Romans 8:33

(33, 34) Who shall lay any thing . . .?—The punctuation and arrangement of these clauses are somewhat difficult. It seems best on the whole to connect together the two clauses at the end of Rom_8:33, and beginning of Rom_8:34. The whole passage to the end of the chapter will then form a continuous proof of the certainty that all things shall be freely given to the Christian. Nothing can frustrate this: either on the side of God, for when He justifies none can condemn; or on the side of Christy whose death, and resurrection, and ascension, and intercession are pledges that nothing can separate us from His love.

What have we to fear? When God pronounces our acquittal there is none who can pronounce our condemnation. Literally, God is He who justifies, who then can condemn? And answering to this in the next verse we have, Christ is He that died, &c. This is the two-fold answer to the question, “Who shall come forward to accuse God’s elect?” It is a conclusive reply to this to state the relation in which the accused stand to God and to Christ.

God’s elect.—Christians as such with especial reference to the process which the Apostle has been describing in Rom_8:29-30.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom_8:33-34

Who shall lay anything to the charge of Gods elect?

The justification of the elect

First, to take it emphatically, God does indeed justify His elect. This is that which we have declared in Rom_8:30 of this chapter. The second is as it may be taken exclusively, It is God that justifies, that is, there is none that justifies besides God; none have anything to do to absolve and acquit a sinner from guilt but God alone, thus chap. 3:26. And the reason of it is clear, because it is God alone against whom the sin is committed; namely, in reference to future condemnation, and the judgment of another world, it is God alone that condemns, and therefore it is God alone that justifies. Again, it is God only that knows the heart and understands what is in man, and so alone can forgive; yea, it is He alone who is without sin Himself, and so alone can discharge us of it. First, it is done freely, without anything in us as meritorious or deserving of it. Being justified freely by His grace (Rom_3:24). Secondly, it is God that justifies, therefore we are justified fully--fully without imperfection, and fully without reservation; all the works of God are perfect. No; while it is God that justifies, we are justified from all things (Act_13:39). Thirdly, it is God that justifies, therefore we are justified truly, and so as we may rest satisfied and quieted in this justification. If our justifying were from anything of our own, we could not have that assurance of it in regard of our weakness and imperfection. But, secondly, there is a use which may be also made of it by us as taking it exclusively, and that is, as to the removing of all other persons besides from it. As--First, it is God that justifies, and therefore not we ourselves. It is laid to the charge of the Pharisees that they were such as justified themselves (Luk_16:15; Luk_10:29). Secondly, it is God that justifies, therefore not friends or Christian acquaintance. Thirdly, it is God that justifies, therefore not ministers or pastors of the Church. The ministers have a commission for the laying open of the sweet promises of the gospel, and the mercy of God in Christ, to all such persons as are willing to leave their sins. In brief, this is the advantage which is considerable in ministerial absolution, that where a minister does upon good grounds declare such a person to be pardoned and justified in the sight of God, this action of his shall be so far forth effectual to such a person as to the settling and quieting of his conscience, which before could have no rest in itself. And in this sense is not only declarative but likewise operative; not to the forgiveness of sins absolutely, but as to the evidences of it, and in that regard of greater use and availment than is always apprehended as being the ordinance of God which He has sanctified and allowed of for such a purpose as that is. The second is the conclusion which is enforced from it, and that, to make it more significant, is propounded by way of question, Who shall lay anything to the charge of Gods elect? First, Who shall lay anything to the charge of Gods elect? That is, who can do it? It is impossible; it is impossible that Gods elect, who are justified by God, should have any charge laid unto them. First, there is nothing to accuse them of, there is no ground or matter of accusation in the elect and justified of God. There is enough to be found in them, but there is nothing to be charged upon them. Secondly, there is nobody to accuse them to, or to receive any accusation against them: If God be for us, who can be against us? And so, if God justify us, who can accuse us, as having a fit person to lay the charge before (thus Isa_1:8-9). There is no higher court of justice than the tribunal and judgment of God Himself. We see in the affairs of men that that which is done in a higher court it cannot be nullified in a lower. Thirdly, there is nobody to make or frame the accusation, that is, who can do it with any success or hope to prevail in it. Secondly, Who shall? that is, Who may? It is that which is unwarrantable, and there are two things also in this. First, it is a pragmatical business for any to accuse those whom God does acquit, they meddle with that which they have nothing to do withal, for God He is both the Creditor and the Judge, and so where He does justify what has any to do to condemn? But then also, secondly, it is injurious for any to accuse any man whom the law has already absolved; it is in itself matter of accusation and is liable to exception. Thirdly and lastly, Who shall? that is, Who dare? It is unsafe and dangerous. And so there is a great deal of rashness and presumption in it. For a man to lay any false accusation upon the meanest subject in a kingdom, it were that which he were answerable for. They accuse Gods elect, who are His choice and peculiar people, His favourites, and such as He esteems of, and therefore it concerns them to take heed herein what they do. We know how God took up Aaron and Miriam for their charging and accusing of Moses and speaking reproachfully of him. How were ye not afraid (says He) to speak against My servant Moses (Num_12:8). (Thomas Horton, D.D.)

Elect, Gods vindication of His

Who? The devil will try, but will he succeed? Methinks that at the last assize of the world the Great Judge of all will ask the question, and methinks I can see Satan come forward to give his evidence against them, which at the outset appears strong and overwhelming. But I see the Great Advocate for the defence, whose name is Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, begin to cross-examine him:--What is your name? Satan. Yes, but you have a few aliases, have you not? Yes. What are they? The Serpent. Again? The Devil. Again? Accuser of the brethren. So it seems. Where do you dwell? Hell is the centre of my operations. And what is your occupation? Well,-- Speak out that heaven and earth may hear! Walking about in the earth, seeking whom I may devour. So it appears. Were you ever in heaven? Yes; there! commenced my existence. Yes; and were you driven out for pride, ambition, and rebellion against the Supreme authority, for lying and other evils? Those were the charges against me. And proved, I believe? Yes, I suppose. So it seems. Have you not done all you can against Gods elect, and do you not bear them the greatest animosity? Well, I cannot deny that. That is my case, my Lord, says the Great Advocate. Justified! exclaims the Great Judge. Who shall lay anything to the charge of Gods elect? The devil will try, but he will never succeed. He is a biassed witness with a broken character whose word has no weight in the court of heaven. (E. Williams.)

Elect, how chosen

The elect are whosoever will, Beecher once said; the non- elect are whosoever wont.

Election: how to be regarded and determined

Let your first act be an act of reliance upon Christ for pardon; let this act be so repeated by you day after day, as to ripen into a habit of reliance, and then shall we confidently look for the marks and evidences of your regeneration. And these marks may at length so multiply upon you--they might so brighten that you shall begin to suspect, nay, further, to guess, nay, further still, to be assured, and to read the full assurance that you are indeed one of the elect of God. If you are wise you do not meddle with the doctrine of election at the outset, whatever comfort or establishment of heart you may draw from it in the ulterior stages of your spiritual progress. When you go forth on the career of Christianity you look at the free offer of the gospel. You perceive it to be addressed to you, as well as to others. You yield a compliance therewith. You enter into peace with God in obedience to His own call, whereby He now beseeches you to be reconciled to Him. It were great presumption indeed for you to start with the assurance that your name is in the book of Gods decrees, which He keeps beside Himself in heaven; but no presumption at all to set out with the assurance that you are spoken to in that book of Gods declarations, which He circulates through the world. The look unto Me all and the come unto Me all and the whosoever will let him come--these are sayings in which one and all of the human family have most obvious interest. You presume nothing when you presume upon the honesty of these sayings. And if, furthermore, you proceed upon them, and forthwith enter upon that walk by which they who receive Christ, and receive along with Him power to become the children of God, separate themselves from the world; and pray for grace that you may be upheld and carried forward therein, and combine a life of activity with a life of prayer, then, and after perhaps many months of successful perseverance, you may talk of your election, because now you can read it, not in the book of life that is in heaven, but in the book of your own history upon earth. Even the apostle went no higher than this when judging of the state of his own converts. Their election was to him not a thing of presumption, but a thing of inference--drawn, not from what he guessed, but from what he saw--brought, not from those third heavens which he had at one time visited, but lying palpably before him (1Th_1:4-7). (T. Chalmers, D.D.)

It is God that Justifieth.

Justification

I. What is justification? It consists--

1. In the pardon of all our sins (Rom_4:6-7). God, in justifying His people against the imputations of the world, doth bring forth their righteousness as the noon-day; but in justifying them against the accusations brought before His own tribunal, doth not vindicate our innocency, but show His own mercy in a free discharge of all our sins.

2. In accepting us as righteous in Christ, who died for our sins to reconcile us unto God; and therefore sometimes He is said to be made righteousness to us (1Co_1:30), and we are said to be made the righteousness of God in Him (2Co_5:21).

II. How many ways doth God justify? By way of--

1. Constitution, i.e., by his gospel-grant, or the new covenant in the blood of Christ, by which we know whom, and upon what terms, God will pardon and justify--namely, all such as repent and believe the gospel. We may know the true way of justification by its opposition to the false way (Act_13:38-39).

2. Estimation, whereby God doth account them righteous who fulfil the terms of the gospel, and actually convey to them the fruits of Christs death (1Co_6:11).

3. Sentence. This is in part done here, when God interpreteth our righteousness and sincerity (Job_33:23-24); but more solemnly at the last day (Act_3:10; Mat_12:36-37).

4. Execution. This is in part done here, as God taketh off the penalties and fruits of sin, and giveth us many blessings as the pledge of His love, and above all, the gift of the Holy Spirit, whereby He sanctifieth us. But more fully at the last day, when we enter into everlasting glory (Mat_25:46).

III. How it can stand with the wisdom, justices and holiness of God, to justify a sinner. It is a great crime to take the unrighteous to be righteous, and against the word of God (Pro_24:24; Pro_17:15).

1. Christs ransom maketh it reconcilable with Gods justice, and the honour of His law and government (Job_33:24; Rom_3:25). There is full satisfaction given to Gods wronged justice.

2. His covenant reconcileth it with His wisdom. God is not mistaken in judging us righteous when we are not; for we are constituted righteous, and then deemed and pronounced so (Rom_5:19).

3. Conversion reconcileth it with His holiness; for a sinner as a sinner is not justified, but a penitent believer.

IV. Why no charge or accusation can lie against them whom God justifieth.

1. Because God is the supreme law-giver, to appoint the terms and conditions upon which we shall be justified, and when He hath stated them, and declared His will, who shall reverse it or rebuke it? (Heb_6:17-18).

