The Value and Judgment of a Righteous, Good, and Wicked Person
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. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
What is the price that you’d put on on a person’s life? Paul talks about three types of people in this section,
- Righteous people
- Good people
- Ungodly sinners
We probably have a list in our heads of what it would take for us to save these different sorts of people from a sinking ship. The good old saint that lived a full life, taught Sunday school for 40 years and lost her husband of 58 years just a few months ago…she’s a goner. The good young man that is contributing more and more to society through his volunteer work and innovative community development initiatives…we’d better keep him around. That no-good sinner over there that’s shooting up and doesn’t even know the ship is sinking…also a goner.
Isn’t it awful how we judge people and give them worth? That is why God is using us all in a ministry of reconciliation. We have been separated from one another by judging one another, but we are no longer separated from God. God judges by the outside and even while we were clueless sinners, He died for our sins. He reconciled us to Himself before we even knew that we had messed things up. We weren’t even aware that there was a separation, and God came back to reunite us with Him.
God shows His love for us by putting value on us: the value of His only Son’s life. He gave up one family member to gain many many more, and you are one of them. Now we know how our own judgments are flawed, and we can see that we have all been offered forgiveness. There is no longer any need for judgment on our behalf because Jesus has proven Himself the expert.
No more withholding the good news because we pass judgment in advance. Let’s tell everyone we can about this salvation from judgment and let them join us in enjoying God’s grace.
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