For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.–Romans 5:7-8
In this life, it is not common for a man to die for another. In this chapter of the Bible we see the amazing gift of God’s grace unto salvation. It starts with the words: “Therefore being justified by faith…”, and then lists the many gifts that come with being a child of God. But, scarcely would one die for a righteous man. There are not many people who would die for a righteous man; of course, during the era in which this was written, a righteous man would’ve been a Pharisee or religious leader. They were the only ones considered truly righteous because of their pride and distance from the world.
But, it is not often that someone would die to save a righteous man. However, for a good man, some might even dare to die. Not even a righteous man, just a good man; a man who by the worlds standards was good, likely both morally and ethically. A man like this, who has money but doesn’t hoard it, who helps the poor and the sick, a man who is not too busy to stop and help a man who is beaten and lying by the side of the road: for a man like this some might dare to die.
But God… Commendeth His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Let’s put this in perspective. We were not righteous by any means, we did not know what rughteousness was. We were not good, we were willfully bad; we knew the difference between right and wrong and yet we chose wrong every time. We were not good. We were sinners, the bottom of the barrel.
God loved us so inhumanely that He died for us when we willfully rejected Him. We were not worth saving, you and me, we should not have been saved. And, if our deeds dictated God’s actions, we would not have been saved. Therefore, having done nothing to earn this salvation, we must accept it as a free gift of God.
For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
–Romans 5:7-8
My question this Sunday: are you a good man? Would someone dare to die for you? All our righteousness is as filthy rags before God, but to be good, for the world to see you as good and actually be willing to die for you. Would someone dare to die for you…? Would someone dare to die for me? We should live our lives in such a way that because of who we are in Christ and how we live out the hope within us, let it be said: “That is a good man”. What legacy will you leave, but deeper, would you dare to die?
If others would say if you, “He would dare to die for others”, you know that you’ve lived a fruitful life. For if Christ could die for his enemies, we could dare to die for our friends, could we not? Will you dare to die?
As always, thanks for reading.
—the anonymous novelist
the anonymous novelist 