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

I’ve often heard people describe our value in God’s sight by referring to us as treasures and pearls, as if our preciousness is what moved his heart to send Jesus to die for us. But if that is the case, what is the purpose of grace? The cross is an expression of grace because those Christ died for merited only wrath and hell. If those he died for were “treasures” God valued, why would God need to show grace to them? Would we not, then, merit his atoning sacrifice? If God saw something in us that stirred him to send Jesus for us, the gift of his Son ceases to be grace and becomes a matter of paying what is owed.When we ask, “Who were we that led God to do this for us?” the only answer is, “You were hell-deserving rebels who had no claim on anything in God other than to be the recipients and objects of eternal wrath. God did this for you not because you were a treasure or because of anything in you; indeed, it was in spite of what was in you. God did this for you solely because of what was in him, namely, sovereign, free, gracious, steadfast love for those who deserved only to be hated.”

When people think about why God smiled on them in the cross of Christ they should say, “It certainly wasn’t because of anything in me. In fact, I should have brought only a frown of judgment to his face. That he should have smiled in redemptive love is traceable only to his sovereign and gracious good pleasure. Thanks be to God that he has chosen to make a treasure out of a moral dung heap. It was not because I was a treasure but in spite of my being a moral dung heap that he was moved to love me in the first place.”

It is one thing to say that we have value as image bearers (and we do); it is altogether another thing to suggest that what moved God to love us and send his Son to die in our stead was our value as image bearers. What stirred the heart of God to send his Son was the free and sovereign choice of love. I don’t believe God said, “Well, [or perhaps even “Wow”], these fallen humans are of such worth that I now feel love for them and, because of this worth, I will send Jesus to die for them and redeem them.”

I think God would instead have said something like, “Well, these fallen humans deserve only my wrath and eternal damnation. They have squandered all that I gave them. They are helpless to do anything that might merit my favor. They are ungodly, in the sense that they are both morally unlike me and relationally against me. They are sinful in thought, word, and deed. They are my enemies. But I am determined to glorify myself through them. Therefore, in spite of the fact that they don’t deserve anything other than hell, in spite of the fact that if I were to immediately consign every one of them to eternal condemnation I would be perfectly just and fair and righteous in doing so, I am going to love them. I am going to choose to have compassion on them. I am going to take these immoral wretches and make them treasures and trophies of my grace.” That is, in my opinion, what Scripture is saying to us, particularly in Romans 5:6–11.

Nothing less than the precious blood of Christ was required because of the immeasurable heights and holy demands of God’s character. It was the value of God’s holiness that could be satisfied with nothing less than the life, death, and resurrection of his sinless Son. No other sacrifice would suffice, not because those redeemed are so valuable that an immeasurably high price was required but because their sin was so evil and the one they sinned against was so gloriously good that only the blood of Jesus could appease and make amends and fully satisfy the justice of such a God.

This article is adapted from The Steadfast Love of the Lord: Experiencing the Life-Changing Power of God’s Unchanging Affection by Sam Storms, and was previously posted at www.crossway.org, February 07, 2025.