Chapter 8, Verses 28-39
There is a lovely connection between the words of the 26th verse, “We know not,” and the 28th, “And we know,” or more exactly translated, “But we do know.” What we should pray for as we ought, we do not know; and that is where the Holy Spirit helps our weakness, as we have seen. But that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose, we can say, on the authority of His word, we do know. Precious fact, secured to His people by God Himself, who cannot lie (Titus 1:22In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; (Titus 1:2)). He watches over His own that are in the world; some of them are passing through grievous trials, and the trial that presses upon you is part of the “all things”; in its results for good, this trial may affect others (“those who love God”), and not yourself alone.
There is a lovely connection, too, between verses 27 and 28. In the 27th we read of God looking into the hearts of His people, there finding desires which are produced by the indwelling Holy Spirit; and from the 28th we know that He finds love in our hearts too. We speak not of the measure of the love; surely no child of God can rightly boast of that. But it is not possible to be His without having love to Him in our heart; we love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:1919We love him, because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19)). “Them that love God” means then all Christians, all true believers in the Lord Jesus.
If verse 28 had been limited in its scope to those of God’s people who devote their lives to His service, that would be wonderful enough; but mark, dear young Christian, the precious truth here set out for you and for me, that (quite apart from anything we may be privileged to do for Him) all the circumstances of our lives, be they pleasant or painful, are made by God to work together for good to us. O, we should never grumble, or be discontented, with our lot, since such a God is ours!
Without its last clause, which divine wisdom has put there, some might be tempted to read the 28th verse as though it rested upon something in us, even our love to God. All is, however, of His grace, and we are directed to Him as the source. Believers are called according to His purpose.
For the most part the Epistle to the Romans looks at man in responsibility to God, and presents His way of deliverance through Christ from the bondage of sin and of Satan; but at this point the Epistle takes up what was before the foundation of the world, before ever man was—the purpose of God. This is where the Epistle to the Ephesians begins; 2 Timothy 1:99Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, (2 Timothy 1:9) and Titus 1:22In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; (Titus 1:2) may be profitably referred to, also.
It has been aptly said that the 8th chapter of Romans has three main divisions, the first presenting what God has done with me; the second, what God is in me; and the third, what God is for me. Said in another way, the chapter makes known not only that God has worked in me by the Holy Spirit, and thereby put me in relationship with Himself, but that the Spirit is with me in that position before Him; and, finally, what God is for me, in purpose unchanging, in power and love that will not rest until I am conformed to the image of His Son, glorified with Him. The third division of the chapter is now opening before us.
Verse 29: There was foreknowledge in Him; foreknowledge, you will note, of persons, and not, as some have said, merely of what some would be, or do, or believe; it is “whom He foreknew.” These He predestined, foreordained, to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn, the chief, among many brethren. This blessed purpose of God’s own will still awaits fulfillment. 1 John 3:1, 21Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 2Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:1‑2), among many Scriptures, speaks of it and points to the time of its being fulfilled.
Verse 30: Having foreknown the objects of His grace, and predestined them to glory in connection with His Son, God has called them. He is calling them, we may surely say, for the work of the gospel is still going on in the world and sinners are being saved. The called ones are justified (see verse 33); indeed the present justification of all that believe is clearly set out, with the divine ground of it, in this Epistle, as witness the end of the 4th and the beginning of the 5th chapters. And whither do these blessed counsels of God lead the believer? Our verse tells it: “And whom He justified, them He also glorified.” The work is looked at from God’s side as already accomplished, that no link in the chain may appear to be missing, from the purpose formed in past eternity to the coming glorification of the redeemed ones in and for eternity to come. As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly One (1 Cor. 15:4949And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. (1 Corinthians 15:49)).
Verses 31, 32: “What shall we then say to these things?” The language of inspiration is here for faith triumphantly to make its very own: “If God is for us, who shall be against us? He who spared not His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how shall He not also with Him freely give us all things?” Yes, when He did that for us, there can be no limit to His kindness to us, both in this world, and forever in the glory we are to share.
Verses 33, 34: Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God that justifieth; who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, but rather was raised, Who is also at the right hand of God, Who also intercedeth for us. Christ who has borne the judgment which belonged to us, and has risen in triumph over all that was against us, is now in manhood in the place of power, and is there for us. The very fact of His ascension from the place to which our sins brought Him (in love to us), to the throne of God, is our assurance, our guaranty, of the full, blessed results of His cross. But we have more than His presence at God’s right hand; He is there concerning Himself with all that comes in our path, making, still, our cause His own. Thus does the Holy Spirit meet the questions: Who shall accuse? Who condemn?
Verse 35 brings the final inquiry: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” His love led Him through far more of trial than we shall ever know, and it has been asked, To which of our afflictions was He a stranger? Psalms 44, quoted in verse 36, and written of faithful ones of old, and for others to come, in the day when Israel’s race will be dealt with in a special way, speaks of sufferers even to death for God’s sake; such has been the portion of some Christians, and we have no promise that it may not be again, before the Lord comes.
But in all these things, we more than conquer through Him that loved us. These trials, these afflictions, are to be passed through victoriously; but also in them, and through them, in the purpose of God, the believer is to taste the preciousness of the love and faithfulness of Christ, and thus to realize better the heavenly portion that is ours through divine grace.
Still greater difficulties are brought out in the last two verses of the chapter, and not now so much the seen as the unseen. Nothing that might strike fear into the believer’s heart, or give rise to anxious thoughts concerning what may lie ahead, is omitted; and language is, exhausted in order that the fullest assurance might be given that there is no possibility of his separation from God’s love which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We have seen Christ’s love presented in its infinite preciousness; at the close of the chapter it is the love of God who planned this wondrous grace for the unworthy, and has forgiven us, made us His children, that is the Holy Spirit’s theme. How blest are we who have been taken into favor! Once poor lost sinners, without a single merit of our own; now by believing the gospel of God’s grace, brought into the circle of blessing for eternity! What a story this epistle has told; and it is all yours, young Christian!
(To Be Continued, D. V.)