2. Because the promise of justification is built upon Christs everlasting merit and satisfaction, and therefore it will hold good for ever (Heb_10:14).

3. Because it is conveyed by the solemnity of a covenant (1Jn_1:9; 2Ti_4:8).

4. When we believe, God, as the supreme judge, actually determineth our right, so that a believer is rectus in curia, hath his quietus est. (Rom_5:1). And, then, who can lay anything to our charge to reverse Gods grant?

5. The Lord, as the sovereign disposer of mans felicity, doth many times uncontrollably give us the comfort of it in our own consciences (Job_34:29). None can obstruct the peace which He giveth. (T. Manton, D.D.)

Justification: its comfort

There is one aspect of justification that is peculiarly fitted to comfort the heart of a believer, viz. that it is the personal act of God. It is God that justifieth. It is He to whom he was liable, declaring that all was fully paid. It is He who alone was entitled to make the charge against us, declaring how amply we stood discharged. It is He who before was our offended Lawgiver, Himself undertaking our cause and pronouncing upon the goodness of it. It is the God from whom at one time we have nought to apprehend but condemnation, pleading our cause, and protesting how completely He is satisfied. It is our vindication coming from the very quarter whence our vengeance was looked for; and that Being who alone had the right to accuse, not merely acquitting, but regarding us as entitled to all the positive regard that is due to righteousness. It is He who might have wreaked upon us of His sorest displeasure, now telling how much He is pleased with us, and how rightfully we are privileged to obtain from Him the rewards of a happy and honourable eternity. It is He whom we might well have dreaded, that when the arm of His justice was lifted up it would be lifted up to destroy--it is Himself saying that this very justice demanded not only our exoneration from all penalty but our preferment to the glories that are due to righteousness. They who have felt the terrors of the law--they who have been stung with the arrows of self-reproach and have shrunk from the dreaded eye of a judge and an avenger, as it took cognizance of all their ungodliness--they can report how blessed the emancipation is when all is clear with God, who now can at once be a just God and a Saviour--can be just while the justifier of those who believe in Jesus. (T. Chalmers, D.D.)

Justification by God

Justification is specially referred to God because--

I. The wisdom of the Father planned it. His sovereign will must have the alone right to dictate the terms upon which He will take us back to favour. The Father, therefore, appoints the way, and plans the means, and even subordinates the dignity of His Son, as it were, in order that He may put an end to transgression, and bring in an everlasting righteousness.

II. The love of the Son accomplished it. What God purposes, Jesus executes. The Father desired a missionary from heaven to our guilty world to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. The eternal Son of God was heard to say, Lo, here am I; send Me. The Father desired a victim who should bear the iniquities of man; and the voice of the same Son was heard again, Lo, I come. The Father desired a justifier, one who should put an end to sin; and again the voice of the same Son is heard, not in heaven, but in earth, I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do. Thus the part which Christ, the eternal Son, hath in human justification, is to pay His peoples debts, to magnify His Fathers law, to clear up and vindicate the righteous procedure of Heaven; to weave that spotless robe of righteousness, which might boldly challenge the purity of heaven, and gather in its ample folds the sins of all mankind.

III. The power of God the Spirit applies and enforces and seals it. He shows the heart its wickedness, the will its stubbornness, the mind its blindness; and then, by penitence and faith, leads us to the feet of Him who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. It is this Spirit, then, that performs the last best office for our souls. He shows to us, in all its spirituality and breadth, that law which we have broken, sets before us the dangers that we are in, and points us to the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world. Thus the Spirit is the preacher of righteousness. The Spirit it is that instructs us in the necessity of justification, that explains to us its way and manner, that seals our souls with a comforting assurance of Gods favour and being justified by faith, we have had peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (D. Moore, M.A.)

Who is he that condemneth?--

The believers confidence

I. Some there are that would condemn us.

1. Satan (Rev_12:10, Job_1:9; Job_2:4-5).

2. The law (Joh_5:45; Gal_3:10).

3. Conscience (1Jn_2:20),

II. Against those who are in christ there can be no condemnation (Rom_3:1). To which is required--

1. Faith in Him (Joh_3:16).

2. Union to Him by that faith (Joh_17:21-22; 2Co_5:17; 1Co_6:17; Joh_15:1-3).

III. Here are four reasons why they cannot be condemned.

1. It is Christ that died.

(1) Christ died for our sins (Isa_53:5-6; 1Jn_2:2).

(2) Believers died in Him.

(3) Hence they cannot be condemned, because He hath made satisfaction for their debts.

2. Yea, rather, that is risen again.

(1) Christ did really rise (Luk_24:6).

(2) His rising shows that He hath completed our redemption and satisfied for our sins (Act_2:24).

(3) He rose as He died, the Head of the Church (Rom_4:25).

(4) All believers, therefore, rose with Him (Col_3:1). Hence there can be no condemnation to them, because, by His resurrection, He and they in Him were acquitted (Rom_3:1; Heb_5:9).

3. Who is even at the right hand of God, which betokens--

(1) His honour (Heb_1:3; Heb_8:1).

(2) His happiness (Psa_16:11).

(3) His power (Mar_14:62; Psa_110:1), by which He will destroy--

(a) Satan (Heb_2:14).

(b) Sin (1Jn_3:8).

(c) Death (1Co_15:26; 1Co_15:55-56; Hos_13:14). Hence they cannot be condemned (1Jn_2:1).

4. Who also maketh intercession for us, which He doth by--

(1) Appearing for us before God (Heb_9:24).

(2) His sacrifice (Heb_10:12; Heb_10:14).

(3) Pleading our cause (1Jn_2:1).

(4) The Fathers always hearing Him (Joh_11:42; Mat_17:5).

Conclusion:

1. Consider--

(1) That you are guilty (Gal_3:22; Rom_3:19), and condemned (Joh_3:18).

(2) That there is no way of acquittal but by Christ (Act_4:12).

(3) That none come to God by Him but may be saved (Heb_7:25).

(4) That consequently if you come by faith to Him, there can be no condemnation to you (Mat_11:28-29).

2. Meditate often on the death, resurrection, etc., of Christ.

3. Be thankful to God for sending Christ (Rom_11:33), and for making Christ known to you (Mat_11:25).

4. Be not dismayed at spiritual enemies, but triumph over them (verses 34-37). (Bp. Beveridge.)

A challenge and a shield

We should have but one hope of salvation. As long as we have half a dozen, we have half a dozen doubtful ones. When Charles V went to war with Francis I, he sent a herald declaring war in the name of the Emperor of Germany, King of Castille, King of Aragon, etc., etc., etc., giving his sovereign all the honours that were his due. The herald of Francis, not to be outdone in the list of honours, said, I take up the challenge in the name of Francis the First, King of France; Francis the First, King of France; repeating his masters name and office as many times as the other had titles. So it is a grand thing, whenever Satan accuses, just to say, Christ has died, Christ has died. If any confront you with other confidences, still keep to this almighty plea. If one says, I was christened, and confirmed, answer him by saying, Christ has died. Should another say, I was baptized as an adult, let your confidence remain the same. When another says, I am a sound, orthodox Presbyterian, you stick to this solid ground, Christ has died. There is enough in that one truth to include all that is excellent in the others, and to answer all the accusations that may be brought against you. Here is--

I. A challenge to all comers. The encounter is not to be a mere tilt in a tournament, but a battle for life or death. Who enters the lists against the believer?

1. Satan. It is his business to be the accuser of the brethren. He knows enough of our conduct to be able to bring to memory much that might condemn us. When this fails, the father of lies will accuse us of things of which we are not guilty, or will exaggerate our guilt, in order to drive us to despair. Up with your shield, then, and say, Yes, it is all true, or it might have been; but It is Christ that died.

2. The world. As long as you go with evil companions they will applaud you; but when you give up their society they will sneer at you, and bring up all your past life against you. Tell the world, once for all, that it may condemn you, and that it is right that they should condemn you; but tell them also that Christ died. If they say that Christs death does not repair the injury you have done to your fellow-men, tell them that, as far as you can, you mean to make restitution to them; and that your Master has done it more good than you ever did it harm.

3. Your own conscience. When David had cut off Sauls skirt, his heart smote him. It is an ugly knock that a mans heart gives when it smites him. Thunderbolts and tornadoes are nothing in force compared with the charges of a guilty conscience. But when a man condemns himself let him tell conscience, as he told his former opponents, it is Christ that died, and it will be perfectly satisfied, and will use its voice for other purposes.

4. The law of God, which must condemn sin. But when it has done its worst, say to it, I am not under thee, but under grace. My Substitute has kept the law on my behalf. He has borne the penalty and I am clear.

II. A remedy for all sin.

1. Look, says one, there is sin. True, but yonder is the Saviour.

2. Yes, but you have been specially guilty; there is great sin against a great God. True, but there is a great sacrifice.

3. But God must punish sin. It is even so; but sin has been punished, for Christ has died. Not only is our sin punished, but the sin is gone. If my friend has paid my debt, it is gone. And that my sins are gone is further clear, for He rose again from the dead. If He had not paid the debt, He would have remained in the prison of the grave: and we have still another assurance that it is all gone, for Christ is even at the right hand of God. He would not be there if He were a debtor. And as to our infirmities, He is there to plead for His people: Who also maketh intercession for us.

III. An answer to every accusation which may arise from sin. Sometimes the accusing whisper comes--

1. You have sinned against a great God. I will make no answer but this: It is Christ that died. Christ is able to stand between me and God. It is true that God is great, but He cannot ask for more than Divine righteousness, and in Christ I present that.

2. You have robbed God of His glory. I know it, but Christ has died, and has brought all the glory back again.

3. But you have sinned wilfully! True, but then Jesus willingly died for me, the wilful sinner.

4. But you sinned against light and knowledge. Yes; but Christ brings a sacrifice offered with His own full knowledge of all that it involved.

5. But you have sinned with delight. Ah! it is so; but then my Lord delighted to come to be my Saviour.

6. But you have sinned in spirit; but then Christ suffered in His spirit. The sufferings of His soul were the very soul of His sufferings.

