If there was any remaining pride for Jews or Gentiles left with which to exalt themselves, Paul crushes it here in Romans 5:6-11

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.

Paul’s case for the unity of the church, even among the Gentile and Jewish branches is bolstered once again. This text might drive one to wonder why Paul would continually deride the “self-esteem” of the people in the church. This truth might seem diametrically opposed to the common psychological motivation in the 21st century for everyone to feel “good” about themselves. The myth that the secret to success is good self-esteem and ultimately thinking positively about yourself should be obliterated by the Apostle’s clear teaching. Again and again in the book of Romans he shows that no one is good, in fact there is not even one who is good. And this truth leads us to the sweet release of God-esteem, which is something that self-esteem in its blind search for happiness will miss every time.

In order to truly accept the gospel, we must come to this point of realization. We must accept that there is nothing good within ourselves which moved God to save us. We must come to the point where we esteem God completely as our Savior as we discard the false delusions of self-righteousness. Many of us may accept this truth at least partially. We have been taught that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone, yet the vestiges of personal goodness remain. We somehow think and act like we have achieved goodness on our own. Sure, we would never say it, but there is evidence abounding that the church still thinks this way. What evidence you ask?

Well, one example is divisions in the church. Why do people argue and fight? Because they think they are better than the other. One party thinks his or her cause is more righteous and more important, thus they are willing to divide the body of Christ over trivial matters. On the contrary, when the biblical and Pauline doctrine of total depravity (the realization that we are not good) is accepted, and God is esteemed completely, there is no personal cause which can motivate members of Christ’s body to separate from one another. There is no offense that one person can perpetrate upon another that cannot be forgiven because the members of the church realize that they were completely unworthy of Christ’s forgiveness of their sin. Consequently, the church is able to forgive anyone of any offense.

In order to realize the depths of the peace which God has for the church, in order to enjoy the power of the unity He has for the church, and in order to taste the sweetness of the joy God has for the church, we must first accept that we are His enemies. We were not friendly with God before He saved us, we were not working our way to Him. There should be no pride in us which says, “God saved me because of x” where x is anything other than God’s love. This is the powerful and transformative truth of the gospel, that we were running away from God and offending Him daily with our sin when He reached down and saved us. There is nothing good in us which moved Him to save us. This truth of the gospel will unite the church like nothing else, and that is why Paul reiterates it again and again in this book.