What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8: 31, NIV.
Dear LORD, we want to believe that this is just as You said. Please help our unbelief. In the name of Jesus Christ we humbly pray. Amen.
I believe that this is one of the most repeated texts in the Bible. I think we repeat it so often that it seems more like a “folk saying,” than Scripture. There is nothing wrong with Scripture becoming that familiar, just as long as we do not lose faith in its message! There is something about familiarity that sometimes robs a situation of its credibility and importance. Our text for today speaks of God’s trustworthiness! When God decrees that we will have victory, nothing can stand in the way of our victory!
If we go back to the beginning of the chapter, and then fast-forward a few verses beyond our text, we will be able to better appreciate what the apostle is saying to us in this verse. In the preceding verses, the apostle compares life in Christ, or, life in the Spirit, with life in the flesh. He makes it very clear that the requirements of the law seem just and good – when we are in the Spirit; that is, when Christ is living His life in us. The same just law is seen as the law of sin and death, when we are, in the flesh. The reason for this is because the flesh is not compatible, nor can it be, with God’s law. For this reason, God wrapped His Son’s divinity in human flesh, and sent Him to this earth to live out the righteousness of the law in His life, in order to lay it to our account, and thereby equip us to, live in the spirit. For those who are living according to the Spirit, there is “no condemnation.”
He makes it clear that those whose minds dwell on the things of the flesh, will be in constant warfare with God; because if we do not have the Spirit of God, we do not belong to God. Then he arrives at the same conclusion which we mentioned in the devotional of August 7th, Flee From Sin. That if the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in us, He will also give life to our bodies. What does this mean? I submit for your consideration the following: It means we have passed, from the condemnation of death produced by the flesh, to life, in Jesus Christ, produced by the Spirit! When this happens, the body dies to sin, but comes alive to spiritual things!
In verse 18, the apostle makes another comparison, this time between the sufferings of this life, and the glory that will finally be revealed in the children of God. He says the two cannot be compared! I say Amen to that! When we see Jesus, nothing that we have suffered on earth will be able to compare with the joy of seeing our Savior face to face! Listen to the refrain of the hymn “When we see Jesus,” as the author does his best to encourage us to continue in the race:
“It will be worth it all when we see Jesus,
Life’s trials will seem so small when we see Christ;
One glimpse of His dear face all sorrow will erase,
So bravely run the race till we see Christ” (John W. Peterson).
Having had a glimpse of the power that is to be found in Christ, when we are led by the Spirit, the apostle concludes, that no matter what befalls us, in the workings of the Spirit of God, everything will always result in our eternal well-being, because in God’s great design, whoever responds to His calling is both justified and equipped. “If we have all of this power at our fingertips,” concludes the apostle, “surely no one or nothing can overcome us. We are invincible!” The verse that follows our text for the day, is one of my most dearly beloved favorites. Reading or repeating it, never fails to give a boost to my faith: “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things” (32)! What a promise! What hope it provides! Here comes the assurance: The only Person who can justify us, is the only One who can condemn us, the One who is at the right hand of the Father, pleading on our behalf, the merits of His death and resurrection from the dead!
Finally, the apostle concludes this spectacular chapter with a great confirmation of faith: “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (38, 39).
In conclusion, the answer to our title question, “By God’s grace, no one!”