Shattering the Myth of the Good Person
We have flattened the text.
We read Romans 5:8—“but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us”—and we nod. We place it on coffee mugs and inspirational calendars. It has become the wallpaper of evangelicalism: pleasant, familiar, and entirely non-threatening.
We have lost the shock because we have filled in the valleys of our own wretchedness. The logic of the modern heart whispers, “Of course God loves me. I’m flawed, sure, but I’m basically a good person. I have a good heart. I try my best.”
By elevating our view of ourselves, we have flattened the mountains of God’s mercy. If you believe you were merely “struggling” or “mistaken,” the Cross becomes a helpful hand up. But Paul does not say you were struggling. He paints a picture of a humanity that is not merely sick, but hostile.
To recover the glory of the Gospel, we must first endure the insult of the text. We must look into the mirror of Romans 5 and see what we actually were, so we can see what He actually did.
I. THE HUMAN LADDER (THE TRAP)
Paul begins by exposing the way we naturally calculate value. He creates a distinction that is often lost in English but sharp in the Greek, describing the very best humanity has to offer.
“For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—” (Romans 5:7)
Paul identifies two categories of high-value people:
The Righteous Person (dikaios): The man who follows the rules. He is upstanding, keeps the laws, pays his taxes, and does his duty. You respect him, but you do not love him.
The Good Person (agathos): The man who is benevolent. He is generous, kind, warm-hearted, and sacrificial. You love him.
Paul’s logic is brutal but accurate: In the human economy, sacrifice is calculated by worth.
- You might—scarcely—die for the Righteous Man, perhaps out of duty to the law he upholds.
- You might—perhaps—dare to die for the Good Man, because his kindness has won your heart.
We understand this. A Secret Service agent takes a bullet for the President. A soldier dies for the General. We sacrifice the lesser for the greater.
The Trap of the Mirror
The danger here is that when you read this, you are placing yourself on the ladder right now. You know you aren’t perfect, but you think, I’m not a murderer. I’m not a monster. I volunteer. I’m kind to my kids. I give to charity. I try to do the right thing. So you conclude: I am somewhere between Righteous and Good.
This is the Laodicean Delusion: “For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked” (Revelation 3:17). You believe that God saved you because He saw something redeemable in you. You think He looked down and saw a “Good Person” buried under some bad habits and decided you were worth the investment.
But Paul brings the hammer down. He does not place you on the ladder of the Righteous or the Good. He kicks the ladder away entirely.
II. THE DIVINE VERDICT (THE COLLAPSE)
Paul uses four specific words to describe you. These are not descriptions of “people out there.” These are the Spirit’s legal description of your natural state before Christ found you.
“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” (Romans 5:6)
“…while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son…” (Romans 5:10)
Look at the verdict:
- Weak (asthenēs): Powerless. Helpless. Unable to lift a finger to save yourself.
- Ungodly (asebēs): The opposite of religious. Profane. Living as if God does not exist.
- Sinners (hamartōlos): Those who miss the mark. Failures.
- Enemies (echthros): Hostile. In active opposition to God.
This is the shock. God did not send His Son to die for the Righteous Man. He did not send Him to save the Good Man.
Christ—the only true Righteous Man, the only true Good Man—died for the Enemies.
He sacrificed the General for the traitor. He sacrificed the Judge for the criminal. He inverted the entire logic of the universe.
The Shattering
Here is the test of your heart: When you are called an “enemy,” you bristle.
You say, “I’ve been a Christian my whole life.” You say, “I’m not like those people—the addicts, the abusers, the ones who really hate God.” You say, “I found God when I was a child,” or “I’ve always tried to be decent.”
Every word of defense you speak proves you do not understand the Cross. You are standing at the door marked “Good People,” rattling the handle, demanding entry. But that door is sealed. It was never meant to open.
The door to the Kingdom is low. It is narrow. It is marked “Ungodly.” It is marked “Helpless.” It is marked “Enemy.”
Until you admit that your self-righteousness is as filthy as your sin (Isaiah 64:6): “all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment”), you cannot enter. The illusion of your goodness is not a bridge to God’s grace—it is the wall that blocks it. You must confess not just that you made mistakes, but that you were a traitor loved by the King.
III. THE LOGIC-SHATTERING PROOF
How do we know this is true? How can we be sure this isn’t just poetic sentiment? Paul points to objective evidence.
“but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
The word for “shows” (or demonstrates) is synistēsi. It is a legal word. It means to introduce evidence, to prove a case, to set something down in the center of the room.
Notice the tense: It is Present Active Indicative.
Paul does not say God showed (past tense) His love.
He says God shows (present tense) His love.
The Cross is not merely a historical event; it is the perpetual, standing evidence of God’s heart.
We often look for God’s love in our circumstances.
- “I got the promotion, so God loves me.”
- “My health is good, so God loves me.”
- “I feel happy, so God loves me.”
This is a foundation of sand. The moment the promotion is denied, the diagnosis comes back malignant, the feeling drains away at 3am when the shame closes in—you will question His love. You will spiral. You will doubt.
Paul forbids us from looking at our circumstances for proof. He points us to the timeline of history.
The Reality of the Cross
God is not asking you to feel loved. He is asking you to look at the evidence.
He points to the bloody, brutal execution of His Son—the Righteous for the unrighteous—and says, “I did that when you were my enemy. That is my argument. That is my proof.”
When Satan whispers in the dark that you are too dirty, when your own heart condemns you for the same failure you swore you’d never repeat again, do not argue with your resume. Do not list your good deeds. Do not recite your spiritual disciplines.
Point to the Cross. That is the only evidence admissible in the court of Heaven.
IV. THE KNEES (THE RESPONSE)
If the Cross flattens our pride, it elevates our security to heights we could never build ourselves.
“Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.” (Romans 5:9)
This is the “Argument from the Lesser to the Greater.”
- The Hard Thing: Dying for a hostile enemy who hates you.
- The Easy Thing: Saving a beloved child who has already been reconciled.
Paul’s logic is impenetrable: If God did the Hard Thing (crushing His Son to save you when you were an enemy), will He fail to do the Easy Thing (keeping you safe now that you are His friend)?
The answer is thunderous: No.
The Final Binary
The tragedy of the modern age is that we want the “Much More” security without the “Ungodly” admission. We want to feel safe without first feeling shattered.
But you cannot have verse 9 without verse 6.
If you come to God claiming to be “Good,” you receive Judgment—for your goodness is a lie, and God does not trade in lies.
But if you come to God admitting you are “Ungodly,” you receive Grace—for His promise is true, and He does not break His word.
The Cross destroys the ladder. It leaves us with no ability to boast, no claim to merit, and no reason to fear.
So the question is not whether you are good enough. The question is: Which door will you approach?
The door marked “Good People” is sealed. It leads to judgment, for your goodness is a lie.
The door marked “Ungodly” stands open. It leads to grace, for His promise is true.
Which door? You must choose. There is no third option.
It leaves us in the only posture appropriate for a saved enemy: on our knees, weeping with the joy of a rescue we did not deserve and can never lose.