Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Rom 5:1–8)
How we may have access to grace through our Lord Jesus Christ the Savior himself states, “I am the door, and no one comes to the Father except through me.” We have access to grace through him, then, because he is the door. But let us see what sort of door he is in order that we might understand what sort of people they ought to be who would enter through it and have access to grace. The door is truth, and through the door of truth liars cannot enter. Again, the door is also righteousness, and through the door of righteousness the unrighteous do not pass. The door says, “Learn from me because I am gentle and humble in heart.” Through the door of humility and gentleness, then, neither the wrathful nor the arrogant may enter. Consequently, if there is someone who, in accordance with the Apostle’s word, wants to have access through our Lord Jesus Christ to the grace of the Lord in which Paul and those who are like him claim to stand, he must be purged from all these things we have recorded above. Otherwise, this door will not allow those who are doing things alien to it to enter through it. Instead, it closes at once and does not allow those who are dissimilar to it to pass through.
Since he had said above that “Christ, at the set time, died for those who were still ungodly,” now he wants to show from this the greatness of God’s love for men. For if it was so great for the ungodly and sinners that he gave his only Son for their salvation, how much more bountiful and widespread shall it be toward those who have been converted and atoned and, as he himself says, redeemed by His own blood?
In my opinion, for Paul this variety of words is not superfluous, that sometimes he calls those for whom Christ died “the weak,” sometimes “the ungodly,” and sometimes “sinners.” And even though he confesses that he is unskilled in speech, nevertheless I do not believe that he has alternated in this through any lack of skill, but rather through profound knowledge. For in these three terms every class of sin is collected. A person, being ignorant of God, is led into every evil and is called “ungodly.” Another, while knowing God and wanting to keep the commandment, is conquered by the frailty of the flesh and becomes ensnared by the allurements of the present life and is called “weak.” Or a person may knowingly and willingly despise the commandment and hate the correction of God and cast his words behind him and is named “sinner.” And so Paul, who, as we have said, confesses that he is untrained in speech, has comprehended by this threefold diversity of expressions all those for whom Christ is being proclaimed to have died.
Origen, Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans 8.5, 11.1–2
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