless…” (Romans 5:6)
> “When we were utterly helpless,
> Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.”
Three truths here:
1. Our Condition: Utterly Helpless, Sinners
Romans 5:6, 8 uses multiple descriptions:
Paul is not flattering humanity. He is diagnosing us.
Ephesians 2:1–3 confirms:
Helplessness means:
This is offensive to religious pride, but liberating for the honest soul. Grace only begins where self-confidence ends.
2. God’s Timing: “At Just the Right Time”
The phrase “at just the right time” translates κατὰ καιρὸν / kata kairon – “according to the proper season” or “at the appointed moment.”
Galatians 4:4–5 says the same:
“But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son…”
God is never late. He is never early. He acts according to His plan. The cross happened:
For you personally as well, salvation came at “the right time”—when you had no other hope left, when law, effort, self-improvement had failed.
3. The Action: Christ Died for Us
This is substitution. Christ did not die as a martyr merely setting an example. He died for us:
Isaiah 53:5:
“But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities…”
2 Corinthians 5:21:
“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
The “for us” is the heart of the Gospel. If you only say, “Christ died,” you have history. When you say, “Christ died for me,” you have salvation.
### B. Human Love vs. God’s Love (Romans 5:7–8)
> “Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person,
> though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good.”
Paul is reasoning from the lesser to the greater:
Romans 5:7–8 (NLT):
“Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person,
though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good.
But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”
Paul is saying: Human love has limits. Divine love has none.
We were not:
We were:
And precisely then God loved us and gave His Son.
This demolishes every argument of condemnation:
“If God loved me only when I was good, then my failures might separate me from His love. But He loved me while I was a sinner. Therefore, His love is not based on my worthiness, but on His nature.”
1 John 4:10:
“This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
### C. The Chorus: The Demonstration of Love (Romans 5:8)
> “But God showed his great love for us
> by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”
Notice three things:
1. “But God”
In scripture, “but God” is often the turning point:
Here: Human love is limited, but God is different. Human hope fails, but God intervenes.
2. “Showed His Great Love”
God does not merely assert love by word. He proves it by deed.
1 John 3:16:
“By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us.”
If you look anywhere else for proof of God’s love—circumstances, feelings, success—you will be unstable. The unchanging demonstration is the cross.
3. “While We Were Still Sinners”
Not:
But while you were still in active rebellion, Christ died for you.
This destroys legalism at the root. If God loved you at your worst, He will not abandon you now that you are in Christ.
Romans 8:32:
“He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”
### D. “Made Right in God’s Sight by the Blood of Christ…” (Romans 5:9)
> “And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ,
> he will certainly save us from God’s judgment.”
This moves from past to future:
1. “Made Right in God’s Sight” – Justified
The underlying word is δικαιόω / dikaioō – “to declare righteous,” “to acquit,” “to pronounce not guilty.”
This is a legal term. God, the Judge of all the earth, has pronounced a verdict over those who are in Christ:
2 Corinthians 5:21 again:
“that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
This is not earned. It is received by faith on the basis of the blood.
2. “By the Blood of Christ”
The ground of justification is not:
The basis is the blood of Christ.
Ephesians 1:7:
“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins…”
Romans 3:25:
“Whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith…”
The blood is the price paid. Faith is the hand that receives the benefit.
3. “He Will Certainly Save Us from God’s Judgment”
The phrase is very strong: “much more then… we shall be saved from wrath through Him” (Romans 5:9, NKJV).
If God did the harder thing—justifying sinners at the cost of His Son’s blood—He will surely do the easier thing—save His justified ones from His coming wrath.
There is a future dimension of salvation. There is coming a day of wrath and righteous judgment (Romans 2:5). But all who are under the blood are safe.
Like Israel in Egypt:
The blood is your safety from wrath.
1 Thessalonians 1:10:
“Jesus… who delivers us from the wrath to come.”
### E. The Outro: “At Just the Right Time”
> “When we were utterly helpless,
> Christ came at just the right time.”
This returns again to God’s sovereignty and timing. Your salvation is not an accident. It is the outworking of a divine plan:
This gives stability and rest. You are not hanging by a thread of your own effort. You are held by the finished work of Christ, grounded in the eternal purpose of God.
---
The Gospel is not just information; it demands a response. How do we walk in the reality of God’s love revealed in Christ’s death?
### 1) First: Acknowledge Your Helplessness and Sin
You must agree with God’s verdict:
1 John 1:9 says confession is the path to cleansing. To confess in Greek, homologeō, means “to say the same thing as” God.
Stop defending yourself. Stop comparing yourself to others. Say what God says:
Only then does grace truly become grace in your experience.
### 2) Second: Put Your Faith in the Blood of Christ Alone
Do not trust:
Trust the blood. Say it. Think it. Rely on it.
Romans 3:25 speaks of faith in His blood. That means you actively believe:
You can make it personal:
“Lord Jesus, I believe that Your blood was shed for me. I trust in Your blood as the full and only payment for my sin.”
### 3) Third: Receive and Stand in Your New Status – Justified
Romans 5:1 says:
“Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God…”
You must accept what God says about you:
Romans 8:1:
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus…”
The enemy will accuse you. Your own conscience will sometimes accuse you. You must answer with the Word:
### 4) Fourth: Continually Meditate on the Demonstration of God’s Love
Spiritual stability comes from fixing your mind on the cross as the unchanging demonstration of God’s love.
When you face:
Return again and again to Romans 5:8–9:
You can turn this into regular proclamation and thanksgiving. The more you confess this truth, the more it renews your mind and fortifies your spirit.
---
### Proclamation
Speak this aloud, deliberately, as an act of faith:
> I proclaim that when I was utterly helpless, Christ died for me.
> I was a sinner, without strength, unable to save myself.
> But God demonstrated His great love for me
> in that while I was still a sinner, Christ died in my place.
> I have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Jesus.
> On the basis of that blood, God has justified me,
> pronounced me righteous, and accepted me.
> Therefore I will certainly be saved from God’s judgment and wrath through Him.
> I am no longer under condemnation.
> I rest in the unchanging love of God revealed at the cross.
> The blood of Jesus is my covering, my righteousness, and my protection forever.
> Amen.
### Prayer
Father God,
I thank You for Your Word, and I thank You for Your love. I acknowledge that I was utterly helpless, a sinner, unable to save myself. Yet You loved me, and You demonstrated that love by sending Your Son, Jesus Christ, to die for me.
Lord Jesus, I honor Your blood. I believe that Your blood was shed for my sins. I receive Your blood as the full and final payment for all my guilt. I receive Your righteousness. I receive Your justification.
Holy Spirit, write this truth deeply in my heart: that I am loved, that I am justified, that I am saved from wrath through the blood of Christ. Expose every lie of condemnation. Uproot every trace of self-righteousness. Teach me to live each day in the light of the cross, trusting not in myself but in the finished work of Jesus.
I submit myself afresh to Your Word and to Your lordship. Let the power of the blood of Jesus be real and effective in every area of my life—spirit, soul, and body. I thank You, Father, that what You have justified, no one can condemn, and what You have cleansed, no one can call unclean.
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.
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