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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Romans 8:31 - 8:39
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The assurance of God's unchangeable love in Christ Jesus:
v. 31. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
v. 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?
v. 33. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.
v. 34. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
v. 35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
v. 36. As it is written, For Thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
v. 37. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.
v. 38. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
v. 39. nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
In all the letters of Paul there are few passages that equal, and none that exceed, this paean of triumph, of victorious faith, in lofty and sustained power. Addressed to Christians as it is, it should never fail of rousing them to the greatest pitch of faith's enthusiasm and to the utmost confidence and trust in the mercy of God and their Savior Jesus Christ. "What shall we then say?" What inference shall we draw from the entire presentation? "The apostle has disparaged the suffering to be endured by those who would share Christ's glory in comparison with that glory, v. 18; he has interpreted it, vv. 19-27, as in a manner prophetic of the glory which shall follow; he has in these last verses asserted the presence through all the Christian's life of an eternal victorious purpose of love. " (Denney.) What conclusion must he now draw and with him every believer? If God for us, who against us? The first conclusion is that God is on our side; that God who has destined us for glory and is carrying out His decree in our case is on our side, and therefore no enemy can really harm us; all their attempts must come to naught. It is not a challenging cry, but one of assured victory, in the assurance that all the power of the enemy is rendered futile in advance.
The ground of this confidence and security is the love of God: He that did not spare even His very own Son, but gave Him as a sacrifice into death for us all,—how is it possible that He would not with Him, out of free grace, give us all things? Paul here includes himself with all the believing, elect children of God. Christ is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world. But the purpose of His sacrifice is realized only in the believers; they only actually apply the love of God to themselves and become partakers of His redemption, the Son of God Himself being the greatest gift of grace and including all other blessings of God, especially the future salvation and glory. These blessings are inseparably connected with Christ, and he that receives the Redeemer thereby becomes partaker of the full wealth of God's treasures of mercy. Who will bring any accusation against the elect of God? It is God that justifieth. If anyone wants to summon the chosen of God, the believers spoken of in v. 28. before God's bar of justice, he will find himself sadly disappointed. For instead of proving his point as to their being under God's sentence of condemnation, he will find that God has declared them to be just. Who would speak the sentence of condemnation upon them? There are four conclusive reasons adduced why such a sentence is out of the question: the death of Christ, His resurrection, His exaltation, and His intercession. Christ died, but not for Himself, only as our Substitute, paying the price of all our guilt with His death; He arose from the dead, thus receiving the seal and assurance of God's acceptance of the sacrifice; He ascended to the right hand of God, He assumed the full use of His divine power and glory, also according to His human nature; and His constant work at the present time is His intercession for us, His acting as our Advocate with God, 1Jn_2:1.
And now comes the very last step in the climax of the apostle's argument, "the very summit of the mount of confidence, whence he looks down upon his enemies as powerless, and forward and upward with full assurance of a final and abundant triumph. " Accusation has no effect, condemnation cannot harm us, and even every attempt at violence must fail from the very start. Who shall separate us, take us away, from the love of Christ? With Christ we are inseparably connected on account of His love toward us, by faith. Can anyone or anything sever the bond of our communion with Christ and take faith out of our hearts? The apostle names a few of the factors most likely to harm us in this respect, hostile powers and influences as they are employed by Satan and by the children of the world: Tribulation; distress, emergencies of all kinds; persecution on the part of our enemies; hunger, nakedness, peril, sword, in which persecution under certain circumstances will find its climax. Parenthetically Paul shows that the endurance of all such difficulties and afflictions is prophesied in Scriptures, by referring to Psa_44:22, where the Church of the Old Testament laments that many of its members must suffer martyrdom for the sake of their firm stand on the side of God, that they are reckoned and treated as sheep for the slaughter. But all these things Paul brushes aside with an abruptness approaching impatience: Rather in all these things, in all these afflictions and difficulties, we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. Our enemies are not only not able to do us real harm, but they are actually conquered before they have had an opportunity for working evil. The Christian is assured of victory in advance, not in His own strength and power, but through his Redeemer Jesus Christ and His love. And so Paul closes in a burst of triumphant eloquence: For I have the full persuasion—as have all true Christians with him—that neither death, martyrdom, nor life, with its various vicissitudes and trials; neither angels nor principalities, the mighty spirits of every grade; neither things present, now incumbent upon us, nor things to come, no matter how threatening their aspect; nor powers, no matter of what kind; neither height nor depth, all hostile attacks, whether from above or from beneath, having their origin in forces inimical to God; nor any other creature, an all-comprehending specification, shall be able to separate us from, to sever our intimate communion with, the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Thus the song of faith reaches its climax in a victorious burst of melody, bringing out the certainty of the Christian, his confidence of faith in the love of God and of Christ. It is a subject which is well worthy of being celebrated in such a hymn of faith.
Summary
The apostle reminds the Christians that they are under obligations to follow the guidance of the Spirit that lives in them and gives them the guarantee of their adoption, also that the present time, a period of tribulations, is designed to set forth, by an all the more glorious contrast, the greatness and the certainty of the final redemption, of which no one can rob us.