7. But you have aforetime refused Christ. Yes; but I set over against that the fact that He always would have me.

8. But you have trusted in others, and turned away from Christ; but Christ never turns us away because we only come to Him when others fail us. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The four pillars of the Christian faith

The protest of an innocent man against the charge of an accuser may well be vehement. But here we have the protest of a justified sinner, that his character is clear through the perfect mediation of Christ, which gives him this amazing confidence. We have before us the four pillars upon which the Christian rests his hope. Because of our unbelief and the attacks our faith has to endure, God has given us four strong consolations, with which we may fortify our hearts whenever the sky is overcast, or the hurricane is coming forth from its place. It reminds me of what I have sometimes heard of the ropes that are used in mining. It is said that every strand of them would bear the entire tonnage, and consequently, if each strand bears the full weight that will ever be put upon the whole, there is an absolute certainty of safety given to the whole when twisted together. Now each of these four articles of our faith is sufficient to bear the weight of the sins of the whole world. What must be the strength when the whole four are intertwisted, and become the support of the believer? The Christian never can be condemned because--

I. Christ hath died. In the death of Christ there was a full penalty paid to Divine justice for his sins. If we shelter ourselves beneath the tree of Calvary we are safe. One cries, Thou hast been a blasphemer. Yes, but Christ died for blasphemers. But thou hast stained thyself with lust. Yes, but Christ died for the lascivious. The blood of Jesus Christ, Gods Son, cleanseth us from all sin.

II. Christ has risen again. Yea rather! As much as to say, it is a powerful argument for our salvation that Christ died; but it is a still more cogent proof that Christ rose. Christ by His death paid to His Father the full price of what we owed to Him. Still the bond was not cancelled until the day when Christ rose. Death was the payment of the debt, but resurrection was the public acknowledgment that the debt was paid. On the Cross I see Jesus dying for my sins as an expiating sacrifice; but in the resurrection I see God accepting what He has done for my indisputable justification, His death was the digging of the well of salvation; but the resurrection was the springing up of the water. Christ was in His death the hostage of the people of God. Now, as long as He was in prison, although there might be ground of hope, it was but as light sown for the righteous; but when the hostage came out, then every child of God was released from durance vile no more to die.

III. who is even at the right hand of God. Is there not any word of special commendation to this? The last one had, Yea, rather (see Rom_5:10). Here is an argument which hath much more power than even Christs death. In other passages Christ is said to have sat down for ever at the right hand of God. Now, He never would if the work were not fully done. There were no seats provided for the priests in the Jewish tabernacle. Every priest stood daily ministering. But the great High Priest of our profession hath taken His seat at the right hand of the majesty on high, because now the sacrifice is complete. Sitting at the right hand of God means--

(1) That Christ is now in the honourable position of an accepted one. The right hand of God is the place of majesty and favour. Now, Christ is His peoples representative. When He died for them they had rest; when He rose again for them they had liberty; when He sat at His own right hand, then they had favour, and honour, and dignity.

(2) The place of power. Christ at the right handel God signifies that all power is given unto Him in heaven and in earth. Now, who is He that condemns the people that have such a head as this?

IV. who also maketh intercession for us. Our apostle, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, puts a stronger comium upon this sentence. In the first he said, Yea rather; the second, Much more; but now He is able also to save them unto the uttermost that come unto God by Him, etc. If I had to intercede for my brother with my father, I should feel I had got a safe case in hand. This is just what Jesus has to do. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The completeness of redemption

The privilege itself which is here mentioned, the believers freedom from condemnation propounded for greater emphasis in the form of a question, Who shall condemn? which hath two things considerable in it. First, We will look upon these words, as they do present to us the state of a Christian in the matter and substance of them; who shall condemn? that is, none shall condemn. The second is, as it expresses to us the spirit of a Christian, and that is a spirit of triumph and exultation; who shall condemn him? as defying any that should undertake it, or go about it. The second is the confirmation of this privilege from the several arguments which are brought to enforce it; and they are, I say, taken from four articles of our Christian faith. We will view them in their several order as they lie before us. The first is, The death of Christ; It is Christ that died. Christs dying for believers does infer their freedom from condemnation. Now the strength of this argument it does depend upon a threefold consideration. First, The death of Christ does free Gods children from condemnation, upon account of the nature and quality of it, considered in itself as most sufficient to such a purpose as this is. This it is again in a twofold respect. First, The dignity of His person; it is Christ. If it had been any other person who had undertaken to reconcile us to God and to free us from condemnation, we might have notwithstanding doubted of it, and called it into question. The second is, The fulness of His satisfaction, Those for whom Christ hath died they cannot be condemned, because Christ by dying for them hath taken away all manner of guilt and condemnation from them. The third is, The interest and propriety which all believers have in this death, in these words. First, In the intention of Christ; He hath designed His death to be effectual to all His elect, and did with a special respect unto them lay down His life. Secondly, As to their own improvement and application; they have laid hold on this death of Christ, and so made it their own, and the virtue and efficacy of it. The third and last is, The justice of God Himself in reference to both. It is satisfied in the surety, and therefore it cannot in justice be required of the principal debtor; the Judge of all the world must needs do right. And so much for that, namely, the first argument to prove Gods children free from condemnation, taken from the death of Christ. The second is taken from His resurrection; yea rather, that is risen again. First, in reference to the mystery and thing itself, as a more excellent and transcendent dispensation. For Christ to be risen again, this is such a glorious mystery, as dazzles the most curious eyes, and affects all men that behold it even with admiration. Secondly, In reference to Christ Himself, rather as risen again, as that which is the greater honour and dignity to Him; for hereby was there a discovery of His Godhead and Divine nature. Thirdly, In reference to ourselves, as of greatest use and improvement to us. For Christs resurrection it is the ground and foundation of ours; and so of all other comfort which belongs unto us. This is the sum of the business: That Christ sits at Gods right hand as a testimony of the fulness of His redemption and the completeness of His sacrifice for us. This intercession of Christ does not consist in a formal prostrating of the body of Christ, but especially in these following particulars. First, In His appearing and presenting of Himself for us to His Father in both His natures (Heb_9:24). Secondly, As Christ does appear in heaven for us, so He does likewise further urge and present to God the Father the rigour and merit and efficacy of that sacrifice which He once made on earth for us. Thirdly, He does also actually apply this His death and merit and satisfaction to believers themselves. As Paul in the behalf of Onesimus, Set this upon my account. Fourthly and lastly, Christ is said to intercede for us in all those particular suits and requests which He puts up in our behalf. (Thomas Horton, D.D.)

It is Christ that died.--

The death of Christ

I. Who died? Christ--i.e., the Anointed of God.

1. Persons under the law, who were set apart to important offices, as prophets, priests, kings, were anointed with the holy oil, which was typical of the anointing of the Holy Ghost. So we read about our Lord (Luk_4:18). As oil insinuates itself into the minutest pores of the substance which it touches, so the Divine nature wholly possessed the human form called Jesus; and there was that perfect union of God and man which we call Christ. Thus, though He be God and man, He is not two, but one Christ. But He was anointed above His fellows. Thus, for instance, Aaron was anointed high priest, Saul king, and Elisha prophet; Melchisedek was king and priest, Moses priest and prophet; yet none but Christ was Prophet, Priest, and King.

2. And as He was anointed with the Holy Spirit without measure, so He communicates that unction to His people as they require; and as the oil which was poured upon Aaron was so copious as to run down to the skirts of his clothing, so the unction of the Holy One was so abundant on Christ, as the Head of His Church, that it ever has, and ever will, run down to the meanest and the weakest of believers.

II. Why did He die?

1. To deliver us from condemnation.

2. To testify Gods love to a lost world (1Jn_4:10).

3. For the fulfilment of Scripture (Mat_26:52-54; Luk_24:27).

4. Not only to satisfy God, but thus to save sinners. And looking at the Person who died, it secures the salvation of all the elect, for Christ is the emphatic word in all the sentence. Who died? Christ. You need no more. Nothing can be added to strengthen it. Who is he that condemneth? Christ has died. It shuts up all.

III. The efficacy of His death. God can now be just, and the Justifier of him that believeth in Jesus; but in no other way that we are told of but by Christs death. And the sacrifice of Christ was once for all. It need not be repeated. There is no more, no other sacrifice for sin (Heb_10:12; Heb_10:14). (J. W. Reeve, M.A.)

The death of Christ

All the world has sung the praise of the Princess Alice. One child having died of a contagious disease, she was in the room where another was dying, and the Court physician said to her, You must not breathe the breath of this child, or you yourself will die. But seeing the child mourning, she in sympathy kissed the little one, caught the disease, and perished. All the world sings of her heroism and self-sacrifice; but I have to tell you that when our race was dying, the Lord Jesus stooped down and gave us the kiss of His everlasting love, and died that we might live. (T. De Witt Talmage, D.D.)

Yea rather, that is risen again.--

Christs resurrection a higher fact than His death

This--

I. Supposes the fact of His death. His death is not to be disparaged; none can appreciate it too highly. It is the highest expression of love the universe ever witnessed--the highest homage to truth, rectitude, and order that the Divine government ever received. It was a death-blow to all past dispensations; it rang in the new era of eternal mercy. But great as is His death, the great thing is implied in His resurrection. There could not have been a real resurrection had there not been a real death.

II. Demonstrates the wonderfulness of His death

1. Its absolute voluntariness. He who could rise from the dead by His own power could have avoided death. His rising proved that He had power to lay down His life and take it up again.

2. Its supernatural character. Only a few of the millions that have died have ever been raised to life; only One ever rose by His own power, and that was Christ. The supernatural resurrection shows the supernatural death. It is the resurrection, therefore, that gives a meaning to Christs death.

3. The moral purpose of His death. The great end of His death was to give spiritual life to humanity, and this His resurrection ensures. He is alive, to carry on by His gospel and His Spirit the great work of mans spiritual restoration. Conclusion: Let us think rather of the risen than of the dead Christ. Alas, the modern Church generally lives rather on the gloomy Saturday, when Christ is in His grave, than on the bright Sunday when He appeared to His disciples--the blessed Easter of the world. (D. Thomas, D.D.)

Who is even at the right hand of God.--

On Christs being at the right hand of God

It imports--

1. The advancement of Christ, in our nature, to the highest honour and glory. He is not only possessed of the glory which He had with the Father before the world was, and of which He was pleased, for a time, to empty Himself; but having taken our nature into heaven with Him, there is a most glorious beauty and lustre put upon it, of which the disciples that were with Him on the mount of transfiguration had a lively emblem, and of which Stephen and Paul, and John the divine, had visions.

2. Christs being at the right hand of God implies the sovereignty, power, and dominion with which He is invested.

3. His being at the right hand of God expresses not only His honour and power, but also His blessedness and joy. He for ever drinks in the highest pleasures from the indwelling Godhead, from His matchless nearness to, and communion with the Father, and from the review of His own finished work, and the glorious things which He accomplished. Being thus exalted, He can carry on and finish, by power, the redemption He has purchased by price; can give gifts to men, give repentance and remission of sins. (T. Ferret, M.A.)

