In this sentence the subject, Christ, and the main verb, died, are emphatic; they occur first and last in the structure, with all the other elements coming in between. The word rendered helpless (so also An American Translation* and Jerusalem Bible) actually means “weak,” but it is agreed that it has this meaning in the present passage (see New English Bible “powerless”; Phillips “powerless to help ourselves”).

It is important that the translator realize that we are included in the group of the wicked, and not that we and wicked are set in contrast.

It is assumed by most translators and commentators that the phrase translated at the time that God chose is connected with the verb died. This phrase is related in meaning to the one in Galatians 4.4, when the right time finally came, and is rendered in a variety of ways in different translations. Perhaps the nearest thing to a literal rendering appears in the Revised Standard Version, “at the right time” (An American Translation* “at the decisive moment”; Jerusalem Bible “at his [Christ’s] appointed time”). The New English Bible appears to connect this primarily with the time of our helplessness, though it does relate it also to the time of Christ’s death (“for at the very time when we were still powerless, then Christ died”). However one translates this phrase, in this context it refers to the time that was within God’s purpose and choice. This is the reason that the translation appears as it does in the Good News Translation.

The principal difficulty in verse 6 is the occurrence of two expressions of time, both relating, but in different ways, to the main clause Christ died for the wicked. The first expression is a general term for time, equivalent in some languages to “during the time that we were still helpless.” The second expression of time is quite specific (sometimes called punctiliar) and is translated as “at the specific time.” In some languages the second expression of time is best treated as a separate sentence—for example, “while we were still helpless, Christ died for us who were wicked; he died just at the time that God chose.” It may be necessary to introduce “us who were wicked” in order to make it perfectly clear that Christ died for the same persons who were still helpless.

An expression for helplessness may be “we could not help ourselves.”

In rendering at the time that God chose, the idea of choosing a time may need to be expressed in quite a different manner from that of choosing an object. One may need to employ some other type of verbal expression—for example, “at the time that God decided” or “at the time that God decided was best.” In these contexts “time” must refer to an occasion, not to time as a continuity or a continuation of events. In some languages the expression of occasion may only be rendered as “on the day that God chose,” since “day” is also a generic expression for “occasion.”

In the phrase for the wicked the preposition for must be taken with the meaning of “for the sake of,” and not with the meaning “in place of.” Moreover, it is valuable to realize that in the present passage Paul is not dealing so much with the theology of redemption as he is with the extent to which God went in order to show his love for sinful man. In most languages there is a well-defined way of introducing benefactives, that is to say, persons who are benefited by some particular action or event, introduced generally in English by the preposition for. However, in some languages benefaction is expressed specifically by a purpose clause with the verb “to help”—for example, “Christ died in order to help us who were wicked.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Romans. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1973. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .