Romans 8:31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? There are two ways in which a man may be deprived, against his will, of his privileges and possessions — by the lawless violence of the oppressor, or by legal forfeiture for his offences. And, if these two ways are effectually provided against, there is nothing to fear. Our apostle seems to have an eye to this, and shows us that the child of God has nothing to fear from — I. VIOLENCE. Let us look at — 1. The premises of his argument. From which we gather — (1) That God is a Friend. "If God be for us." It is something to have a friend at all, i.e., one who would help us if he could: but the believer's friend is the mighty God. (2) What sort of a friend God has been. "He spared not His own Son," etc. See what a length His friendship carried Him I(3) What sort of a friend God will be. The future may be judged of from the past. "He spared not His own Son; how then shall He not with Him also freely give us all things!" 2. The conclusion — "Who can be against us?" But here occurs a difficulty. "God is for us." Most true. "None can be against us." Is that a necessary consequence? Then, again, a conclusion, though illogical, might yet be a truth. Is that the case here? "None can be against us." Why, our apostle himself speaks of "many adversaries." The seeming difficulty is unreal. (1) The true idea is that the friendship of God shall so completely protect us from all our enemies, that our interests shall be as secure as if our enemies had no existence. You know what desperate attempts were made by Satan to ruin Job; but God was for Job, and he was not ruined. For the same reason he was foiled in the case of Peter, and his messenger in the case of Paul. (2) But sometimes the mere tone of a denial implies an affirmation of the contrary. Had we heard the apostle, his exulting tone would have conveyed the meaning (ver. 28). "Who can help being for us, when God is for us?" God was for Joseph, and so were his unnatural brethren. God was for the Church; and so were the princes of the world when they slew the Lord of glory! God is for the believer; and so is Satan, who but tries his faith. God is for the dying saint; and so is death, which hastens his translation to Paradise. II. LEGAL PROCESS BEFORE THE BAR OF GOD. 1. The first step in a legal process is to produce a charge; and so the apostle inquires, "Who shall lay anything," etc. What! have not many things, in all ages, been alleged against the righteous? No doubt. But — (1) Irrelevant charges will not do. Sometimes, e.g., the accusation has been that they have kept God's laws and proclaimed His truth. But such charges are irrelevant. They make that an offence which is a duty. (2) Nor will false charges do. Elijah was called a troubler of Israel. But the troubler of Israel was the prophet's accuser. Drunkenness was imputed to the apostles, when they were under the influence of the Holy Ghost. Disloyalty and sedition are hackneyed imputations. And so is hypocrisy. Such charges may be safely despised by the Christian. They are relevant, indeed; but they are false, and God will not listen to them. (3) Has the child of God, then, no sins? Ah, he will never deny it. What then becomes of the text? Stay; it asks, "Who" is to bring the charge? Is a fellow-sinner competent to undertake the task? No. There must be clean hands, in the first place, and a commission and warrant, in the second; and a fellow-sinner has neither the one nor the other. None but God can do it, and He never will; for they are God's elect. Their names would not have been written in heaven if God was going to appear against them. 2. The next stage is that of the verdict — Guilty, or not guilty. The apostle has already shown that there can be no charge; but, if there were one, the believer will not be convicted of it. "It is God that justifieth: who is he that condemneth?" etc. "There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus."(1) They cannot be condemned, when nothing is laid to their charge. But then God is just, and justice demands the punishment of sin. The charge was made, but Christ bore it. For God made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. (2) But what if no punishment followed? Was God to turn His wrath upon His own Son? Yes, "it is Christ that died" — died in thy room to expiate thy sins. (3) But was the punishment adequate — the expiation complete? If not, the believer may tremble still — he is not beyond the reach of condemnation. Christ "is risen again." But He would not be risen if He had not given justice every jot and tittle of its due. (4) But can we be sure that the sacrifice of Christ was accepted? The circumstance that the Son acted by the Father's commandment, shows that the sacrifice, if in itself complete and sufficient, must have been well-pleasing and acceptable; and to prove it beyond all doubt, Paul says, "Who is even at the right hand of God."(5) But we have not yet reached the end of the believer's guarantees, "Who also maketh intercession for us." Ye must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ. And if we are ever condemned, it is Christ that will do it. But an advocate never condemns his own clients. And the apostle announces the happy issue of his advocacy when he tells us, "It is God that justifieth." 3. When a criminal process succeeds there is execution. Suppose the believer condemned, all that remained would be to inflict the punishment. Yes: but there would be an insurmountable obstacle. "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" The believer's confidence has no cause to be shaken, unless he can be separated from Christ's love. In order to this — (1) You must prove that love to be nothing but a dream. But surely Christ's death is sufficient to prove its reality. (2) That love must be made to cease. It is not uncommon for the human love to fade. But Christ's love is everlasting. "Can a woman forget her sucking child," etc. (3) One way remains. Who shall prevail against the believer in spite of Christ's love? Love can do little, however great it may be in itself, if it has not corresponding power at its back. But the love of Christ has omnipotence at its command. "Shall tribulation, or distress," etc., separate? Nay. For(a) They are temporary evils. (b) The worst they can do is to separate the body from the soul for a season; but that is the indispensable and immediate preliminary to the full enjoying of the benefits of Christ's love, and therefore not a step towards our separation from it! Like the puny insects which mutilate themselves by striking with their stings, they are incapable of hurting us again. (c) The whole action and influence of these evils will be overruled for our good. Therefore, "in all these things we are more than conquerors, through Him that loved us." (Andrew Gray.) Parallel Verses KJV: What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?WEB: What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? |
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