The right hand of God

We honour the right hand more than we do the left. If in accident or battle we must lose one hand, let it be the left. The left hand being nearer the heart, we may not do much of the violent work of life with that hand without physical damage; but he who has the right arm in full play has the mightiest of all earthly weapons. In all ages, and in all languages, the right hand is the symbol of strength, and power, and honour. Hiram sat at the right hand of Solomon. Then we have the term, He is a right-hand man, and Lafayette was Washingtons right-hand man. Marshal Ney was Napoleons right-hand man; and now you have the meaning of Paul when he speaks of Christ, who is at the right hand of God. That means He is the first Guest of heaven. He has a right to sit there. The Hero of the universe. Count His wounds--in the feet, in the hands, in the side, in the temples. If a hero comes back from battle, and he takes off his hat, or rolls up his sleeve and shows you the scar of a wound, you stand in admiration at his heroism and patriotism; but Christ makes conspicuous the wounds gotten on Calvary, that Waterloo of all the ages. Wounded all over, let Him sit on the right hand of God. He has a right to sit there. By the request of God the Father, and the unanimous suffrages of all heaven, let Him sit there. In the grand review, when the redeemed pass by in cohorts of splendour, they will look at Him and shout Victory! The oldest inhabitant of heaven never saw a grander day than the one when Christ took the right hand of God. (T. De Witt Talmage, D.D.)

The ascension: mysteries in religion

The ascension is ever to be commemorated with thanksgiving. As the Jewish high priest, on the great day of atonement, went into the holy of holies with the blood of the victim, and sprinkled it upon the mercy-seat, so Christ has entered into heaven itself, to present His pierced hands and wounded side, in token of the atonement which He has effected for the sins of the world. Wonder and awe must always mingle with the thankfulness which the revealed dispensation of mercy raises in our minds. And this, indeed, is an additional cause of thankfulness, that Almighty God has disclosed to us enough to raise such feelings. Had He merely told us that He had pardoned us, we should have had overabundant cause for blessing Him; but in showing us somewhat of the means, He has enlarged our gratitude, yet sobered it with fear. We are allowed with the angels to obtain a glimpse of the mysteries of heaven, to rejoice with trembling.

I. Christs ascension to the right hand of God is a token that heaven is a place, and not a mere state. The bodily presence of the Saviour is in heaven. This contradicts the notions of cultivated and speculative minds, and humbles the reason. Philosophy considers it more rational to suppose that God is in no one place more than another. It would teach, if it dare, that heaven is a mere state of blessedness; but, to be consistent, it ought to maintain that Christs presence on earth was a mere vision; for certain it is, He who appeared on earth went up from the earth. And here again a difficulty occurs. Whither did He go? Beyond the sun and stars? Again, what is meant by ascending? Philosophers will say there is no difference between down and up as regards the sky. And thus we are led on to consider how different are the character and effect of the Scripture notices of the structure of the physical world from those which philosophers deliver. And when we find the two apparently discordant, the feeling we ought to have is not an impatience to do what is beyond our powers, to arbitrate between the two voices of God, but a sense of the utter nothingness of worms such as we are; of our incapacity to contemplate things as they really are; a conviction that what is put before us, in nature or m grace, though true in such a sense that we dare not tamper with it, yet is but an intimation useful for particular purposes, until the day break and the shadows flee away. And thus, while we use the language of science for scientific purposes, we may reprove its upholders should they attempt to stretch it beyond its measure. It may stand as a proselyte under the shadow of the temple; but it must not dare profane the inner courts, in which the ladder of angels reached to the throne of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. Note, too, that our Lord is to come from heaven in like manner as He went. Attempt to solve this prediction, according to the received theories of science, and you will discover their shallowness. They are unequal to the depth of the problem.

II. Christ has gone up on high to present Himself before the face of God for us (Heb_9:12; Heb_9:24-25; Heb_7:24-25; Heb_8:1-2). These passages refer us to the rites of the Jewish law. The high priest entering with the atoning blood into the holiest was a representation of Christs gracious deed in our behalf. How does He fulfil the rite of intercession? Instead of explaining, Scripture does but continue to answer us in the language of the type; even to the last it veils His deed under the ancient figure (Rev_8:3-4). Shall we therefore explain away its language as merely figurative? Far from it. Christ is within the veil. We must not search curiously what is His present office. And, since we do not know, we will studiously keep to the figure given us in Scripture. We will not neglect it because we do not understand it. We will hold it as a mystery, or a truth sacramental; that is, a high invisible grace lodged in an outward form. Thus much we see in it, the pledge of a doctrine which reason cannot understand--viz., of the influence of the prayer of faith upon the Divine counsels. The Intercessor directs or stays the hand of the Unchangeable and Sovereign Governor of the world, being at once the meritorious cause and the earnest of the intercessory power of His brethren.

III. Consider our Saviours words--It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come. He does not tell us why it was that His absence was the condition of the Holy Spirits presence. I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter. To the same purpose are Joh_14:12; Joh_14:28; Joh_20:17. Now, proud and curious reason might seek to know why He could not pray the Father without going to Him; why He must depart in order to send the Spirit. But faith muses over the wonderful system of Providence, which is ever connecting events, between which man sees no necessary bond. The whole system of cause and effect is one of mystery; and this instance, if it may be called one, supplies abundant matter of praise and adoration to a pious mind. It suggests to us, again, how very much our knowledge of Gods ways is but on the surface, and also leads our minds with great comfort to the thought of many lower dispensations of Providence towards us. He who, according to His inscrutable will, sent first His Son, and then His Spirit, acts with deep counsel, which we may surely trust, when He sends from place to place those earthly instruments which carry on His purposes. This is a thought which is particularly soothing as regards the loss of friends; or of especially gifted men, who seem in their day the earthly support of the Church. For what we know, their removal hence is as necessary for the furtherance of the very objects we have at heart, as was the departure of our Saviour. Their gifts are not lost to us. Yea, doubtless, they are keeping up the perpetual chant in the shrine above, praying and praising God day and night in His temple, like Moses upon the mount, while Joshua and his host fight with Amalek (Rev_6:10; Rev_11:17-18; Rev_15:3-4). Conclusion: What has been said about the ascension comes to this--that we are in a world of mystery, with one bright Light before us, sufficient for our proceeding forward through all difficulties. Take away this Light, and we are utterly wretched. But with it we have all and abound. Not to mention the duty and wisdom of implicit faith, what is nobler than the generosity of heart which risks everything on Gods word, dares the powers of evil to their worst efforts, and repels the illusions of sense and the artifices of reason, by confidence in the truth of Him who has ascended to the right hand of the Majesty on high? We will not wish for sight. It is enough that our Redeemer liveth; that He has been on earth, and will come again. (J. H. Newman, D.D.)

Who also maketh intercession for us.--

The intercession of Christ

I. Its nature.

1. As it implies a distance between the Father with whom Christ intercedes and those for whom He intercedes, so its aim and design is to remove this distance (1Jn_2:1; Joh_17:20-24).

2. In order to the attaining these ends, it consists primarily in Christ presenting continually before God that sacrifice He made of Himself on earth (Heb_9:24-26; Rev_5:6; Heb_9:12; Heb_12:24).

3. Yet it may be reasonably presumed to comprehend some direct signification of His mind and will to the Father, in a manner worthy of Himself, concerning those for whom He intercedes. We are naturally led to conceive thus of Christs intercession from the word itself, which properly signifies pleading. His work in heaven is also sometimes represented under the notion of His asking and praying to the Father (Psa_2:8; Joh_14:16; Joh_16:26). But this is very different from that of all others, or even His own, in the days of His humiliation. The style of His intercession is majestic, as of One who has authority to challenge what He signifies His desire and will about (Joh_17:24).

4. One branch of it is to take care of the prayers of the saints on earth, to commend and present them to God, and to secure acceptance for them (1Pe_1:5; Rev_8:3; Heb_4:14-16; Heb_10:21-22; Heb_13:15; Col_3:17).

II. Its properties.

1. It is just and right.

(1) It is the intercession of One who Himself is holy, and ever stood right with the law of God.

(2) It is also right in itself; not a mere suit for mercy, but a plea addressed to justice, for what He has first purchased.

(3) It is also carried on in a perfectly holy manner, and according to the will of God. Thus is our Advocate, in all respects, Jesus Christ the Righteous (1Jn_2:2).

2. It is in common for the whole household of God, yet distinct and particular for every member; and in order to this, it is qualified with His perfect knowledge of what concerns them all.

3. It is conducted with consummate skill and prudence, and to the best advantage. We often ask and have not, because we ask amiss; but as Christ understands thoroughly the cause of His clients, He varies and disposes His pleas according to the nature and exigency of every case.

4. It is most affectionate and earnest. All His peoples conflicts and complaints are not only before Him, but within Him (Heb_4:15; Heb_2:18).

5. It is constant and perpetual as long as there is any saint left to be brought to glory (Heb_7:25).

6. It is ever prevalent and successful. The interest of all is wrapt together; the Advocate is a dutiful Son to the Father, a loving Brother to the client, and God is a tender Father to them both. Christ knew in the days of His flesh that the Father always heard Him. And can the success of His prayers, or His confidence of their success, be less now He has the price and pledge of all He asks for in His hands?

III. Its uses.

1. It manifests Gods glory. Is it not congruous, while the sins of those whom God will save are continually pleading on earth against the favours He is doing and designing for them, that the blood of perfect atonement should be alway pleaded in heaven against the crying guilt of these sins, and produced as a just ground of all the ample largesses of His grace to those who are daily making themselves unworthy of them? Does it not make it visible all over heaven with what strict regards to His holiness and justice He proceeds in dispensing the fruits of His grace?

2. It promotes Christs own glory. As He glorifies the Father in the continual discharge of this office, so no less does the Father glorify Him in advancing Him to it (Heb_5:4-5).

3. It undoubtedly answers many unknown uses in respect to the inhabitants of the invisible world. Saints and angels behold the whole transaction. And who can tell how large a part of their happiness may arise from the sight of Christs performing His temple service in the midst of them?

Application: The subject--

1. Teaches the humility and reverence which becomes us toward God at all times and in all our addresses to Him.

2. Inspires hope in Gods mercy and grace for our salvation, together with frequent and cheerful addresses to the throne of grace (Heb_4:14-16; Heb_10:19-22).

3. Comforts the saints under all the difficulties, dangers, and troubles of the present state. As long as Christ preserves His interest in heaven, He can never fail of an interest on earth.

