Posts Tagged: Greek perfect tense

“God, Us, and the Perfect Demonstration of Love”

On January 11, 2020 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”

(Romans 5:6–11 The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, https://accordance.bible/link/read/ESVS#Rom._5:6, accessed 01-11-2020, bold font mine)

I struggle all the time, when it comes to the matter of believing that God still loves me.  That is why I write about God’s love and grace so much.  The reason is simple: Much of what I know about my history is not lovable.

And then, along comes the self-righteous, murderous Apostle Paul!  He reminds me that God loves and gives grace to sinners.

In Romans 5:8, Paul uses the perfect tense for the word that is translated “shows” in the English Standard Version.  (The King James Version has “commendeth,” if my memory serves me well.)

While the English Standard Version uses the English present tense, this does not fully convey what the Greek is saying.  The Greek perfect tense suggests an action completed in the past with ongoing results.  So, I would prefer something like the following, even though it is terribly awkward in English: “God has decisively demonstrated his love for us with ongoing results in this manner: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

“God has decisively demonstrated . . .”!  The death of Christ for all us sinners has been completed in the past.  There’s nothing I can do to undo that.  There is nothing I can do to outdo that either.

But this once-and-for-all demonstration of God’s love for us screw-ups is continually effective.  There is nothing that I can do to undo or outdo that, either.

I can’t wrap my mind around that kind of love, but I can welcome it into my heart.

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