I. God hath already given the very greatest thing to set my salvation agoing, viz., what every parent who had but one beloved son would surely feel the greatest of his treasures. In human transactions the pledge isbut a minute proportion of the complete performance, and yet there is a distinct hope awakened of the entire fulfilment, from the token that has thus been put into your hands. But in this transaction the pledge is more valuable to the Giver than all that He hath pledged Himself for. We may, indeed, feel that the joys of eternity may be of greater value than all the firstfruits and tokens in the shape of grace and growing meetness, here. But God feels that He has already given what to Himself wasof the greatest value.
II. The deep and mysterious suffering incurred at this first and greatest step in our salvation is now over. The travail of Christ’s soul hath already gone by; and now He has only to see of the fruit of this travail and be satisfied. When He set forth from glory on our world’s restoration, He had persecution and cruel martyrdom before Him; but what He thus originated with pain, He has only now to prosecute in peace and triumph to its consummation. Will the Father who spared not His own Son a deep humiliation to commence the enterprise of our recovery now refuse to magnify Him, and bring the enterprise of Him who is the Captain of this glorious warfare to its most honourable termination?
III. All which God hath done in the work of our redemption has been done entirely of free will. It was not because He owed it to us, butbecause His own heart was set upon it. This makes it a wholly different ease from that of a debtor who, after having made payment of so much, would like to get off from his obligation for the remainder. There is nought of this kind to stint the liberality of God. When He did give up His Son, it was because He so loved the world. It was because of God’s longing desire after the world that He gave up His Son unto the sacrifice; ands after the sacrifice has been gone through, He will not turn round upon His own favourite object, and recede from the world which He has done so much to save. That force of affection which bore down the obstacle that stood in its way will now bear onward with accelerated speed to the accomplishment of all the good that it is set upon. To do otherwise would be throwing away the purchase after the purchase-money had been given for it; and well may we be assured that after God has freely given such a price for our salvation, He will freely give all things necessary to make good that salvation.
IV. When He gave up His Son, it was on behalf of sinners with whom at the time He was at variance. It was at the period when a blow had been inflicted on the dignity of His government, and a sore outrage laid on Heaven’s high throne by the defiance of creatures whom its power could annihilate or sweep away. Now the state of matters is altered. The breach has been healed. The debt has been paid. And if God in the season of guilt gave up His Son, will He cease from giving now in the season of atonement? If, when nought ascended from the world but a smoke of abomination, the price of its redemption was freely surrendered, will therebe no movement of grace now that there arises the incense of a sweet-smelling savour? And if in our state of condemnation, then, He delivered Him up for us all, is not the assurance doubly sure that, in our state of acceptance now, He will with Him freely give us all things?
V. He gave up His Son at a time when mercy was closed in as it were by the other attributes of His nature--when ithad not yet found a way through justice and holiness of truth, and when it had to struggle against an obstacle high as the dignity of Heaven’s throne. It was in fact on very purpose to open an avenue through this else impassable barrier that Christ went forth. And is not the inference as resistless as it is animating--that the same mercy which forced a passage for itself through all those difficulties will, now that they are cleared away, burst forth in freest exuberance among all those for whom it scaled the mountain of separation. He who gave His Son while Justice wasyet unappeased, will freely give all things now that Justice is satisfied. Conclusion: But this subject is inexhaustible. It is not the preciousness of Christ as being Himself a gift that the text leads me to expatiate on. It is the goodness of it as a pledge of other gifts. There are other securities for this than those on which I have insisted that might well cause the believer to rejoice in it as in a treasure the whole value of which is inestimable. For will God stamp dishonour on this His own great enterprise, and leave unfinished that which He hath so laboriously begun? Will He hold forth the economy of grace as an impotent abortion to the scorn of His enemies? Never was foundation more surely laid, nor can we tell how many those unshaken props are by which it upholds the confidence of a believer. (T. Chalmers, D.D.)
The logic of redeeming love
First, to speak as it is expressed in the negative, “He spared not His own Son.” First, take it in the first notion, as a word of bounty in reference to us; He did not spare Him, that is, He did not withhold Him; He was not unwilling to part with Him, or sparing to give Him. Now, for the better amplifying of this great gift to us, and the great love of God to us in it. We may take notice of it briefly in the several gradations of it, wherein it is considerable of us. First, for the kind of it. It was a Son: He spared not Him. There is many an one in the world that would be loth to part with a servant, such as he might be, but a son, that is somewhat more. There are a great many who could be content sometimes to spare many other things besides, so that you will be content to spare their children, or to let them to spare themselves. You know how it was with old Jacob, how loth he was to part with his son Benjamin. Secondly, for the propriety of it. As it was His Son which He did not spare, so it was His own Son too. He spared notHim. We see how all men are generally very indulgent of what belongs to themselves. Nurses and guardians and overseers are very often remiss and careless enough of other men’s children which are committed to them, but their own are more indulged by them. His own Son--how so? Namely, by eternal and inexpressible generation, being of the same” substance with the Father, begotten of Him before allworlds.” Thirdly, it was His only Son likewise; it was the only begotten of the Father (Joh_1:14). This is a farther amplification of it to us, where there is store andchoice and variety; it is not so hard or difficult a matter as otherwise to part with some one, but to part with an only son, that is a great matter indeed. Lastly, it was His dear Son, the Son of His love, as He is called in Col_1:13. Now what does all this teach us but to labour to work ourselves to the like disposition of spirit to God again? That we from henceforth should think nothing too good or too dear for Him. What can they spare for God that cannot spare Him a little time and opportunity for serving Him? It is a word of severity, and refers to Christ. He did not spare Him, that is, He did not favour Him; He did not spare to punish or to afflict Him. First, in His body, He did not spare Him. Secondly, in His name, He did not spare Him. Thirdly, in His soul, He did not spare Him. The reason of it was this, because