I am a fan of science fiction, a genre of film and literature that looks to the future and speculates about what could be. One such movie (1990) explores the potential of technology that can record a person's memories and allow other people to share his experiences vicariously, in a virtual reality. The plot is about a variation on that theme, whereby a person's memories are erased and replaced with new ones. He has a new identity, completely different from his former life, about which he remembers nothing. When the star, Arnold Schwarzenegger, discovers that his friends, his job, even his wife are not the originals but replacements to conceal this procedure, the story follows his attempt to recover his true past, his quest for Total Recall.
While you have not had your memory erased, as time goes by, your recollection of the past does fade. If enough time passes, you may forget many things. For those who have been Christians for several years, especially if you accepted Christ while in your teens and have been involved in the church your entire adult life, your memory of what it was like before you knew God has probably dimmed considerably. One thing you may have forgotten or may never even have known, is the seriousness of your situation before the course of your life changed. At this point now, you are looking forward not backward, anticipating what God has in store for you in this world and the next. What purpose could there be in dredging up the past? All that matters is that God has forgiven you. Right?
Please turn to Romans 5, where Paul concludes a discussion of salvation with a retrospective on what life was like for his readers before they turned to God in repentance and faith. He wants them to apprehend the disastrous nature of their previous condition, so they can appreciate the glorious nature of their present condition. He reviews their former situation—and he includes himself in the description—using three increasingly dire terms. This is what it was like for them and, in case you have forgotten, for you as well. In v. 6, he says...
- We were...helpless.
This is not the image we like to project. We want people to see us as capable and in control. At that time, though, whatever face we showed in public did not represent what was underneath. We were weak, perhaps not physically but morally (so "ungodly"). We were "incapable' of working out any righteousness for ourselves." In that state, we had nothing to offer anyone in exchange for aid—certainly nothing God might want. We were helpless...and it got worse, because in v. 8, Paul says...
This is also contrary to the image we like to project. We want people to see us as good and admirable. At that time, though, we were neither good nor admirable, especially in God's eyes. We were corrupt and contemptible, living to please ourselves, which put us at odds with God. We had violated His righteous standard, so He considered us "worthless" (3:12). We were sinners...and it got worse, because in v. 10, Paul says...
- We were...enemies.
This is certainly not an image we like to project. We want people to like us, to think of us as friendly and enjoyable company. At that time, though, we were hostile, especially toward God, and definitely not anyone He wanted as company. We pushed our own agenda, even when it opposed His, and those who oppose Him, God regards as His enemies.
Some may object to Paul's three-fold characterization here and wonder how he can paint everyone with the same broad brush. His readers might be thinking...
When I accepted Jesus as lord and savior, I was weak and a bit of a rebel—but not a really bad sinner—and I had surely not done enough to qualify as God's enemy. Isn't that title reserved for very evil people?
Were things as dire for you as Paul makes them out to be? Maybe it was just the recipients of this letter, Roman Christians who fit this description. We might think that if we only had this one letter, but Paul makes similar assertions elsewhere.
- To the Ephesians, he writes...
Eph 2:3 All of us...lived...at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts.... Like the rest, we were by nature objects of [God's] wrath.
- To the Colossians, he writes...
Col 1:21 Once you were alienated from God and were [His] enemies...because of your evil behavior.
James is equally blunt when he says...
Jms 4:4 ...friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
There is no getting around it. Whether a person's fault is great or small, everyone who has at any time and to any degree opposed God—that includes each of us—has become His enemy and can expect to experience His wrath.
There is, however, one significant element Paul included with each of the three conditions, the element that makes all the difference for you. Look again at v. 6...
- [While] we were...powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.
Knowing that we were too weak to improve our fallen state, God sent His son to do what we could not. Jesus' death "is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes" (Rom 1:16a), so that in Christ, you are no longer powerless.... Look again at v. 8...
- While we were...sinners, Christ died for us.
Despite our being corrupt and contemptible in God's estimation, He sent His son to do what we could not. Jesus' death "purifies us from all [unrighteousness]" (1 John 1:7)? so that in Christ, you are no longer sinful.... Look again at v. 10...
- [While] we were...enemies, we were reconciled to [God] through the death of his Son....
Even though our relationship with God had reached its lowest point, He sent His son to do what we could not. Jesus' death reconciled us "to present [us] holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation" (Col 1:22), so that in Christ, you are no longer an adversary.
What could possibly motivate God to do such a thing—to send His own son to die for such miserable people? Paul's description of our condition makes clear that it was nothing in us.... The answer is in v. 8: "God demonstrates his own love for us in this."
Whether or not you have Total Recall about life before you knew God or remember relatively little, consider this as we observe communion. By Jesus' death, God fixed what was wrong with you—your misery, your iniquity, your vulnerability. If God loved you despite all those shortcomings, then, "now that he has made provision for [you] at infinite cost, much more will he go on to see [you] through to the final goal of [y]our salvation" (Harrison 1976:60), namely, an escape "from God's wrath" (Rom 5:9), "the redemption of your bod[y]" (8:23), and your translation at last into His glorious presence.
For the Endnotes see the pdf here.
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Jim Skaggs