ROMANS 8:31-34
THE UNALTERABLE EVIDENCE
[Genesis 22:2-14]
Paul has been making a triumphant presentation of the reasons for the certain sanctification of the Children of God. He has just reached the c1imax of sanctification which is glorification. But as Paul commonly does he lets the objector have his say also. Paul’s response provides the grandest passage on Christian assurance in the Bible.
Could anything be a stronger encouragement to faith than the unalterable evidence of what God has already done for the salvation of His people of faith? God is the Sovereign Lord and it is from Him that our salvation comes and with Him that our salvation rests. God who gave so amazingly to provide salvation will certainly give continued and final salvation (CIT). To those who are "in Christ Jesus" there is no ground for apprehension for their salvation is secured.
I. ON OUR SOVEREIGN’S SIDE, 8:31.
II. OUR SOVEREIGN’S SACRIFICE, 8:32.
III. OUR SOVEREIGN’S STAND, 8:33-34.
Paul begins his climatic conclusion of the first half of Romans with a volley of rhetorical questions beginning in verse 31. "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?"
Having set forth in chain-link fashion the comprehensive scope of God’s redemptive purposes; His foreknowing, predestinating, calling, justifying and glorifying, Paul asks what shall we say to this? The assuring answer which closes out the eighth chapter is one of the most beautiful pieces in all literature. He starts with a comprehensive statement packed with uncomprehendible force: "God is for us." The controller of events, who works all things after the counsel of His own will has saved us; and His love is as unchanging as it is infinite. He will allow nothing to separate His Children from Himself.
Friends, God is for us, not against us. He has reconciled us. He is not our enemy but our friend. He is on our side against all our enemies; on our side in reference to all our undertakings (Ps. 37:4). Who is He but the Almighty, the Sovereign Lord, the infinitely powerful One with infinite wisdom to guide.
This first class condition "if" carries Paul’s challenge to all doubters. If (and He is) or since God is on our side, as the Bible has clearly proven by what God did and does "for us, who is against us?" Not as if all the enemies have already been swept away but what will be the outcome if God is for us?
Yes we have enemies of flesh and blood and obviously the rulers of darkness and spiritual wickedness (Eph. 6:11-13; 1 Peter 5:8). Yet does not this statement imply that none can successfully oppose us or safely attempt to injure us? They cannot ultimately prevail and triumph over believers. For those who would destroy us must be stronger than the Omnipotent and wiser than the Omniscient. And if God permitted them to do their worse all they could take is our physical life and even that we offer up as a spiritual sacrifice to God.
II. OUR SOVEREIGN’S SACRIFICE, 8:32.
The Apostle now supplies the evidence that God cannot be doubted when we reflect on what He has already done for us. God the self-existent One and the Sovereign Creator is for believers to the extent His faithful love and un-calculateable sacrifice in verse 32. "He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?"
What greater demonstration of God’s love and willingness to give us full sanctification can He demonstrate than His giving up His only begotten Son to accomplish it? The greatest gift and sacrifice possible for God to make, His own Son, is the promise and pledge that God will with Christ freely give to us the all.
The language is an allusion to Abraham’s willingness to give up his only son (Gen. 22:12). The word "spared" (epheisato, from pheidomai) is used only one other place. It is found in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament. When Abraham took his son Isaac to Mount Moriah (today called Golgotha, or Calvary), God said, "Abraham, lay not your hand upon the lad. Neither do anything unto him, for now I know that thou fearest God seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from Me" (see Genesis 22:12). The word "withheld" is the same word translated "spared" here in Romans. So there God directed Abraham to spare Isaac and to offer a ram as a substitute (Gen. 22:2-14), whereas God offered His own Son as the Sacrifice for sin (John 1:29).
[Could the reason be that God could pour out so many blessings on Abraham in so many ways was because Abraham was ready to sacrifice the one thing in his life that mattered most. In so doing, Abraham said, "I’ll plunge a knife into my son’s chest, even though I don’t understand, because I love You, Father, more than I trust my ability to figure out what’s going on."