4. Naturally and powerfully suggests our loving, cleaving, and living to Christ (Heb_4:14; Heb_10:21-23).

5. Attracts the hearts of Christians from earth to heaven, and points their supreme views and desires thither (Col_3:1-2). (J. Hubbard.)

Christs heavenly intercession

Christ Jesus does not lead a life merely of blessedness in heaven, but a life of office. He hath an unchangeable and everlasting priesthood. The one part of His priesthood He finished here on earth, when he offered up Himself to God a sacrifice; and the other, the interceding work of His priesthood, He still carries on in heaven. Intercession, in general, signifies a pleading and entreating with one person in behalf of another. We being unworthy of access to God in our own name, Christ Jesus is our intercessor to plead our cause with the Father, and to procure and dispense to us the blessings of His purchase. He virtually makes continual intercession for us, by appearing in our nature and name, presenting Himself in that body in which He suffered on earth, standing in the midst of the throne as the Lamb that had been slain. His intercession is founded on His atonement. By this intercession of Jesus Christ God is glorified. It is a striking testimony to Gods awful majesty and infinite purity that He has appointed a standing Mediator between Him and us, and will confer no grace upon us but through Him; and it is, at the same time, an eminent instance of His love and grace, that He has appointed such a glorious Intercessor to plead our cause in heaven, oven His own Son. By this also Christ Himself is highly honoured. His saving power is demonstrated: He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them. The efficacy of His sacrifice, His love to His people, and the great influence and interest He has in heaven, are continually shown forth. This doctrine of Christs intercession tends to excite in us a due mixture of reverence and confidence towards God. Should it not support the awakened sinner under a sense of guilt, prevent his despairing of mercy, and encourage him to come to the Father by the Son of His love? (T. Ferme, M.A.)

Christs intercession

I. The nature of Christs intercession, or the manner in which it is performed.

1. The intercession of Christ, in His state of exaltation, consists in His personal appearance in heaven before God. It is from Him that blessings are to be obtained; and, as the advocate requires to come into the presence of the judge by whom the law is to be administered, and the case of his client determined, so it is a part of the Divine constitution, in the scheme of redemption, that the representative or advocate of sinners should not stand afar off, but come into the immediate presence of the Eternal.

2. But the intercession of Christ consists not in a simple appearance before God in His human nature, but in His official presentation of Himself as the sacrifice offered for sinners. His sufferings alone could give Him a title to become an intercessor; and when He appeared in heaven as such, He behoved to come with His proofs and credentials of His previous qualification for the office, by suffering unto death. As the high priest entered with the blood obtained from the previous sacrifice, so Christ entered heaven with the blood of His sacrifice. It was known in the heaven above that His work was completed, and His very resurrection was a proof of it.

3. But besides this there seems farther to be included in Christs work of intercession, the audible expression of His desires in behalf of His people. This is the case in the several examples recorded of His intercessions on earth.

II. The persons for whom Christ intercedes.

III. The subjects to which Christs intercession refers, or the things for which He intercedes in behalf of His people.

1. Christ intercedes for those whom God has given Him, that they may be made His actually by believing on His name.

2. Christ intercedes for the preservation of His people from evil, and for their progressive advancement in holiness. The Saviour, who knows a worlds temptations, is busy within the veil, and, as in the days of His flesh, is His prayer ascending--Holy Father, keep those whom Thou hast given Me from the evil that is in the world.

3. Christ, by His intercession, obtains the pardon of the sins which believers daily commit, and thus averts the wrath of God, and maintains their peace with heaven. If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He is the propitiation for our sins. What a source of consolation does this open up to the frail, the offending Christian!

4. Christ intercedes for His people that they may be brought to heaven, to enjoy His blessedness, and to see His glory. (J. Clason.)

The intercession of Christ: its method

It was when the high priest entered with the blood and incense within the veil before the mercy-seat that he made intercession for the people. The very presenting of the blood and incense was an act of intercession, whether words were used or not. It was done in behalf of Israel for the purpose of averting the displeasure and conciliating the favour of Jehovah. With reference to this, Jesus is represented as fulfilling in heaven this part of the priestly functions. In what precise manner His intercession is carried on, it may not be easy for us with certainty to determine. It is evident, from the type just alluded to, that there may be intercession in action as well as in words. If a general who had fought the battles of his country, and had received many a wound, were presenting a petition to his sovereign on behalf of any of his offending subjects, what could be a more effective intercession than the silent baring of his bosom and pointing to his scars? (R. Wardlaw, D.D.)

A personal advocate

An old legionary asked Augustus to assist him in a cause which was about to be tried. Augustus deputed one of his friends to speak for the veteran, who, however, repudiated the vicarious patron, saying, It was not by proxy that I fought for you at Actium. Augustus acknowledged the obligation, and pleaded the cause in person. (C. E. Little.)

Christ our Advocate

There are some subjects that soon weary us. But it is not so with Christ. Like the sun, and the dew, and the rain, and the fleecy snow, He is always full of freshness and beauty. Let us now think of Him as our Advocate and Intercessor.

I. The advocates work. It is--

1. To study the prisoners case, and understand it thoroughly.

2. To feel deeply interested in it.

3. To stand and plead his cause.

4. To obtain his deliverance. Christ does all this.

II. His plea. Sometimes an advocate pleads that the prisoner--

1. Is innocent.

2. Or ignorant.

3. Or insane.

4. Or that he was quite justified in the act. But Christ pleads that He died in our stead (Heb_9:11-12).

III. His reward. Christ is doing this work for us. What shalt we give Him for this great service? He asks but one thing, My son, give Me thine heart. To do this is right, just, blessed. Who will do this to-day?

The advocacy of Christ

There is only one Advocate in all the universe that can plead our cause in the last judgment. Sometimes in earthly courts attorneys have specialities, and one man succeeds better in patent cases, another in insurance cases, another in criminal cases, another in land cases, another in will cases, and his success generally depends upon his sticking to that speciality. I have to tell you that Christ can do many things; but it seems to me that His speciality is to take the bad case of the sinner, and plead it before God until He gets eternal acquittal. But what plea can He make? Sometimes an attorney in court will plead the innocence of the prisoner. That would be inappropriate for us; we are all guilty. Sometimes he tries to prove an alibi. Such a plea will not do in our case. The Lord found us in all our sins, and in the very place of our iniquity. Sometimes an attorney he will plead the insanity of the prisoner, and say he is irresponsible on that account. That plea will never do in our case, We sinned against light, knowledge, and the dictates of our own consciences. What, then, shall the plea be? Christ will say, Look at all these wounds. By all these sufferings, I demand the rescue of this man from sin and death and hell. Constable, knock off the shackles--let the prisoner go free. Who is he that condemneth? etc. (T. De Witt Talmage, D.D.)

Christ a pleader

Catherine Brettage once, after a great conflict with Satan, said, Reason not with me, I am but a weak woman; if thou hast anything to say, say it to my Christ; He is my Advocate, my Strength, and my Redeemer, and He shall plead for me.

Christs intercession

Christs love did not cease at the hour of death. We write in our letters, Your friend till death; but Christ wrote in another style--Your friend after death! Christ died once, but loves ever. He is now testifying His affection to us; He is interceding for us; He appears in the court as the Advocate for the client. When He hath done dying, yet He hath not done loving. What a stupendous love was here! Who can meditate upon this and not be in an ecstacy? Well may the apostle call it a love that passeth knowledge. (T. Watson.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom 8:33-34. Who shall lay any thing to the charge — Any matter of guilt, which should bring them into condemnation, or shall bring an accusation against God’s elect — That is, against true believers, who have so received Christ (Joh 1:12) as to have obtained the privilege of becoming God’s children, and who only have the title of God’s elect in the New Testament, God having chosen such, and only such, for his people, instead of the disobedient Jews, whom he rejected for their unbelief. See note on Rom 8:28-30. To explain this a little further, in the words of a writer, quoted here by Mr. Wesley: — “Long before the coming of Christ, the heathen world revolted from the true God, and were therefore reprobated, or rejected. But the nation of the Jews were chosen to be the people of God, and were therefore styled, the children, or sons, of God, a holy people, a chosen seed, the elect, the called of God. And these titles were given to all the nation of Israel, including both good and bad. Now the gospel, having the most strict connection with the books of the Old Testament, where these phrases frequently occur; and our Lord and his apostles being native Jews, and beginning to preach in the land of Israel, the language in which they preached would, of course, abound with the phrases of the Jewish nation. And hence it is easy to see, why such of them as would not receive him were styled reprobated. For they no longer continued to be the people of God: whereas this, and those other honourable titles, were continued to all such Jews as embraced Christianity. And the same appellations which once belonged to the Jewish nation, were now given to the Gentile Christians also, together with which they were invested with all the privileges of the chosen people of God; and nothing could cut them off from these, but their own wilful apostacy. It does not appear that even good men were ever termed God’s elect, till above two thousand years from the creation. God’s electing, or choosing, the nation of Israel, and separating them from the other nations, who were sunk in idolatry and all wickedness, gave the first occasion to this sort of language. And as the separating the Christians from the Jews was a like event, no wonder it was expressed in like words and phrases: only with this difference, the term elect was of old applied to all the members of the visible church, whereas, in the New Testament, it is applied only to the members of the invisible,” to truly spiritual Christians, possessed of the faith working by love. It is God that justifieth — Acquits them from condemnation, and accounts them righteous; and his power and authority are supreme over all creatures: he can and will answer all objections against them, and pronounce them absolved now, and at the day of final judgment. To justify, here, being opposed to laying a charge, or bringing an accusation, against God’s people, must be understood in the forensic sense; for a judicial acquittal from that of which the justified persons were accused, and from all the consequences which would have followed if they had not been acquitted. Who is he that condemneth? — What is his authority or power; he can but be a creature; and surely no creature, man or angel, can frustrate the Creator’s sentence. On what ground can any one accuse or condemn them? Is it on that of their past guilt, or their present remaining depravity? It is Christ that died — Namely, to expiate the former, and to procure for them grace to mortify and destroy the latter. Yea rather, that is risen again — For their justification, now and at the day of judgment; who is even at the right hand of God — Exalted to the highest degree of honour and power, even to the government of the universe; and that for this very end, to protect them against their enemies, deliver them from the guilt and power of their sins, and confer upon them his regenerating, sanctifying Spirit. The apostle seems here to allude to Psa 110:1, where the empire of the Messiah, after his resurrection, is foretold. Christ, who died to save God’s people, and who, since his resurrection, governs the world for their benefit, will neither condemn them himself, when he sitteth in judgment upon them, nor suffer any other to condemn them. Who also maketh intercession for us — By presenting to his Father his obedience and sufferings, whereby, as our surety, he hath made satisfaction for our sins, and by manifesting his desire and will, in his prayers offered for us, that we should be made partakers of all the blessings procured by his sacrifice, and by presenting our prayers sanctified, and rendered acceptable through him. Dr. Doddridge, following Augustine, reads and interprets these clauses interrogatively, thus: Who shall lodge any accusation, &c. Is it God? What! he who himself justifieth? Who is he that condemneth? Is it Christ, whom we know to be appointed as the final Judge? What! doth he condemn, who died to expiate our guilt, and rescue us from condemnation? Yea rather, who is risen again? Shall he undo the purposes of his death and resurrection? He who is now at the right hand of God, where he appears under a quite contrary character, and is also making intercession for us; and therefore, far from accusing us, appears ready to answer all accusations brought against us, and to frustrate all the designs of our enemies? But, as Macknight observes, the common translation, at least of the first clause, is better, as it avoids the impropriety of representing God as an accuser at the tribunal of his Son. Besides, it is fully as emphatical as the other. God having declared his purpose of justifying his believing and obedient people through faith, will any one, after that, presume to bring any accusation against them?

