Chapter # 8 Paragraph # 5 Study # 1
June 25, 2017
Humble, Texas
(102)
1769 Translation:
31 What shall we then say to these things? If God [
be] for us, who [
can be] against us?
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?
33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? [
It is] God that justifieth.
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.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? [
shall] tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
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.
1901 ASV Translation:
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God [
is] for us, who [
is] against us?
32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us all things?
33 Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth;
34 who is he that condemneth? It is Christ Jesus that died, yea rather, that was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36 Even as it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
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.
- I. What Shall We Say?
- A. This is the first of seven rapid-fire questions that Paul uses to cement his intention to persuade his readers of God's dependability.
- B. Paul uses the verb translated "say" in 11 contexts in Romans (the heaviest use in all of his books of the New Testament).
- 1. Seven of these times it is the same question: what shall we "say"? [3:5; 4:1; 6:1; 7:7; 8:31; 9:14; 9:30].
- a. In 3:5, the issue is whether there is unrighteousness in God Who takes vengeance even though He makes use of the wickedness to further His purposes.
- b. In 4:1, the issue is the discovery of Abraham in regard to justification by works.
- c. In 6:1, the issue is the question of our response to God's extension of grace in the face of significant sin.
- d. In 7:7, the issue is whether "The Law" is "Sin" because it is an instrument of the production of sin in the hands of "The Sin".
- e. In 8:31, the issue is the focus of our current focus of study: how shall we respond to the clear intentionality of God in regard to His purpose of "good" for us.
- f. In 9:14, the issue is a return to 3:5 and the question of whether God is, in any sense, unrighteous.
- g. In 9:30, Paul's last use of this literary technique in this letter, the issue is God's imposition of "faith" as opposed to "works" (9:32).
- h. In three of these seven, there is a direct connection to the accusation that God, in some way, has been "unrighteous" in His dealings with humanity. In two of these seven, there is a direct connection to the fact that God has imposed "faith" as the methodology of justification rather than "works".
- 2. In another two, the use is the same tactic: seeking to draw a conclusion to a set of facts developed in a "you will say to me..." framework [9:19 and 11:19].
- 3. It seems to be Paul's favorite way of declaring that we need to draw a firm conclusion from the facts that affect a particular theological question.
- 4. At issue is this: how does one perceive God to be and to act?
- C. The focus of the question: our response to these things.
- 1. The Spirit's ministry of intercession for us (8:26).
- 2. The "bending" of "all things" to serve the "good" outcomes for "the called according to purpose" (8:28).
- 3. The "pre-time" decisions of God regarding this "good" purpose (8:29-30).
- II. If The God "For" Us, Who Against Us?
- A. This is the second of the seven questions.
- B. The first part of this next question answers the first question: What shall we say? God is for us.
- 1. The preposition translated "for" is used by Paul in 18 texts in Romans and consistently carries the idea of "for the sake of...", with the underlying notion of doing something "for the sake of" someone who really needs someone's intervention on his/her behalf.
- 2. That God actually "foreknew", "predestined", "called", "justified", and "glorified" people before they existed in history is clearly His beneficial activity on the behalf of persons who, in history, would significantly need His input.
- C. The second part of this next question raises the opposite alternative: Who against us?
- 1. This does not mean we have no opponents.
- 2. It does mean that every opponent will fail according to the promise of 8:28. All striving against the purpose(s) of an omnipotent God will fail without question.
- 3. And, though it is a favorite deceit of many, those "against" us include our "old man" and all of his skills and tactics. Since those "against" are invariably limited in their abilities by the use of the skills and tactics of their opponents, it has to go without saying that God has not left us to our own use of skills and tactics; otherwise what would be the point of telling us that the Spirit intercedes for us when we run out of "skills and tactics"?