So, too, if the thing that means the most to you—be it your wife, kids, house, car, job, future—doesn’t matter at all to you in comparison to your relationship with your Father, God can pour out all kinds of blessings on you because they won’t be a distraction for you.] [Courson, Jon: Jon Courson’s Application Commentary. Nashville, TN : Thomas Nelson, 2003, S. 944]
God did not just give Him, He sacrificed Him for us. God did not offer for us that which cost Him nothing, but that which cost Him everything. God’s delivered up His Son to the cross for us- let that thought sink in. His precious unfathomably loved Son, who never committed any sin, who was pleasing to the Father in all that He did was given up for us who are sinful, proud, and rebellious?
For us God did not spare His Son. And not only did He not spare Him from suffering, He did not spare Him when He suffered. God did not mitigate the severity of the sentence we each deserved in any way. Christ drank the cup of unspeakable agony to the very last drop. God lifted the curse for my sin from my shoulders and transferred it to His dear Son.
The reason God delivered Him up was a desire for our eternal blessing. Oh the love of God for us! And how graciously, ungrudgingly, freely, unreservedly, generously, God gives "with Christ" all things.
Christ is all and all is found with Him. He is the great horn of abundance and with Him are found all manner of supplies for what ever we require (Phil 4:19). Everything is given us when Christ is given us, because Christ is the Heir of all things, and we possess all things in Him.
It is so because the greater gift implies the lesser. He who gave a man a billion dollars will certainly help him out with a few thousand to train him to use it. If you give a diamond you may well give a box to keep it in. What ever a man may need it is small in comparison to the gift of God’s Son. That is our confidence that He who has already given us the highest proof of love will not withhold inferior gifts when necessary.
In view of this supreme act of God’s grace, "How will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?" Since God gave the greatest Sacrifice of all, His own Son, He will certainly not hesitate to give believers all other things pertaining to and leading to our ultimate sanctification (2 Peter 1:3).
God does not begin to build and then is unable to finish. He does not miscalculate His resources and begin only to stop short of the finished plan. And God who has laid the foundation in Christ will finish the good work He has begun you (Phil. 1: 6). "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you" (Mt. 6:33).
III. OUR SOVEREIGN’S STAND, 8:33-34.
Next two forensic or legal questions are raised and answered. The Bible states the irreversibility of the legal decision of justification because of the One who pronounces it and by the grounds on which it is pronounced. It is pronounced by the Supreme Judge, and it proceeds on the ground of the completed and accepted sacrifice of Jesus Christ. In verse 33 the Court Room scene is portrayed. "Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies;"
"Who will bring a charge" (from , "to charge, call to account, accuse, arraign" Acts 19:40; 23:29; 26:2) means "who will come forward as accuser in a court room to impeach." This charge might cause us to tremble if it were not for our Advocate (1 John 2:1). God’s elect are those "who love God," "those who are being called according to His purpose."
As the question, "Who can be against us?" does not imply that the Christian has no enemies, but only that his enemies, however numerous, powerful, and crafty, shall not be able to effectuate his ruin. So the question, "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?" or, "Who shall bring an accusatory charge against them?" does not imply that they shall never be accused, but that no accusation that may be brought against them shall ever be established, as to reverse the sentence of Justification which has been declared in our favor. The Judge Himself declares the accused person righteous on the basis of his faith in Jesus Christ (Rom. 3:24; 5:1). As a result all accusations are dismissed and no one can bring an accusation that will stand.
And this decision stands forever for our Justifier is the ultimate authority in the Universe---the Supreme and Universal Judge. The One whose law we had violated, whose displeasure we had excited, whose curse we had incurred---He has justified us. The "one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy," has declared that, having believed in the flame of His Son, we are not condemned, and shall never come into condemnation; that we are "justified from all things; that He has forgiven us all our trespasses, and will remember our iniquities no more. He has justified us freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. And the sentence He has passed, no power in the universe can reverse or invalidate. He declares that He will not reverse it, and who else can?