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL NOTES

Rom_8:34.—Justification opposed to accusation, defence and advocacy to condemnation.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Rom_8:33-34

Christ’s intercessory work.

Christian faith teaches;

1. Christ’s ascension to God’s right hand;

2. Christ’s session at God’s right hand. “Right hand” =place for the nearest to the king, place for the dearest to the king (1Ki_2:19).

What is He doing there?—

1. Ruling His people. The Father rules universe; the Son rules human race, whom He redeemed, until, after final judgment, He resigns that rule to the Father (1Co_15:24-28).

2. Helping His people. Cases in point: St. Stephen (Act_7:55-56); St. Paul (Act_18:9-11); St. John (Rev_1:9-17).

3. Interceding for His people (Heb_7:25). “Ever.” Examples: In “stony ways” of trouble; in “tangled paths” of perplexity; in “sandy wastes” of spiritual weariness; in “flowery glades” of comfort and ease; on “steep precipices” of great temptation; on “slippery paths” of human praise. Illustrate by various stages in ascent of a Swiss mountain.

What is He doing for you now?—E.g., if steadfast; if doubting; if sinning; if tempted; if sorrowful for sin.—Dr. Springett.

SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Rom_8:33-34

Election a prominent principle.—Let me say at once that I am not so vain as to suppose that I can clear up the mystery of this profound subject, which has exercised the ablest minds of Christendom in all ages; I can but offer some thoughts to my readers which may help to remove some difficulties in their minds, as they have in my own. Election, whatever it may mean, is a very plain doctrine of Scripture, and a very broad, clear fact in nature and in history. Let me know God’s decrees, and I joyfully accept them as my standards and rules of judgment. But I do not feel the same reverence for man’s version of God’s decrees. Let us consider, first, that something like election is a very prominent principle in all God’s acts and ways. It looks out on us from every page of Scripture; it is the key to the order of nature and of human history. What does it mean, this election unto eternal life? It is stated distinctly in Scripture that certain of the human race are “God’s elect,” and are what they are in character, privilege, and destiny in virtue of this sovereign, ordaining will of God. They were elect, but not unto themselves, or for the sake of their own future; but rather for the sake of the work which their position of privilege would enable them to do for mankind: elect to a great ministry, a noble leadership—to the front rank in the field, to the high place in the strain, to all that may purge a man of narrow, partial, and selfish imaginations, and make him understand that “God’s elect” must catch the Spirit of the elect One, who came into this world, “not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.” It will readily be conceded that the question of election would present an entirely different aspect if any human being had prevailed to look into the book of the divine decrees. There are difficult and apparently conflicting statements in Scripture on this profound subject, arising from the fact that the whole sphere of it is beyond the grasp of our thought. The doctrine of a personal election must, in the very nature of things, have a mystery in the heart of it. God’s foresight, foreordering of the course of human affairs, and man’s freedom, conflict with each other in a way which puzzles the understanding. God had His eye on the great human mass, when He selected and separated a people, a people to be called by His name and live to His praise; and His chief interest in that elect people, we gather from prophetic scriptures, was the hope, of which they were the children, that through them the great human world would be blessed and gathered into the everlasting kingdom of the Lord. The fundamental principle—I should rather say the radical vital force—in all the higher developments of the spiritual life in man is the movement of the divine Spirit on the springs of our thought and will. The divine life in the soul is that in which the divine will and the human are one. Marriage, the marriage of souls, is the highest, the divinest ordinance of God in the sphere of this life. The elect are elect to live this life, which standeth in the knowledge of the eternal God—elect as Israel was elect to a very lofty level of life, to a high strong strain of duty, to live like Him the symbol of whose life was the cross. The apostolic epistles are full of “election.” Why? Because the men to whom and of whom they were written were full of the life. Wonder not that such “saints” as these clung sternly to their election. Wonder not that it was to an elect host that the trumpet note rang from the apostle’s lips. It meant for them that God was with them against a world which would else inevitably crush them—that God would uphold their lives and their ministry till the world which hated and trampled them beneath its grinding heel should break forth in praises to the Lord. These elect ones are just the front rank in the army, those in whom the divine call to the post of toil and peril has found an eager response. The election standeth in the manifestation of a life. To draw the world to Christ is the mission of the elect soul.—Baldwin Brown.

CRITICAL NOTES

Rom_8:36. We are being killed.—To express the intensely present.

Rom_8:37.—Are triumphantly victorious. Have superabundant strength.

Rom_8:38. For I am persuaded, etc.—To be induced to believe, to yield to, is πείθειν (Pass. and Midd.). θάνατος violent death, often threatened.

Rom_8:39.—High and low places from which the Christians suffered.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Rom_8:33-39

Christian certainties.—St. Paul observed due proportion. He could treat of high themes, and make them bear upon the practical aspects of the Christian life. His contemplation of unutterable things never leads him away from the plain way of practical duties. Such is the perversity, such the onesidedness of our nature, that we fall into error and mischief by the contemplation of certain aspects of truth. Much damage has been done by the doctrine of election, or perhaps rather by our handling of the doctrine. Let us seek rightly to divide the truth, and make life harmonious. God’s elect moved in the realm of Christian certainties, and were the world’s true heroes. A certain grasp of and belief in divine truth, divine love, Christ love, will support in life’s trials and perplexities. The man who knows nothing, who is not certain about anything, will never possess the martyr spirit, will never be noted for his heroism. Amongst this list of St. Paul’s certainties let us note:—

I. A good answer.—“Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.” The answer is unanswerable. God, as moral governor, alone has a right to justify; and if He justify, then all counter-charges are vain. Who shall come between God and the redeemed soul? God has not delegated the prerogatives of His moral government to any other being in any realm whatever. If the criminal be acquitted in the earthly court, the same charge cannot be repeated. If the earthly judge have justified, who can lay a charge? God has justified, and the believer is for ever acquitted.

II. A good plea.—“It is Christ that died,” etc. The voice of Calvary hushes the voice of condemnation to the believer. If that be not sufficient, a chorus of voices silences any reproving voice. The voice of rejoicing angels as they welcome the triumphant Mediator declares that there is no condemnation to those who are justified in consequence of Christ’s finished work. The voice of the eternal Father, as He commands the pearly gates to open wide so that the King of glory may enter, proclaims that there is a way of justification. The sweet voice of an interceding Mediator at the right hand of God speaks perfect peace to the heart that fully receives the divine method of justification by faith. The evil one may condemn by laying a charge. Conscience may condemn by marshalling sins in dread array. An over-sensitive nature may condemn by saying, I am too bad to be forgiven. The plea is not our goodness. We admit our badness, and plead the counteracting goodness of the Saviour. If our badness crucified Christ, should not that crucifixion remove our badness? Shall Christ die to redeem us and then leave us in slavery, if we are willing to be ransomed? The dying Christ, the risen Christ, the interceding Christ, must remove every sentence of condemnation.

III. A good force.—Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Love is power. Human love is a mighty force, in many cases stronger than death. While love reigns man cannot successfully assert the mere materialism of human nature. Love is a force not generated by material molecules. Protoplasm as the root and love as the product is a growth too marvellous for our narrow creed. If human love be strong, what about Christ’s love? Christ’s love to the Christlike and the love of the Christlike to Christ is a good force that must prove more than conqueror, victorious in the conflict, and yet, notwithstanding the severity of the struggle, showing a large reserve of power. A good force is that which overcomes attacks in all conceivable forms. Love triumphs in the conflict; the conqueror love must be crowned with the tokens of universal empire.

IV. A good persuasion.—What a sweep does Paul’s persuasion take! He takes an immense survey. He stands upon a pinnacle higher than that to which Satan took Jesus. And from that sublime height Paul marshals before his mind all possible opposing powers, and yet possesses the strong persuasion that they shall all be vanquished. Neither material nor moral forces, neither seen nor unseen powers, neither the enacted past nor the unenacted future, shall triumph over the love of God. Above the heights it soars. Beneath the depths it shines. In the play and march of present events it guides. All that can be imagined in the future cannot be outside the range of its controlling agency. Death with its terrors and its mysteries, life with its modern complications, with interests and obstructing forces that are beyond the conception of the far-reaching mind of a Paul, shall not be able to hinder the triumphant course and purposes of the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. There centres the love of God; and to that centre all must radiate. Kingdoms shall flourish and decay, nations rise and fall, philosophies babble and be silenced, asserting sciences succeed one another in each succeeding age, religious systems triumph and then succumb to other religious systems, but divine love will hold on its course and be the universal victor. The hope of the world is the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. This is our holy apostle’s favourite refrain. So ends another glorious strain of his heavenly music; so ends that burst of eloquence that even heathens admired; so ends that mine of celestial treasure, the eighth of Romans.

Rom_8:37. “More than conquerors.”—Christians are more than conquerors. In patiently bearing trials they are not only conquerors, but more than conquerors—that is, triumphers. Those are more than conquerors that conquer with little loss. Many conquests are dearly bought; but what do the suffering saints lose? Why, they lose that which the gold loses in the furnace, nothing but the dross. It is no great loss to lose things which are not—a body that is of the earth earthy. Those are more than conquerors that conquer with great gain. The spoils are exceedingly rich: glory, honour, and peace, a crown of righteousness that fades not away. In this the suffering saints have triumphed; not only have not been separated from the love of Christ, but have been taken into the most sensible endearments and embraces of it. As afflictions abound, consolations much more abound. There is one more than a conqueror when pressed above measure. He that embraced the stake and said, “Welcome the cross of Christ, welcome everlasting life”; he that dated his letter from the delectable orchard of the Leonine prison; he that said, “In these flames I feel no more pain than if I were upon a bed of down”; she who, a little before her martyrdom, being asked how she did, said, “Well and merry, and going to heaven”; those that have gone smiling to the stake, and stood singing in the flames,—these were more than conquerors (Matthew Henry).

