For at just the right time, while we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.
Parallel translations
- WEB For while we were yet weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
- KJV For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
- NKJV For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
- NASB For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
- NLT When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
At the right time Christ died for the ungodly while we were still helpless. His death was for those who could not save themselves.
Overview
Paul grounds the assurance of God's love in the cross: 'at the right time' in God's plan, Christ died for the 'ungodly' who were spiritually 'weak' and powerless. This emphasizes the unmerited nature of grace, for Christ died not for the deserving but for the helpless. It is the supreme proof of the love just mentioned in verse 5.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 23
- Eph 2:1–5And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
- Rom 5:8But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
- Col 2:13When you were dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our trespasses,
- Titus 3:3–5For at one time we too were foolish, disobedient, misled, and enslaved to all sorts of desires and pleasures—living in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.
- Rom 5:10For if, when we were enemies of God, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life!
- Rom 4:25He was delivered over to death for our trespasses and was raised to life for our justification.
- Titus 2:12It instructs us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live sensible, upright, and godly lives in the present age,
- 1 Th 5:9For God has not appointed us to suffer wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
- Rom 4:5However, to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.
- Gal 4:4But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
- Heb 9:26Otherwise, Christ would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But now He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
- 1 Tim 1:9We realize that law is not enacted for the righteous, but for the lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinful, for the unholy and profane, for killers of father or mother, for murderers,
- 1 Pet 1:20He was known before the foundation of the world, but was revealed in the last times for your sake.
- Jude 1:4For certain men have crept in among you unnoticed—ungodly ones who were designated long ago for condemnation. They turn the grace of our God into a license for immorality, and they deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
- Ezek 16:4–8On the day of your birth your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water for cleansing. You were not rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths.
- 2 Pet 2:5–6if He did not spare the ancient world when He brought the flood on its ungodly people, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, among the eight;
- Jude 1:15to execute judgment on everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of every ungodly act of wickedness and every harsh word spoken against Him by ungodly sinners.”
- Rom 11:26And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come from Zion; He will remove godlessness from Jacob.
- 2 Pet 3:7And by that same word, the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
- Dan 11:15Then the king of the North will come, build up a siege ramp, and capture a fortified city. The forces of the South will not stand; even their best troops will not be able to resist.
- Ps 1:1Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or set foot on the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers.
- Lam 1:6All the splendor has departed from the Daughter of Zion. Her princes are like deer that find no pasture; they lack the strength to flee in the face of the hunter.
- Jude 1:18when they said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow after their own ungodly desires.”
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Christ at the center
Paul unfolds the gospel in full: Christ our righteousness received by faith, the second Adam in whom many are made righteous, in whose death and resurrection we are buried and raised.
How Romans 5:6 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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