We were not good, but God had pity on us, and sent his Son to die, not for good people but for bad ones, nor for the just but for the wicked. Yes, “Christ died for the ungodly.” God in his mercy did not abandon us. He sent his Son to redeem us, not with gold or silver but at the price of his blood poured out for us. Such is the grace we have received! Let us live so as to be worthy of that great grace, and not do injury to it. Let us then follow Christ’s paths which he has revealed to us, above all the path of humility, which he himself became for us. In order to die for us–because as God he could not die–“the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” For he did not intend to leave us dead in hell, but to exalt in himself at the resurrection of the dead those whom he had already exalted and made just by the faith and praise they gave him. Yes, he gave us the path of humility.

–Augustine, Sermon 23a.1-4