After the revelation of God’s wrath and righteous judgment, Paul guides us to sincere repentance, and brokenness of ego that we may be prepared to accept justification by faith, lay hold of the great hope, and continue in the faithful love of God. Although we have entered into this salvation, we also need to remember our past that we may not become haughty.
All spiritual gifts, peace, grace, love, purification, faith, hope, and patience are not brought forth by ourselves, nor by our human powers. They are a result of the death of Jesus, who gave his life not for his beloved brothers, but for the ungodly, among whom God sees us. Man is like a bomb of evil. He corrupts not only himself, but also others. Thus, Christ loved us and died for us.
From this humility, we see the great love of God. Rarely do we find anyone willing to sacrifice his own comfort, time, wealth, and ease, or his life, to advance the welfare of his sick brother. Perhaps someone would give his life for his homeland, or his children, or a mother would sacrifice her life for her children, but nobody would be prepared to give his life for criminals and rejected enemies, except God.
This principle constitutes the climax of our faith. While we were disobedient enemies of God, the Holy One loved us. He associated with the sinners, in his Son, and died as atonement for the sins of his murderers. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. From this word of Christ, we find that he called his enemies, “his friends”, because he loved all, even to death.
The love of God for us is so great that he forgave our sins on the cross before we sinned, and even before we were born. Therefore, we do not need to make any efforts to justify ourselves, but need only to accept the divine grace, and believe that we have been justified, and then the power of Jesus’ salvation will be materialized in us.