Romans 8:32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? The text is an epitome of Christianity. It is history declaring the most glorious fact, and logic deducing the most precious assurance. The history and the logic are alike Divine, for the writer "spake as he was moved by the Holy Ghost." 1. God is a benefactor. He made everything and pronounced it good; He manages everything, and His management is good. He gives us all things richly to enjoy. 2. Believers are His special beneficiaries. His tender mercy is over all His works, but His delights are with those who know and love Him. Here the Father speaks to His family only, that with faith they may adhere to Him more closely; that with hope they may rejoice in Him more ardently; and that with love they may serve Him more adequately. The text teaches us that God's beneficence is — I. PERFECT. The gifts of God are twofold — the gift of His Son and the gift of all things; and this beneficence is perfect because it is most ample and comprehensive. The first of these gifts is unmistakable; but the other is not thus definite. It is not to be taken absolutely, because God does not endow His children equally and absolutely. And yet there is a most important sense in which God bestows all things on His people. 1. About all things spiritual there can be no controversy. God gives all these to all His children alike. He feeds them all with the same milk of the Word and the same strong meat of truth, He pours upon them all the same Spirit, kindles and maintains in them all the same Divine life, leads them in the same way, to the same heaven. If we have not, it is either because we ask not or because we ask amiss. All things are for us, and it is our own fault if we do not possess them — mercy to pardon us, grace to help us, etc. 2. All things secular are to be understood in consonance with all things spiritual, The secularities that subserve our spiritual life our Heavenly Father bestows; all else He with holds or takes away. "No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly." Good is a relative term. What is good for one man may not be good for another, or for the same man in different circumstances. We must leave the interpretation of the text in specific cases to its Author. He alone can justly determine what is good. II. CERTAIN. The gift of God's Son assures us of the gift of all things, because of — 1. Their comparative magnitude. The gifts of God vary, but one among all stands pre-eminent. This is an infinite gift, because the Son of God is an infinite being; and it is the greatest of all possible gifts because it is God Himself. This gift throws every other gift into shade. When the sun rises he casts the stars into oblivion. And can such a gift be conferred, and minor ones denied? May we call the ocean ours, and yet be forbidden to drink of the brook by the way? 2. Their close connection. The gift is related to the gifts — (1) as means to ends. The gift of God's Son is the beneficence of sacrifice, the gift of all things is the beneficence of sufficiency, and the former is the means of the latter. (2) As co-essential means. The gift of God's Son is the means of salvation; but salvation itself is a means, it is the means of God's glory and of eternal life. The holy is a means of the holiest, the life below is a means of the life above. The gift and each and all of the gifts are links of the golden chain that draws us up to the throne of God. 3. The Giver's motive and manner. To give freely is to give lovingly and readily, or from a loving motive and in a ready manner. (J. G. Manly.) Parallel Verses KJV: He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? |
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