We Were Yet Without Strength (Romans 5:6)

2022-12-17

For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. (Romans 5:6)

What does it mean to be “without strength”? This is a single word, and elsewhere, this word is translated as sick or weak, but it is also once translated impotent for the lame man healed in the Temple in Acts 3 (cf. Acts 4:9). This lame man didn’t know what hit him. He thought he was going to receive alms, but Peter pulled him to his feet, and he could immediately walk. “And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God” (Acts 3:7-8). He never walked, but that day he leapt for joy. He did not do anything on his own; the Lord healed Him. Spiritually, we are that lame man. Like this man, the Lord pulled us up, and all we did was praise Him and thank Him for what He had already done.

We had neither strength before the Lord nor anything to offer Him to assist in our being saved. As women and men drowning, a lifeguard was necessary. As people trapped in flames, a fireman was needed. Or more appropriately, we were corpses of dry bones, and we needed life. This is what Jesus offered to us, and He saved us.

Jesus conquered His own death, so He could conquer ours also, saying, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matthew 28:18). Therefore, though we were without strength, He gave us His strength; He is the only strength we have. Thus, the Scripture is fulfilled:

He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. (Isaiah 40:29-31)