I. Christians are more than conquerors of the evolutionist school.—We do not object to evolution as the mere act or process of unfolding or developing. But we must ever be against the baseless theory that generation is the separate development of a pre-existent germ—not only the separate development, but the self-development, as if the pre-existent germ were a creative agent, and produced from itself far more than itself contained. The conjurer would have us believe that his hat contained all that he brings forth to the amazement of his audience. The evolutionist conjurer makes his pre-existent germ marvellously potential and productive. The conjurer’s hat requires the presence of an intelligent and manipulating agent. The modern conjurer, if he is to be abreast with the times, must let his marvellous hat work on the theory of self-development. How the hat came there and was produced is a question not yet settled. Perhaps the hatter might give us some information. How the pre-existent germ came into existence the evolutionist does not yet accurately declare. He has produced the germ from the depths of his own inner consciousness, and his imaginative faculty has invested it with more than miraculous powers. The evolutionist of this kind is a conqueror whose conquests are a very doubtful gain. We still hold that the man is a conqueror, more and better far than such conquerors, who believes in an unseen and intelligent and all-powerful Creator who produced all pre-existent germs, and who works in and through and by all developing processes. It gives to the man the power to be more than the mere earth conqueror to believe that there is a God, that there is a divine Being, not only making for righteousness, but possessing righteousness, being Himself righteous. The human son becomes divinely strong in the sweet thought and inspiration of the divine fatherhood. The believer is in so far made more than a conqueror from the fact that he can still rejoice in this world as God’s world, that on every side he gladly beholds the traces of a Father’s hand. How much strength is obtained when the man can consider the heavens in their beauty, the moon and the stars in their midnight glory, the green earth with its sights and sounds of sweetness, the towering mountains, solemn and silent, watching like huge sentinels, the booming ocean with its mighty tones that speak of infinite power, and can say, My Father made them all! The footsteps of an infinite Worker have left clear footprints. The voice of the greatest Creator may be everywhere heard.

II. Christians are more than conquerors of the pessimistic school.—The pessimist is a creature to be pitied, and it is difficult to suppose that he will make a conqueror of any kind. Take the life of faith and hope out of a man, and he will be soon cast a wasted wreck on the sands of time. He is a poor creature who regards the present system or constitution of things as radically bad. We are not blind to the badness of things. There is a great deal which we would desire altered; and yet, at the same time, we must feel that there is much to please, to delight, and to encourage. In spite of the pessimist’s gloomy views, notwithstanding the presence in this world of much that makes us think of a groaning creation, we can rejoice in the mere material beauty of God’s world. God has not made this planet a mere working world. If He had intended this planet to be a sphere where no pleasures were to be tasted, then the flowers need not have bloomed with beauty or exhaled their fragrance—perhaps no need of flowers at all; the birds need not have been dressed in beautiful plumage, nor have trilled forth their liquid music; no need for the richness of the fig tree, the refreshing influences of the vine, the sweetness of the olive, the strength and the beauty of the cattle in the fields and the folds, or the supplies given by the flocks and the herds. God provides us with senses by which we may drink in pleasure, and He adopts outward things to minister to such pleasure. The outward world of nature and the inward world of thought and feeling declare that we are to accept with thankfulness God’s material blessings, and take hopeful views. We can rejoice in the moral forces at work in God’s world. We have had, and still have, our hours of gloom. The pessimist’s mood is not altogether foreign to our natures. We have groaned over abounding evil, and sorrowed over the prosperity of the wicked. Still, though cast down, we are not destroyed. We see hope for humanity. The moral forces at work are travelling on towards the final goal of the emancipation of the race from all moral evil, and the elevation of the race to a true plane of righteousness—a plane where healthy breezes blow, where the celestial sunlight quivers, where stalwart natures show a divine strength and dignity, where transfigured creatures stand forth in glory and hold sublime converse, and where all things and beings glisten with the sunlight of heaven.

III. Christians are more than conquerors of the optimistic school.—By all means let us take a hopeful view of things; but do not let us fall into the error of believing that the present system of things is the best possible or conceivable. We can conceive much that might be improved. We can travel back in thought to a world where no sin reigned, where no disorder triumphed. That man will not be a true conqueror who does not take large and correct views of the universe and of man. The beauty of the world may inspire with joy. The sorrows of the world may prevent us being intoxicated with joy. Yes, there is much to sadden—much in a materialistic aspect. The beauty of the flower will fade—its fragrance will give place to offensive odour. The enchanting song of the bird will be silenced; the fig tree will cease to bloom; the vine will not give its fruit; the sweetness of the olive will fail; the flocks will be cut off from the fold. There will be no herd in the stalls; a silence will reign where once was heard the lowing of the oxen; the war-horse may tread the golden grain beneath his feet; the shattering cannon may blow to pieces our goodly structures; fire may lick up our treasures; floods may desolate our lands If there be no room for pessimism, there is no room for optimism with reference to the material or moral aspect of the universe. The natural outcome of the optimistic creed is to rest in things as they are, and thus he cannot make a moral conqueror. The natural outcome of a correct creed is to see things and persons as they are, and work on and pray on towards improvement. He that conquers in the moral sphere is the best conqueror.

IV. Christians are more than conquerors of the stoical school.—A man who is indifferent to either pleasure or pain cannot pretend to be a conqueror in the moral sphere, which is being more than a conqueror in the material sphere. The man who feels and yet does not succumb to his sorrowful feelings is the man to make a more than conqueror. Some people are rendered hard and callous by the wear and tear of time. But a poor fakir, reduced to an almost senseless block of slightly animated flesh and bones, is not a conqueror to command admiration or provoke emulation.

V. Christians are more than conquerors of the despairing school.—The old warrior wept as he stood amid the ruins. Alexander is said to have wept because there were no more worlds to conquer. The old saint will not weep amid the ruins, but will lift up the triumphant shout, “We are more than conquerors.” It is a glorious sight to see a good man struggling with adversity, and endeavouring to bear patiently the ills of life; but surely it is a more glorious sight to see a good man rejoicing in adversity, and making difficulties minister to highest delights and greatest perfectness. As we rise to the mountain top to obtain a more extended view of the surrounding and far-stretching beauties of the landscape, we rise by means of those old vegetable and animal forms of which that mountain is composed; so let the believer rise even by means of the wreck and ruin of his earthly good things to obtain a better view of moral and spiritual beauties. Thus may we become “more than conquerors through Him that loved us.” If we are to be more than conquerors, God must be our abiding portion, Christ must be our lasting possession. Love from Christ and love to Christ must be the sustaining force. The Lord is an abiding portion for an ever-enduring soul. When the pulse has given its last throb, when the eyes have taken the last fond look, when earthly things fail to affect, then the soul may rejoice in the Lord in sweeter realms. God, in His threefold nature, is ours now, and ours when all earthly shapes are wrapped in eternal gloom—when the sun’s brilliant face is hidden in the last darkness, when the stars have rushed from the vault of night, and when all things are under a collapse prefiguring the blessed change and final glorification. Oh to feel that the Lord is ours at this present time, ours by adoption and grace, ours by participation of the divine nature, ours by the sweet might of an indwelling love!

Rom_8:34. “Who is he that condemneth?”—These are bold words; but they are not the words of presumption or excited feeling. The apostle is arguing for the believer’s eternal security, and he draws arguments from God’s eternal purpose, God’s unchanging love, God’s omnipotent power, and from the believer’s justification. The challenge is thrown down after a process of sound reasoning. And, moreover, it is backed up by four arguments based on the mediatorial work of Christ. Who can condemn? No one can, first because Christ has died, second because Christ has risen, third because Christ reigns, fourth because Christ intercedes. Four arguments why the believer cannot be condemned.

I. Christ’s death.—Might be viewed as an act of love or a confirmation of His doctrine; but it is only as an atonement for sin that it becomes a plea for the removal of condemnation. It is the great fundamental fact of Christianity, the basis of reconciliation between God and man, the ground on which sin is remitted. But Christ, by dying, not only made satisfaction for sin and established a new relation between God and man, but He purifies His people from sin by the cleansing efficacy of His blood. Faith in the atoning sacrifice sets free from condemnation, and washing in the cleansing fountain frees the soul from the stains and pollution of sin, while the indwelling of the Spirit secures complete sanctification.

II. Christ’s resurrection.—This is a further and even more decisive security against condemnation. “Yea, rather.” As if he had said, Why refer to death? It is a sign of impotence rather than strength; and if death had been the last act of Christ, the believer’s prospects would have been bounded by the grave. But Christ, by rising from the grave, proves that death has no power over Him or His. He opened up a vista beyond the grave, and gave assurance of a life hereafter. His resurrection was necessary to complete the work of His redemption. If He had not risen, what hope for us? The grave would have held us; death would have been master. But now death is swallowed up in victory. There is life for the soul of man in a risen Saviour; and there is life for the body, for as surely as Christ rose, so shall we. Ours is not the gospel of a dead Christ, but of a living Saviour; and as He lives to die no more, so shall we.

III. Christ’s exaltation.—“Who is even at the right hand of God.” He is exalted to that position that He might consummate the work of redemption. All power is His, and that power He uses to promote the work He has begun. From His throne He rules in every realm, and all who take refuge beneath His throne are safe. With such an almighty Saviour the redeemed may well exclaim, Who is he that condemneth? If the King of kings be for us, who can be against us? Why fear condemnation when an omnipotent Saviour rules the world? “No weapon formed against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise in judgment against thee thou shalt condemn.” “The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.”

IV. Christ’s intercession.—“Who also maketh intercession for us.” The crowning security against condemnation. This part of His mediation has special reference to the sanctification of His people, and He prays that their faith fail not. In the absence of any plea founded on their own works or character, He presents to God the merits of His own finished work. This, as a plea, is all-powerful with God. No advocate ever had a stronger plea, and no advocate ever pled with more success; for every cause He undertakes He will carry successfully through. It is a blessed thought—before the throne we have One to plead for us. Into the holiest He has entered; but He will come forth again. Our present Intercessor will be our future Judge. Give Him your cause to plead now; and when He comes the second time, you will lift up your head in joy, because your redemption draweth nigh. All accusers will be silent then. No condemnation. No separation. “Who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord?”—D. Merson, B.D.