He did not look upon Him in His person, but rather in His office, so far forth as He bare the burthen of our sins and transgressions upon Him. Therefore let us own this perfect satisfaction of Christ to the justice of His Father, and His Father’s general and universal punishing of Him, and not sparing Him at all. First, as it is a word of bounty, He did not spare to give Him. And secondly, as it is a word of severity, He did not spare to punish Him. Now the second is laid down in the affirmative or positive expression, which is in a sort included in the former: “But delivered Him up for us all.” First, for the action itself--“He delivered Him up” (Rom_4:25). There were three sorts of persons which had a hand in the delivering up of Christ. First, God delivered up His Son. Secondly, Christ delivered up Himself. Thirdly, Judas delivered up his Master. Now that which we have here exhibited to us is the former of these deliverings, to wit, God’s delivering up of His Son--“He spared Him not, but delivered Him up.” This He might be said to do two manner of ways especially. First, in regard of His eternal purpose and counsel. Secondly, in regard of His ordering and disposing of it in the fulness of time. But what did God deliver up this His Son unto? To the treachery of Judas, to the injustice of Pilate, to the malice of the Jews, to reproaches, and what not? The second is the persons it refers to, and who are more particularly concerned in it--“For us all.” The second is the inference or improvement of this premised propitiation, in these words, “How shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” First, take it simply and absolutely, as it lies in itself, and so there is this in it, that God will with Christ give all things freely to those who are true believers. There is here laid down a special privilege which does belong to the children of God. Wherein again there are three distinct particulars considerable. First, for the gift itself. This is here expressed to be all things (Psa_84:11). The second is the foundation of this gift, and that is, Christ with Him, while it is said here, “with Him.” This may be taken three manner of ways. First, by way of eminency: “All things with Him, that is, all things in Him, as involved and implied. Secondly, by way of concomitancy: “All things with Him,” that is, all things to Him, as added and subjoined. Thirdly, by way of conveyance: “All things with Him,” that is, all things by Him, and through Him, and for Him, as dispensed and transmitted. The third is the manner or circumstance of donation; and that in our English translation is here expressed to be freely, “He will freely give us all things.” This is somewhat, but yet not all, which is intended here in the text; the Greek word signifies two things especially, not only to give freely, but also to give favourably. First, He gives us all things freely; to take it as it is here in our translation, as God gives us Christ Himself, so He gives us all things else freely with Christ. And when it is said freely, we are to take it in the full extent of freeness, freely without our desire, and freely without our desert; of His own accord, and upon His mere grace. But then if we take freely in the latitude of our English idiom and propriety, so there is still somewhat more in it. Freely, that is, largely and plentifully, without diminution. “He giveth us all things richly to enjoy” (1Ti_6:17). And freely, that is, readily and cheerfully, without restraint, not grudging, not repenting, not upbraiding. He gives us all things gratuitously. But then secondly, He gives to believers all things graciously, that is also, I say, here implied in the word in the text. When we say that God gives all things to His children favourably or graciously, there are two things in it; first, favourably, as to the principle. He gives them favourably, as to the principle, by intending favour to them in them, and giving them for that end. And He gives them favourably as to the effect, by making them favours, and doing them real good by them. Now further, secondly, we may look upon it in its connection and argumentatively, as inferred by rational consequence from that which went before. If God hath not spared His Son, but delivered Him up for us, we may well conclude that He will bestow all things else freely upon us. This is the main scope of the text, and the argument holds good upon a twofold ground. First, from the quality and condition of the persons, by comparing of them. If God had so much favour for us when we were enemies, how much more has He now that we are friends? Secondly, from the nature and condition of the gift itself. He that would give His Son will not stick to give anything else, because He that would give the greaterwill not stick to give the less. First, to make sure of the ground and conclusion itself, seeing our having of all things else does thus depend upon our having of Christ, and in a manner follows from it. Secondly, as we should make sure of the ground, so we should be also careful to make the improvement, and thus to reason and argue within ourselves, as the Apostle Paul here sets us an example. Here is that which may convince them of that diffidence and distrustfulness which isin them, and make them to be ashamed, as it were, of it. What, has God given thee the greater, and dost thou think that He will deny thee the less? Has He given thee heaven, and dost thou think that He will deny thee the earth? Has He given thee eternal things, and dost thou think that He will deny thee temporal? (Thomas Horton, D.D.)
God’s great and best gift to the world
I. The purport of the apostle’s assertion. It includes three capital points of Christian theology, viz.
1. That we are obnoxious to the punishment of death. “He delivered Him for us”; so then we ought to have been delivered up, that is, to penal suffering. This penalty pre-supposes transgression.
2. That “the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man has appeared” in the provision of a Divine Substitute. “So God loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,” etc. And having “given Him” for this purpose, He “spared Him not” from suffering. Not by any means that our Saviour suffered the identical punishment due to us; but its equivalent, inasmuch as the divinity of the sufferer stamped the suffering with infinite magnitude. He made “a full perfect and sufficient sacrifice, oblation and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world,” in virtue of which avenging justice can now no longer pursue, and redeeming mercy may honourably pardon the penitent sinner.
3. That the efficacy of the sin-offering is co-extensive with the range or influence of the sin. “For us all.” There is no limitation in the grace of God, nor of the expiatory effect of the Saviour’s sufferings, to any particular number of persons, anymore than to any particular number or description of sins. If Christ died only for all believers, then sin has only affected all believers. No man’s sins are more atoned for than another man’s. The atonement in itself saves no man, and Christ by His death laid God’s way open to save everybody; but it did not necessitate the salvation of anybody; it must be apprehended by faith, or else no salvation will follow. Fear not, thou vilest of the vile! thou art as much an object of God’s love andof Christ’s redemption as was St. Paul. Look unto Him and be saved, even from the “ends of the earth.”