Yes God, the Supreme Judge, decided with our advocate Jesus Christ that we were justified by His life and death for us. There is no higher court before which the case can be taken. The decision cannot be over turn, it stands eternally!
Notice that the accuser must face the Judge with his charges. Satan is the great accuser of the brethren (Rev. 12:10; Zech. 3:1-5). The next time Satan tells you that you are an unworthy sinner and you cannot be eternally saved, you tell him to talk to the Judge. When God justifies a person all accusations lose their validity.
Verse 34 includes four aspects of Christ’s work that removed us from His condemnation. No one can condemn us and God can justify us because of what Jesus Christ did for us. Christ died, rose, ascended, and intercedes for you. "Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us."
DOUBLE JEOPARDY is a legal concept that protects a person from being prosecuted more than once for the same offense. This holds special interest for believers because it is also a basic principle of divine justice.
Let’s see how double jeopardy works in a modern legal setting. The UPI reported that just before a Wisconsin judge sentenced a man to prison for assault with a dangerous weapon the defendant made a surprising confession. He said that 2 years earlier in the same court he had been charged with murder and was found innocent. "But I was guilty," he admitted. The judge quickly conferred with the district attorney to see if the man could be brought to trial for murder. They discovered, however, that because of the principle of double jeopardy the man could not be tried again for that crime. Although he was a murderer, he could not be punished for it.
According to God’s justice, we who are "in Christ" were as guilty as that man, before we were converted, but now we are just as unpunishable. Why? Not because of a legal loophole. Rather, it’s because any and every sin we’ve ever committed or will commit has been fully prosecuted upon Christ on the cross. And once is all that the law demands. There are still consequences when we do wrong, even as believers. But as far as the eternal penalty of the law is concerned, Jesus’ death places us in a wonderful postion of being exempt from punishment. When we believe in Christ we receive God’s pardon and escape sin’s penalty. Thank God for His principle of "double jeopardy!"
Free from the law---O happy condition!
Jesus has bled, and there is remission;
Cursed by the law and bruised by the fall,
Grace has redeemed us once for all. ---Bliss
In support of the assertion that Christ will not condenn those God justified are four conclusive reason; the death of Christ, His Resurrection, His exaltation, and His intercession.
(1) By Christ’s substitutionary death in our place as an atonement for our sins all grounds for condemnation is removed.
(2) Christ’s sacrifice for the sins of His people was perfects accomplished as is proven by His ressurection from the dead and is the evidence that His sacrifice was accepted.
(3) Christ is now seated at the right hand of God which means He is sharing God’s Throne (Eph. 1:20, Rev. 3:21). With all power and authority in both heaven and earth He represents us and is undefeatable against any foe or enemy.
(4) His present work is the work of intercession on behalf of the saints (Heb. 4:4-16; 7:25).
The only one who could condemn us is our Advocate (1 Jn. 2:1) and He has died in our place on the cross and His life and death were accepted as the perfect sacrifice for He has been raised from this dead. And to top it all off the only one who can condemn us is right now interceding with the Father pleading for our eternal benefit!
It would be unconceivable that the Father should deny the intercessory prayers of the Son, who so fully, marvelously, and gloriously accomplished the task assigned to Him (Jn. 11:42).
How can they be condemned, then, for whom Christ He died? To crown all Christ "makes intercession for us" (Heb. 7:25). He continues in His exalted state to interpose on our behalf. He appears in the presence of God for us as our advocate; the merits of His atonement are ever before the Eye of Supreme Judge; and He is able to save us to the uttermost, since He ever lives to make intercession for us according to the will of God.
CONCLUSION
God has not given us empty promises. God is "for you"and He loves you very deeply. Why? Because He already sees the end product. We’re already glorified in His eyes. Christ has not only assured our pardon, He has assured our glorification. For our Advocate won the case justifying us in the Judge’s eyes when He took away all the evidence against us by paying the debt of judgment that our sins deserved. He has shed His blood as a covering for all who would enter into the only Ark of Refuge - Himself.
Our Advocate paid the-debt for our sins with His blood. The score is settled. "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."
