"For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:6-8
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, the medical doctor turned preacher, commented on this passage in his exposition through Romans:
"The Apostle's argument is that there is nothing whatsoever in us to recommend us, nothing at all. Why did Christ come into the world? Was it in answer to some plea that came from mankind? Not at all! Was it in response to some good in man? Was it because of some divine spark still remaining, and some manifestations of that? Not at all! There was nothing in mankind to recommend it to God, nothing in human nature, nothing in any one of us to recommend us in any way to God and to His love. Indeed the truth about us was, and is, that there was everything in us that was wrong and vile and hateful, everything calculated to antagonize God towards us - enemies, hateful, vile, ungodly, sinners as we were. We must realize that our salvation is entirely gratuitous, and arises only and altogether from the love of God in His infinite grace. That is the Apostle's argument. He expresses it again most movingly in his Epistle to the Ephesians, Chapter 2:4-10, 'But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins...' He talks about 'the exceeding riches of his grace' and His kindness towards us. There is nothing but sin in us; all good is from God. 'By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.' It is all of grace, 'lest any man should boast'. It has nothing to do with our works, nothing indeed to do with us in any way at all."
Romans, Exposition of Chapter 5:1-21. (Zondervan Publishing House, 1971), Page 124
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