II. The objects of His anticipation. Why limit Hismeaning here again? He means literally what He says--“all things.” There is nothing to prevent God’s bestowing all things we need or can receive.
1. Not strictly all temporal gratifications. Many of them are unessential, and some of them prejudicial. But whatever of this world’s good shall subserve our convenience, and comport with that providential discipline by which our Heavenly Father is training us, we are entitled to expect. “No good thing will He withhold,” etc. “Godliness is profitable for all things,” even in regard to the present life, and shall give us the true enjoyment and use of all the good things which the providence of God bestows. We shall make more of them, we shall get more out of them; a religious poor man enjoys a great deal more than an irreligious rich man.
2. If these earthly blessings abound, they shall be a thousandfold enhanced, and if they are scanty, their absence shall be ten thousand times supplied to us by the better gifts of God’s grace--reconciliation, adoption, communion with a reconciled God, power over sin, heavenly dignity, peace in tribulation, composure in death.
3. The blessings of immortality--including the resurrection and glorification of the body, a crown, a kingdom, a joyous reunion with our old companions, and, above all, a view of the Lamb in His own light, and an eternity spent in His praise.
4. All this is ours, “freely.”
(1) Without reluctance, as to the disposition with which the boon originates.
(2) Without restriction, as to the persons on whom it is conferred.
(3) Without recompense, or purchase, or desert.
III. The force of the argument. “With Him.” It seems to refer to the gift of Christ--
1. As the signal and practical intimation of God’s perfect preparedness to “give us all things.” “God is love,” and no sooner had He called into existence objects on which He could exercise His affections, than the gushings of His heart flowed forth in streams of beneficence. But sin, alas! interposed; and if He had so pleased, sin might irremediably have cut off all desirable communication. But He “willed to have mercy”; and reached out His arms so far as to remove the obstruction. “Christ put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself” on the Cross, so that it no longer after that necessitated the exclusion of any creature from God’s blessing.
2. As Himself intrinsicallybeyond all comparison more valuable than all things else. Having conferred the greater blessing, can He withhold the less? What “good thing” is so good in our estimation as that we dare not now claim it in the view of Christ! Has He given His Son? why should He not give His Spirit? why should He not communicate Himself to our souls?
3. As the intentional procuring cause of “all things.” Christ has “obtained eternal redemption for us,” with all its rich and varied benefits. Then not only may we, but we ought to expect them. We dishonour Christ by mistrust of the power of His saving merit. We forget how solemnly the Father is bound to the Son by covenant faithfulness; we forget how dear His own Son is to Him, and that even had He no interest in our welfare, yet He is sure to look favourably upon those who are interested in His Son.
Conclusion: Learn--
1. That the love of God the Father should be recognised as the source of our salvation and all our blessings.
2. That we cannot present a more effectual or successful plea to God in prayer, than an appeal to His past mercies in Christ.
3. That Christ, especially in His atoning character, is “all in all.” Sinner! embrace His atonement; for without it you can receive nothing. Believer! cleave to it; for with it you may receive “all things.” (W. M. Bunting.)
The gift that brings all gifts
We have here an allusion to the narrative of Abraham’s offering up of Isaac. The same word which is employed in the Septuagint for “withheld” is employed here. Consider--
I. This mysterious act of Divine surrender. The analogy seems to suggest to us that something corresponding to the pain and loss that shadowed the patriarch’s heart flitted across the Divine mind when the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Not merely to give, but to give up, is the highest crown and glory of love. And notice--
1. How the reality of the surrender is emphasised by the closeness of the bond which knits together the Father and the Son. As of Abraham, so in this lofty example the Son is the only Son. This cannot be any mere equivalent for a Messiah, or for a man who was like God in purity of nature. For the force of the analogy and the emphasis of that word “His own”point to a uniqueness of relation and unparalleled closeness of intimacy. “Having one Son, His well-beloved, He sent Him.”
2. How the greatness of the surrender is made more emphatic by the negative and the positive. “He spared not, but delivered Him up.”
3. How the tenderness and the beneficence that were the sole motive of the surrender are lifted into light in “for us all.” One great throb of love to the whole of humanity led to that transcendent surrender of God’s unspeakable gift.
4. How this mysterious act is grasped by the apostle as the illuminating fact as to the whole Divine nature. We are accustomed to speak of Christ’s life of unselfishness and His death of beneficence as being the revelation of the love of God as well asof Christ, because we believe that “God was in Christ reconciling the world,” and that “He that hath seen Christ hath seen the Father.” But my text bids us see the great demonstration of God’s love because the Father’s will, conceived of as distinct from, and yet harmonious with, the will of the Son, gives Him up for us.
II. The power of this Divine surrender to bring with it all other gifts.
1. The question requires for its answer only the belief in the unchangeableness of the Divine heart, and the uniformity of the Divine purpose. These recognised the conclusion follows. “With Him He will freely give us all things.” Because--
(1) The greater gift implies the less. We do not expect that a man that hands over £1,000,000 to another to help him, will stick at a farthing afterwards. If you give a diamond you may well give a box to keep it in. There is a beautiful contrast between the manners of giving. The expression “freely give” implies a grace and a pleasantness in the act. God gives in Christ what we may reverently say it wassomething like pain to give. Will He not give the lesser which it is His joy to communicate?
(2) The purpose of the greater gift cannot be attained without the bestowment of the lesser. He does not miscalculate His resources. Men build palaces and are bankrupt before the roof is on. God lays His plans with the knowledge of His powers, and having bestowed this large gift, is not going to have it bestowed in vain for want of some smaller ones to follow it up. Christ puts the same argument to us, beginning only at the other end of the process. “It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Do you think He will not give you bread and water on the road to it?” That is not God’s way. He that hath begun a good work will also perfect the same, and when He gave us His Son, He bound Himself to give as every blessing which was needed to make that Son’s work complete.
