John Barclay in a lecture before the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome gave the essence of his treatment of Galatians and Romans, which also appears in the book, Paul and the Gift.
We come to his discussion of Romans.
He says that Romans 5:1-11 is a bridge passage that gives us the core proclamation of Romans that Christ died not for the good, but for people he calls “ungodly”, “sinners” and “enemies of God”. This is the basis for Paul’s mission to non-Jews as well as Jews. God does not discriminate but acts to reach all people without regard to their worth or any special merit.
For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. (For rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person perhaps someone might possibly dare to die.) 8 But God demonstrates his own love…
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