Romans 5:6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. 8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
All for whom Christ shed His precious blood are spoken of here in these verses. We are first described as without strength. The Greek word here denotes power. When He shed His blood we were without power. We had no ability to bridge the gap between God and man. How far above the earth would you consider heaven? How would we traverse that distance? We can’t, we have no power. It took God coming to man. It took God satisfying God. That was where we were.
Not only did we not have power, we were ungodly. There was nothing good within us. There was nothing that could commend us to God.
Romans 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
All are ungodly. All for whom He died were considered ungodly. This included Abraham and David Paul mentioned in the previous chapter. If Christ died for you then you were in the eyes of God ungodly at that time. In Romans 3:10 we read that none are righteous. That is our ungodliness. God is righteous, we are not. All that Christ died for were unrighteous. It took the death of the Son of God to overcome our unrighteous state before God. If a man was righteous, by his works or by the declaration of God then he does not need the blood of the savior. There were none righteous in the eyes of God when Christ died.
The love of God was shown by that death of the very Son of God for us. That propitiatory death of Christ declared the righteousness of God and we are saved. Saved as unrighteous sinners. Christ died for sinners. He died for Abraham the sinner. He died for David the sinner. He died for you and me the sinners. Both Old and New Testament we were considered sinners in the eyes of God.
Isaiah 53:4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
If Christ bore our griefs, if by His stripes we are healed then our standing has changed. No longer are we without strength. No longer are we ungodly. No longer are we sinners. We are in Him. We have the standing that our substitute has earned. We have His strength. We have His righteousness. In the eyes of God, He is satisfied with the Son and He is satisfied with us. Do not frustrate the grace of God. To add to the work of Christ is to admit that it was not finished and that God the Father was not satisfied in God the Son.