(3) Everything is included and possessed in Christ when we receive Him. “With Him” Christ is as it were a great cornucopia, out of which will pour with magic affluence all manner of supplies according as we require. This fountain flows with milk, wine, and water, as men need. Everything is given us when Christ is given to us, because Christ is the Heir of all things, and we possess all things in Him; as some poor village maiden married to a prince in disguise, who on the morrow of her wedding finds that she is mistress of a kingdom.
2. And so just as that great gift is the illuminating fact in reference to the Divine heart, so is it the interpreting fact in reference to the Divine dealings. Only when we keep firm hold of Christ as the gift of God and the Explainer of all that God does, can we face the darkness, the perplexities, the torturing questions that harasses men’s minds as they look upon the mysteries of human misery. That gift makes anything believable rather than that He should spare not His own Son, and then counterwork His own act by sending the world anything but good.
III. Some practical issues from these thoughts, in reference to our own belief and conduct.
1. Let us correct our estimates of the relative importance of the two sets of gifts. On the one side stands the solitary Christ; on the other side all the things that vulgar estimation recognises to be good are lumped together into an “also.” They are but the golden dust that may be filed off from the great ingot. They are secondary; He is the primary. What an inversion of our notions of good! Do you degrade all the world’s wealth, pleasantness, etc., into an “also”? Do you live as if you did? Which do you hunger for most, and labour for hardest? “Seek ye first the kingdom,” and the King, and all “these things shall be added unto you.”
2. Let these thoughts teach us that sorrow too is one of the gifts of the Christ. “Tribulation, distress,” etc., are some of the “all things.” And looking upon all, Paul says, “They all work together for good”; and in them all we may be more than conquerors. It would be a poor, shabby issue of such a great gift if it were only to be followed by the sweetnesses and prosperity of this world. But the point here is, inasmuch as He gives us all things, let us take all the things that come to us as being as distinctly the gifts of His love, as is the gift of Christ Himself. The diurnal revolution of the earth brings the joyful sunrise and the pathetic sunset. The annual revolution whirls us through the balmy summer and the biting winter. God’s purpose is one. His methods vary. The road goes straight to its goal; but it sometimes runs in tunnels, and sometimes by sunny glades. God’s purpose is always love. His withdrawals are gifts. And sorrow is not the least of the benefits which come to us through the Man of Sorrows.
3. Let these thoughts teach us to live by a very quiet and peaceful faith. We find it a great deal easier to trust God for heaven than for earth. Many a man will venture his soul into God’s hands, who would hesitate to venture to-morrow’s food there. Why? Is it not because we want the less more really than we want the greater; that we can put ourselves off with faith for the one, and desire something more solid to grasp for the other? Live in the calm confidence that God gives all things; and gives us for to-morrow as for eternity; for earth as for heaven.
4. Make you quite sure that you have taken the great gift of God. He gives it to all the world, but they only have it who accept it by faith. (A. Maclaren, D.D.)
The unspeakable gift
Fear naturally follows guilt. When a breach has taken place the hardest to be won is always the offender. It is hard to believe that he whom I have provoked will forgive me, but how much harder is it to believe that he will be my greatest friend! For friendship does not necessarily succeed reconciliation, nor munificence forgiveness. It is no easy thing for a sinner to place his “faith and hope in God.” But--
1. It is necessary. We shall never go to Him till we can see that “He is ready to forgive.”
2. It is attainable. He has caused His goodness to pass before us, and the despairing soul reasons itself into light and comfort from the text. Note--
I. A wonderful fact. There are marvellous displays of God’s power, wisdom, truth, holiness; but the miracle before us is a miracle of love. To magnify this goodness observe--
1. The boon He did not withhold. He “spared not His own Son.” How many things could you resign before you spared a child! How unwilling was Jacob to spare Benjamin though he had many children; how unwilling David to give up even a rebellious Absalom! History mentions a poor family in Germany who were ready to perish in the time of famine. The husband proposed to the wife to sell one of their children for bread. At length she consents. But which of them shall it be? The eldest was named, but he was the beginning of their strength. The second was the living image of his father. In the third the features of the mother breathed. The last was the child of their old age. And so they consented to starve togetherrather than sacrifice one. What was the severest trial of Abraham’s regard for God? “Now I know that thou fearest Me, see that thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from Me,” How dignified was God’s Son (Heb_1:5-6). How dear was God’s Son! The Son of His love; who always did the things that pleased Him; in Him His soul delighted! Yet He “spared not His own Son.”
2. The state into which He surrendered Him. He “delivered Him up.” To what? To a world that disowned Him. To a people that abhorred Him, though prepared by miracles, and ordinances, and prophecies, to receive Him (Joh_1:11). To obscurity and indigence, He was born in a stable, and through life “He had not where to lay His head.” To infamy and scorn. To pain and anguish. To be betrayed by Judas; to be denied by Peter; to be forsaken of all. To Caiaphas and Herod--who set Him at nought; to Pilate--who condemned Him; to the Romans--who crucified Him. Surely here is love for which we want a name! Especially when we consider--
3. Those for whose advantage He was given. Not angels; but men. Not men only; but sinners. Not sinners humbled under a sense of our misery, and applying for mercy; but sinners regardless of their deliverance, and abusing the Divine goodness. To love parents, children, friends, is just and natural. To do good to strangers is humane. To relieve the poor and needy is kind and generous. But to love our enemies is Divine. And not for a few of these rebels, but for “all.”
II. The inference.
1. The way in which He communicates His favours--“freely.” If the blessings are great, they are equally gracious: and we are invited to come and “take of the water of life freely.”
2. The extent of His liberality--“all things”--pardon, to remove our guilt; strength, to aid us in duty; consolation in distress; guidance in perplexity; heaven, and supplies for the wilderness on this side of it. The grant has only one limitation--the goodness of the things conferred; of this God only is the Judge, and therefore with Him the determination must be left.
3. The reasonableness of our most enlarged expectation. “How shall He not with Him.”
(1) He was designed to prepare the way for the communication of all the blessings we need. Sin had stopped the effusion of the Divine goodness, but He came to remove every obstruction, and to render the exercise of Divine favour consistent with the honour of Divine government. And now, if we go to God there is nothing to hinder His mercy.
(2) He is superior to every other blessing. You are sometimes dismayed at the thought of your demerit; but if your demerit restrained the Divine goodness, the Saviour would never have appeared. You are sometimes dismayed at the greatness of the blessing you ask; but if the greatness of the blessing restrained the Divine goodness, He would have denied giving His own Son. What God has already given is infinitely more precious than anything we can in future implore.
(3) Yea, He is in reality every other blessing; and we have all with Him. Conclusion: The subject should--
1. Inspire you with encouragement. Never entertain any harsh and gloomy notions of God.
2. Impose upon you submission. Is anything denied you that seems desirable? He distinguishes between your welfare and your wishes. The blessing is not withheld from a want of power or love.
3. Inflame you with gratitude. “What shall I render?” etc. (W. Jay.)
Our Father’s beneficence
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.)
All with Christ
In order to grasp the argument we must understand that Paul is speaking to believers in the midst of a groaning world whose hope needed to be sustained by the strongest evidence. It was not enough to speak of God’s purpose, and promise, so a more triumphant argument was used. God has already done so much that all that remains to be done is nothing in comparison. As a pledge to us that the great scheme of redemption shall not be defeated, God has Himself embarked in it so vast an investment that failure would not only be disastrous to us, but would involve a Divine bankruptcy--omnipotence baffled, external purpose defeated, an infinite outlay of Divine love thrown away. Let us look--
I. At our present standing place between the past and the future.
1. The past--“God hath not spared His own Son, but given Him up for us all.” “For us all” suggests a collective interest, and not merely an individual share in the great transaction. If at times the soundness of redemption is felt to arise from a personal appropriation of its benefits, yet there is peculiar consolation in the view of it which embraces the entire Church of the firstborn.
2. That which is to come is the gift of “all things” which are to “work together for good to them that love God” (see also 1Co_2:21). Not only shall existing agencies, however adverse, be pressed into the service of redemption; but fresh agencies shall be brought forward at their appointed time to complete the work. We may therefore hail every fresh discovery in science, etc., as only another helper of God’s work. “The earth shall help thewoman,” and all the wealth of nations shall flow into the city of God.
3. Our position on this line of redemption is between the past and the future. The one gift is ours, the second gift not yet. The extent of our realisations as compared with the extent of our hopes leaves much to be accomplished.
II. The pledge which is thus furnished. We are not left to the bare power or willingness or promise of God to finish the work; we have in the past gift an advanced security as to the triumphant result. I know of no text that is better adapted to give a material guarantee of the final emancipation of the sons of God. As we contemplate the Cross of Christ we may adopt the sentiment of Manoah’s wife (Jdg_13:23). In arguing from the past to the future we mark--
1. That, as a Divine work, the greatest thing is done already. In looking along the line of redemption we see that the crisis of it is past. To us the benefits of salvation widen and grow in value, but to God the most valuable thing has been introduced into the process.
2. The sufferings of Christ. He was not spared. And now God hath exalted Him to His own right hand to perfect the work. And we may observe--
(1) That one part of His mediatorial work cost Him much more than the other. “We arereconciled by His death, and we are saved by His life.” One part cost Him tears, agony, and blood; the other is carried on amidst the joy of His exaltation.
(2) That the most costly part is that which is past and finished, and the less costly part of it is that which is to come.
(3) That the connection between the two is that thefinishing of the salvation is the very fruit of all He endured. If God spared Him not, shall He not let Him see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied?
3. The grace which pervades the entire plan of redemption. It was not because He owed it to us, but because His own heart was set upon it. And shall the love which gave us Christ begin to measure out niggard bestowments when the greatest triumph is about to be realised in peopling heaven with redeemed souls?
4. The objects of Divine mercy. What has been done in the past was done whilst we were yet enemies. But we are now sons. Shall God do so much for His enemies, and then begin to withhold His hand? In conclusion: Our subject--
1. Affords the strongest possible assurance of the completion of God’s great plans. The Cross and the empty grave are pledges that the issue shall be triumphant, and that all things shall serve that end.
2. Shows who they are who are the real beneficiaries of God, whom all things serve. With Christ, not without Him, are all things ours. (P. Strutt.)
All things with Christ
I. The important fact asserted.
1. “He spared not His own Son,” etc. Man, made upright, lost the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, and then became corrupt and could not extricate himself. God’s mercy found remedy--He determined to give His Son. “Spare” has two senses.
(1) He did not keep Him back; there was no obligation in God thus to give us Jesus. Herein is love, etc.
(2) He did not excuse Him from suffering. The Divine nature could not suffer, but gave efficacy.
2. It was God that delivered Him up; whatever was done by Judas or Pilate was done by permission.
3. “For us”--not our remote advantage merely, as in resurrection, but in our stead--that we might not perish (Isa_53:1-12.).
4. “For us all.” Not some men of all countries, but “for every man.”
II. The inference deduced from it. “All things” necessary and salutary.
1. All the comforts of this life which it is safe and proper we should enjoy. God has the prerogative of knowing what is best for us. He can best cater for us. Be thankful that He deigns to do this. Connect even our temporal blessings with the atonement of the Lord Jesus.
2. Chiefly spiritual blessings. The interrogation here is an assertion; to suppose the contrary would be ridiculous. Three positions may support this inference.
(1) If He gave His Son to enemies what will He give to us who have thrown our arms away (chap. 5.)?
(2) He gave Him unsought, and even undesired. The first step to man’s recovery was taken in God.
(3) He gave us His best gift. His own Son--a Divine person. If a creature, the apostle would have magnified the greatness of the purchase with the small price. He has no such other gift. Omnipotence is limited here; we can ask no blessing adequate to this: hence what is the pardon of sins to God? Nay, He delights in it. Why, then, should He withhold inferior blessings? We are warranted to ask till we think of some gift greater than Jesus.
3. He will freely give us all things. No regard to merit or worthiness in the receiver. As He had no such regard when He gave His Son, so He yet acts freely--pardons, sanctifies, saves to heaven freely. (J. Summerfield, A.M.)
All things with Christ
It is a joint gift, so to speak, to which God has pledged Himself through the scheme of redemption--the gift of all things with Christ, but of nothing without Christ. If you will take Christ you may be sure of everything besides; but if you refuse Christ there is no promise of anything. There is perhaps no passage of Scripture which sets before you the love of God more overpoweringly than it is set in our text; not one which grounds on this love a more powerful argument why we should expect large things from the benevolence of our Maker; and yet is this very passage so constructed as to force on our attention that God has no mercy whatsoever for the sinful except through His Son. And this peculiarity in the text ought also to furnish a rule as to what may be lawful in Christian desires, and the subject of the Christian’s prayers. Is the thing one with which Christ may be joined? The promise is that God will give me all things with Christ; but such a promise excludes whatsoever is not in harmony with Christ. Who can fail to see how chastening an influence would be exerted on our wishes and prayers if the exclusiveness as well as the comprehensiveness of a promise were borne diligently in mind? Tell me that all things are promised, and I might ask for riches, and pleasures, and honours; but tell me that all things are promised with Christ, and I shall be ashamed to solicit what would not combine well with Christ. But note yet again that God gives nothing to His people with which He does not at the same time give Christ. He may give riches, but He gives Christ with the riches, so that, sanctified by the Redeemer, they shall be employed to His glory. He may give sources of earthly happiness, but He gives Christ with them to make them doubly sweet, and yet to prevent their drawing off the affections from heavenly joys. He may give trouble, but He gives Christ to enlighten darkness, to hush disquietude. The Christian shall find nothing precious in which he does not find Christ. (H. Melvill, B.D.)
All things with Christ
If you were in prison, and the clemency of legal authority should pronounce your pardon, and the messenger who brought it to your cell should find you a cripple would you not expect that the same clemency would also reach its aid to the crippled limbs? If it would furnish no such aid as you lifted your hopeless eye to the opened door, you would execrate the misnamed mercy that had pardoned you! You would ask, Why torment me with an offer impossible for me to accept? There isa Holy Spirit for you as well as a crucified Christ. If you were an undutiful son whose profligacy had plunged you into misery, and the fatherly affection which you had abused should follow you still, and not only send you a message of forgiveness, but sacrifice the most valuable of his possessions that you might be free to return, could you have any thought that the same affection, when you had worked your way back to the door of the paternal mansion and stood there in want, would refuse a morsel of bread to your hungry lips?(I. S. Spencer, D.D.)
All things with Christ
The greater ever includes the less. If an estate is bequeathed to me andbecomes my own, I have complete possession alike of the whole and of its parts. I can thin the timber, or fell it and realise the gain. I can dig out the minerals and sell them, or build with them, or smelt them as I please. He who transfers to me his garden, conveys to me not only the plot of ground encircled by the fence, but its fruit-trees, shrubs, and flowers. He who spares not his own purse, but delivers it up for me, a free and loving gift, how shall he not with it freely give therewith the gold that it contains? But this is what I read concerning my Saviour: “It hath pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell.” Then “all the fulness” describes the extent of my resources, and Jesus says, “My joy shall remain in you, and your joy shall be full.” I read of my Saviour, given for me, that “the Father hath committed all things into His hand”; then these, too, are mine; and Paul positively says so in as many words--“all things are yours, for ye are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s; having nothing, and yet possessing all things.” I read of Him that “all power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth.” And I read also that “He giveth strength” to His people, and that we are to be “strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.” No wonder with such omnipotent resources that Paul says, “I can do all things through Christ strengthening me.” No wonder that with the Lord for his Shepherd, David says, “I shall not want.” Do not minify the lot of your inheritance. Cultivate large views as to the extent of your resources. Live near to God, strong in your loyalty to Jesus, and boldly draw even in the hardest times on the Bank of Faith. That can never fail, however great the run upon it; as long as God’s exchequer endures your cheques will never be returned; your allowances during the days of your earthly minority shall be on a scale commensurate with the royal wealth of the King, your Father, and when the shadow of death on time’s dial announces the attainment of your majority, then shall you come into full possession of your estate, the inheritance of those who are heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. God “spared not His own Son,” but that did not lesson His resources. Human resources grow less and less in proportion as the outgoings from them are more and more. But it is far otherwise with the resources of the Christian whose whole fortune is invested in the love of God. He gave Himself, and yet hath all to give. The glorious sun, how little it feels the mighty drain on its resources! What oceans of glowing, light it hath poured forth since the day when God said, “Let light be”! What a vast and wide succession of autumn fields he has nursed and ripened into rich and golden corn; what mountains of ice he has thawed; what untold snows he has melted into beneficent and fertile streams; what generations of luscious fruits and blooming flowers he hath matured andpainted in fair colours; what magical changes he hath wrought in the blue heavens above and on the green earth beneath since the day when God first hung His brilliant lamp among the stars and charged His mighty reservoir with glorious power! And yet His glowing furnace has never cooled, neither is His natural strength abated; and to-day it shines abroad in pristine glory, true symbol of the exhaustless bounty of its God. So is it with the Sun of Righteousness. He who spared not Himself, but delivered Himself up to pour out His whole Divine soul to kindle life and light, to conquer death and darkness and open heaven to the human race, how shall He not, how can He help, impelled for ever by the same love, lifting up: my soul, lightening my burden, succouring my spirit, soothing my sorrows, cheering my heart, and drying my tears? He must and will. “His love is as great as His power, and neither knows measure nor end. (J. Jackson Wray.)
The death of Christ and its consequences
I. How the death of Christ is here expressed.
1. Negatively--“He spared not His own Son.”
(1) God’s act. There is a twofold not-sparing.
(a) In a way of impartial justice (2Pe_2:4-5). No clemency, but deserved punishment. So God spared not Christ when He took upon Him to satisfy for our sins (Zec_13:7).
(b) In a way of eminent and free bounty. We are sparing of those things which are most precious to us; but upon great occasions we part with them (Joh_3:16).
(2) The object--“His own Son” not an adopted son, but only-begotten. What dearer to parents than their children? But God’s love to Christ is not to be measured by an ordinary standard. Let us consider what might have moved God to spare His Son.
(a) The incomparable worth and excellency of His person (Php_2:6).
(b) The singular and infinite love between God and Christ (Col_1:13). The Father loved Him dearly; and we are chary of what we tenderly love (Joh_1:18; Pro_8:30).
(c) No equal or advantageous exchange. What could God gain that might be an equal recompense for the death of Christ? Now no man doth give much for what is but little esteemed; but God gave His own Son to recover the perishing world.
2. Positively--“But delivered Him up for us all.” Mark--
(1) The person who--“God.” This word is used of several agents: Judas (Joh_19:11), Pilate (Joh_19:16), the high-priests (Mat_27:2), the people (Mat_20:19); yea, Christ delivered up Himself (Rom_4:25); here, “God delivered Him.” One word is used, but the act proceeded from several causes; the people delivered Him out of ignorance and inconsiderate zeal, Judas out of covetousness and treachery, the high-priests out of malice and envy, Pilate out of a faulty compliance with the humours of the people, Christ out of obedience to God, God Himself to show His infinite love for us. It is for our comfort to observe that it is God’s act. The law which condemneth us is the law of God; the wrath and punishment which we fear is the wrath of God; and the fountain of all the blessings we expect is the favour of God; and God delivered Christ up for us all, to assure our comfort, peace, and hope.
(2) The act--“He delivered Him up,” not only to be made flesh for us (Joh_1:14), which was a state at the greatest distance from His nature, who was a pure spirit. But God, who is a spirit, was made flesh that He might be nearer to us, and took a mother upon earth that we might have a Father in heaven. But also made sin for us (2Co_5:21; Rom_8:3) and a curse for us (Gal_3:13).
(3) The persons for whom--for the cursed race of fallen Adam, who had no strength to do anything for themselves.
II. God having laid this foundation, let us see what a superstructure of grace is built thereon, and He doth “freely give us all things.”
1. All good things are the gift of God (Jam_1:17); and whatever God giveth, He giveth freely, for there can be no pre-obligation upon Him (chap. 11:35). But here the chief thing considerable is the largeness of the gift. Both the creature and the Creator, from God to the poorest thing in the world, through Jesus Christ all is ours (Rev_21:7).
2. This “all things” reacheth to heaven and earth (1Ti_4:8).
3. This “all things” concerneth the whole man--
(1) The body (Mat_6:33). He that hath any place or office hath the perquisites of the place or office.
(2) The soul (2Pe_1:2).
4. All things that are for our real advantage, of what nature soever they be (1Co_3:21; Psa_84:11).
III. The strength and the force of the inference. This broad and ample foundation will support the building.
1. The giving of Christ is a sign and pledge of His great love to us. And what will not love, and great love, do for those whom it loveth (Joh_3:16; 1Jn_4:10)?
2. Christ is the greatest and most precious gift; and surely God, that hath given so great a benefit, will He stick at lesser things? He that hath given a pound, will He not give a farthing? Hath He given Christ, and will He not give pardon to cancel our defects, and grace to do our duty? comfort to support us in our afflictions? supplies to maintain and protect us during our services? and finally, will He not reward us after we have served Him? Reconciliation by Hisdeath is propounded as a more difficult thing than salvation by His life (Rom_5:10).
3. It is a gift in order to other things; and therefore He will complete that gift. Christ came to purchase all manner of benefits--the favour, the image, the everlasting fruition of the glory of God. Now, will God by an antecedent bounty lay the foundation so deep, and withhold the consequent bounty? Shall so great a price be paid and we obtain nothing?
4. The giving of Christ showeth how freely God will give all things to us: He gave Christ unasked, and unsought too.
IV. Who have an interest in Christ: and may reason thus within themselves--“Shall He not also together with Him give us all things?”
1. Those to whom God giveth Christ. We read sometimes of Christ given for us, and sometimes of Christ given to us. The one speaketh the love of God to lost man, the other God’s love to us in particular (Gal_1:10; Rev_1:5). The first gift is Christ (Joh_5:12; Heb_3:14; 2Co_13:5). We do not live in the body till we be united to the head; nor till we have Christ, do we receive the saving effects of His grace; clear that once, and shall He not with Him give us all things? God offereth Him to all, but He giveth Him to you when you believe.
2. Those that give up themselves to Christ (1Co_3:22). If you be to Christ what Christ was to God, a dedicated servant, ever to do the things that please Him; when you enter into covenant with Him, and devote yourselves to His use and service. If you be sincere and hearty in this, you need not doubt a plentiful allowance. (T. Manton, D.D.)
On the passion
I. The person delivered. “His own Son.” This, though we make it the first step, yet indeed is the top of the ladder, from which the light of His countenance shineth upon us, and showeth that He loved us as His own Son; nay, more. In this manifestation of His love He appeareth rather a Father to us than to Him. He will rob Himself to enrich us; and, to make us His children, deliver up His own Son.
1. A strange contemplation it is. Can God delight to make His own Son a sacrifice who would not suffer Abraham to offer up his? Or might He not have taken an angel for His Son, as He did a ram for Isaac? It was His will to deliver Him; and this cleareth all doubts. If God will do anything, we have but one word left us for answer, “Amen!” “Let it be done!” He might not have done it. He might, without impairing of His justice, have kept Him still in His bosom; but as “of His own will He begat us with the word of truth” (Jam_1:18), so He delivered up His own Son because He would.” For as in the creation God might have made man by His “word” alone, yet wrought him out of the earth; so, in the great work of our redemption, He did not send a Moses or an angel, but “delivered up His own Son,” and so gave a price infinitely above that which He bought. He was pleased to pay dear for His affection to us. How should this flame of God’s love kindle love in us! That benefit is great which preventeth our prayers; that is greater which is above our hope; that is yet greater that exceedeth our desires: but how great is that which over-runneth our opinion, yea, swalloweth it up! Certainly, had not God revealed His will, we could not have desired it, but our prayers would have been blasphemy; our hope, madness; our wish, sacrilege; and our opinion, impiety.
2. And now if any ask, “What moved His will?” surely no loveliness in the object. In it there was nothing but loath-someness, and such enmity as might make Him rather send down fire and brimstone than His Son. That which moved Him was in Himself, His compassion. He loved us “in our blood”; and loving us, He bid us “live” (Eze_16:6); and, that we might live, “delivered up His own Son” to death. Mercy is all our plea, and it was all His motive; and wrought in Him a will, a cheerful will.
II. The delivery. Delivered He was--
1. Into the virgin’s womb. That was a strange descent; and even then, at His birth, began His passion. Here He was made an object for the malice of men and the rage of the devil to work on.
2. Being born, what was His whole life but delivery from sorrow to sorrow? What creature was there to whom He was not delivered? Delivered He was to the angels; “to keep Him,” you will say, “in all His ways” (Psa_91:11). But what need had He of angels who was Lord of the angels? He was delivered to Joseph and Mary, to whom “He was subject” and obedient (Luk_2:51). Delivered He was to an occupation and trade. He was delivered from Annas to Caiaphas, from Caiaphas to Pilate, from Pilate to Herod, and from Herod to Pilate again, and from Pilate to the Cross. He was delivered to the devil himself, and to the power of darkness. He was delivered in His body, and in His soul. Delivered He was to envy, which delivered Him (Mat_27:18); to treachery, which betrayed Him; to malice, which scourged Him; to pride, which scorned Him; to contempt, which spat upon Him; to all those furious passions which turn men into devils.
3. He was delivered not only to their passions, but to His own also, which as man He carried about with Him (Joh_12:27; Luk_22:44; Mat_26:37-38). Trouble, vexation, agony, heaviness, and sorrow were the bitter ingredients which filled up His cup so full that He made it His prayer to have it taken out of His hand (Mar_14:36). He who as God could have commanded a legion of angels, as man had need of one to comfort Him.
4. Can the Son of God be delivered further? Delivered He was--not to despair, for that was impossible; nor to the torments of hell, which could never seize on His innocent soul; but to the wrath of God (Psa_102:3-4; Psa_22:15), the terriblest thing in the world; the sting of sin, which is the sting of death. It were impiety to think that the blessed martyrs were more patient than Christ. Yet who of all that noble army ever cried out they were forsaken? Their torture was their triumph; their afflictions were their melody. But what speak we of martyrs? Divers sinners have been delivered up to afflictions and crosses, nay, to the anger of God; but never yet any so delivered as Christ. God, in His approaches of justice toward the sinner to correct him, may seem to go, like the consuls of Rome, with His rods and His axes carried before Him. Many sinners have felt His rods. But Christ was struck, as it were, with His axe. Others have trembled under His wrath, but Christ was even “consumed by the stroke of His hand” (Psa_39:10). I mention not the shame or the torment of the Cross; for the thieves endured the same. But His soul was crucified more than His body, and His heart had sharper nails to pierce it than His hands or His feet.
5. But to rise one step more. “He delivered, and in a manner forsook Him”; denied relief, withdrew comfort, stood, as it were, afar off, and let him fight it out unto death (Isa_63:5; Psa_18:41; Mat_27:46).
(1) There now hangeth His sacred body on the Cross, not so much afflicted with His passion as His soul was wounded with compassion; with compassion on His mother, on His disciples, on the Jews, on the temple, on all mankind; bearing the burden of all; delivered to a sense of their sins who feel them not, and to a sense of theirs who groan under them; delivered up to all the sorrows which all men have felt, or shall feel to the time He shall come again in glory.
(2) The last delivery was of His soul into His Father’s hands. Who can fathom this depth? No tongue, neither of men nor angels, is able to express it. The most powerful eloquence is the threnody of a broken heart; for there Christ’s death speaketh itself, and the virtue and power of it reflecteth back again upon Him, and reacheth Him at the right hand of God, where His wounds are open, His merits vocal, interceding for us to the end of the world.
III. The persons for whom.
1. “For us.” A contemplation full of comfort, but not so easy to diges