Rom_8:38-39. Life and death as antagonists of love.—An able and ingenious critic proposes to read the sentence thus: “I am persuaded that neither death, nor even life, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” We all admit that, in a certain sense, both life and death are antagonists of love; but if we were asked, Which is the greater antagonist of the two? most of us would answer, Death, not life; whereas it is life, not death, which is the more fatal to love. Life is often the death of love; whereas death commonly gives love new life. Indeed, our whole conception of death is in much unchristian. We do not realise that for us death means life and immortality, a nearer access to God, a clearer vision of His glory, a more perfect participation of His grace and peace. We have so little faith in God and in His wise ordering of the universe that we can hardly rise to the level of Schiller’s fine saying: “Death happens to all, and cannot therefore be an evil.” We persist in taking it as an evil, although we know, or might know, it to be a good. Death is an antagonist of love; for it takes from us those whom we have learned to love; it separates us from them; we can no longer see them, and serve them, and lavish on them the tokens and proofs of our regard. But though death severs us and them, does it sever love? does it extinguish, or even lessen, our affection for them? Does it not rather enlarge, refine, consecrate, our love for them? They take a special dearness and sanctity in our thoughts. We forget what was lacking or imperfect in them. We think only of their better qualities, of how good they were, how staunch, how kind. There never was a true love yet which did not conquer death, which death did not hallow and deepen and make perfect. But does life always elevate love and enlarge and sanctify it? And as with human love, so with love divine. Death cannot detach our love from God; for it brings us closer to Him; it shows Him to us more nearly as He is, and thus constrains us to a more profound, a more constant and perfect love for Him. But life, with its anxieties and toils, its trials and temptations, is for ever calling our thoughts away from Him, moving us to forget or to distrust Him, inspiring us with motives, affections, aims, alien and opposed to His will. If we have any true spiritual life in us, is not this the very burden of our confessions and prayers, that we do not love Him as we ought and would, that we are not like Him, that while He is righteous we are unrighteous, while He is kind we are unkind? The more we consider and know ourselves the more welcome to us grows St. Paul’s persuasion, that neither death, nor even life itself, is able to separate us from the love of God—that, if our love for Him be cordial and sincere, however imperfect it may be, it will nevertheless conquer all the opposing forces of life no less than all the powers of death. And God has none of those defects of character which alienate us from men and women whom once we held dear. To love Him is to love righteousness, truth, goodness, gentleness, peace. He is at once the ideal and the incarnation of all excellence. We shall never, as we grow wiser and more experienced, discover anything in Him to lessen our love and reverence. Weak and inconstant as we are, we may at least hope that He will not suffer even life itself to separate us from Him. Our love to God depends on His love for us. If His love can be shaken, our love will not abide. And therefore we may be sure that—somewhere in the passage, perhaps throughout it—St. Paul meant to speak of God’s love for us as well as of our love for Him. And of His love for us we need have no doubt, whatever becomes of ours for Him. Even at our best we may only be able to hope that our love will not change; but we may know beyond all question that, even if our love should change, God’s will not. The dead live to Him; to Him the living die. We are the offspring of His love; for if He did not love us and design our good, why should He have made us? And those He once loves, He loves for ever. He is love; He cannot deny Himself. God’s love cannot change, however we may change. We shall want God’s love when we die and when we pass through death into the unknown region which lies beyond its farther bourn; but how can we hope to have it then and to delight in it, if we put it from us now and shrink even from thinking too much about it? If we are sensual, sordid, selfish here, how can we hope all at once to relish that which is spiritual, noble, unselfish, divine? Before we can be persuaded that nothing shall ever separate us from the love of God, and can rest and delight in that persuasion, we must be made partakers of the divine nature. If we ask, But how is this, divine character to be attained? how are we to rise into this better self, and to mortify that in us which is base and sordid and selfish? St. Paul replies, You must have the love of God shed abroad in your hearts. Now many of these New Testament phrases about “love” have sunk into so mere a cant, that possibly St. Paul’s answer is no answer to many of us, simply because it conveys no clear thought to our minds. But if we consider it for ourselves, if we shake it free from the cant that has stuck to it, we shall find it a very clear and pertinent answer. Does any other passion change and elevate and hallow character like this, and make a man a new and a better man? When it is not a mere craving of the senses, nor even a mere longing for sympathy, nor both combined—i.e., when it is true, genuine love—does it not conquer the baser and selfish instincts of the soul? has it not again and again drawn men from their vices, lifted them out of the mire of self-indulgence, and infused into them a power which has transfigured their whole nature and raised them into a pure and noble life? But if love for man or woman can thus change and elevate the character, why not love for God? He is fair and kind, He is tender and true, He is wise and strong, beyond our farthest reach of thought. If we have any love of excellence, we cannot but love Him so soon as we really know Him. If we would know God and love Him, we must find Him in Christ, in that perfect Man—so strong and yet so gentle, so true, yet so tender—who moves before us in the gospels.—S. Cox.

SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Rom_8:33-39

The Judge makes the judged righteous.—“As by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of One the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.” Here, most evidently, “justification” imports “a judicial clearing from the imputation of guilt,” in the precise sense and degree in which “condemnation” imports “a judicial ascertaining of guilt.” The same appears in Rom_8:33-34 : “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth?” Here is the idea of a judicial process, a tribunal, a person arraigned. Now if by the condemnation spoken of we may understand an act of the Judge making the accused guilty by the infusion of unrighteousness, then also by the justification spoken of we may understand an act of the Judge making the accused righteous by an infusion of righteousness, and so justifying him. But if this would be absurd in the former case, so must it be in the latter.—M‘Ilvaine.

“Justified” means “accounted righteous.”—It is evident that the Holy Ghost useth this word “justification” to signify “a man’s being accounted or declared not guilty of the faults he is charged with”; but in that respect a good and righteous person, and that too before some judge, who in our case is the supreme Judge of the world. And this is plainly the sense wherein our Church also useth the word in her Articles, for the title of the Eleventh Article runs thus: “We are accounted righteous before God,” etc., which clearly shows that in her sense to be “justified” is the same with being “accounted” righteous before God; which I therefore observe, that you may not be mistaken in the sense of the word as it is used by the Church and by the Holy Ghost Himself in the Holy Scriptures, like those who confound “justification” and “sanctification” together as if they were one and the same thing, although the Scriptures plainly distinguish them; “sanctification” being “God’s act in us whereby we are made righteous in ourselves,” but “justification” is “God’s act in Himself whereby we are accounted righteous by Him and shall be declared so at the judgment of the great day.”—Beveridge.

“Justify” to pronounce just.—The word “justify” doth not signify in this place to make just by infusing a perfect righteousness into our natures (that comes under the head of “sanctification begun here in this life,” which, being finished, is “glorification in heaven”), but here the word signifieth to pronounce “just, to quit and to discharge from guilt and punishment,” and so it is a judicial sentence opposed to condemnation. “Who shall lay anything,” saith Paul, “to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who shall condemn?” Now, as to “condemn” is not “the putting any evil into the nature of the party condemned,” but “the pronouncing of his person guilty and the binding him over unto punishment,” so “justifying” is “the judge’s pronouncing the law to be satisfied and the man discharged and quitted from guilt and judgment.” Thus God, imputing the righteousness of Christ to a sinner, doth not account his sins unto him, but interests him in a state of as full and perfect freedom and acceptance as if he had never sinned or had himself fully satisfied. For though there is a power purging the corruption of sin, which followeth upon justification, yet it is carefully to be distinguished from it, as we shall further show hereafter. “This for the name of ‘justification’; but now for the thing itself, which is the matter first of our justification.” “The matter of justification, or that righteousness whereby a sinner stands justified in God’s sight, is not any righteousness inherent in his own person and performed by him, but a perfect righteousness inherent in Christ and performed for Him.”—Ussher.

Paul’s assurance of persevering.—As there is a typical resemblance between that good land which was promised to the Jews and that better country which is reserved for us in heaven, so is there a striking resemblance between those, whether Jews or Christians, who have looked forward to the accomplishment of the promises. We see Moses while he was yet on the other side of Jordan, and Joshua soon after he had arrived on the borders of Canaan, appointing the boundaries of the twelve tribes, settling everything with respect to the distribution of the land, and ordering various things to be observed, just as if they were already in full possession of the whole country without one enemy to oppose them. This appears at first sight presumptuous, but they knew that God had given them the land, and therefore, notwithstanding the battles which were yet to be fought, they doubted not in the least but that they should obtain the promised inheritance. Thus also the apostle, in the passage before us, speaks in the language of triumph on behalf of himself and of all the Christians at Rome, and that too even while they were surrounded with enemies and conflicting on the field of battle. It will be profitable to consider:

1. The point of which the apostle was persuaded. This confidence being so extraordinary, let us consider:

2. The grounds of his persuasion. These were twofold—general as relating to others, and particular as relating to himself; the former creating in him an assurance of faith, the latter an assurance of hope. We notice the general grounds. These are such as are revealed in the Holy Scriptures, and are common to all believers. The stability of the covenant which God has made with us in Christ Jesus warrants an assurance that all who are interested in it shall endure to the end. The immutability of God is another ground of assured faith and hope. The offices of Christ may also be considered as justifying an assured hope of final perseverance. For our Lord did not assume the priestly, prophetic, and kingly offices merely to put us into a capacity to save ourselves, but that His work might be effectual for the salvation of all whom the Father had given to Him; and at the last day He will be able to say, as He did in the days of His flesh, “Of those whom Thou hast given Me, I have lost none.” If He is ever living on purpose to make intercession for them, and is constituted head over all things to the Church on purpose to save them, then He will keep them; none shall ever pluck them out of His hands, nor shall anything ever separate them from the love of God. The particular grounds. A humble, contrite person that is living by faith on the Son of God and maintaining a suitable conversation in all his spirit and conduct, he may conclude himself to be in the love of God, and be persuaded firmly that nothing shall be able to separate him from it. He then stands in the very situation of the apostle as far as respects his own personal experience, and therefore may indulge the same joyful hope and persuasion that he shall endure unto the end. Nor need he be at all discouraged on account of his own weakness, since the more weak he feels himself to be the stronger he is in reality, inasmuch as he is made more dependent on his God. In a word, an assurance of faith respecting the accomplishment of God’s promises to believers should be maintained by all, since His word can never fail; but an assurance of hope respecting our own personal interest in those promises should rise or fall according to the evidences we have of our own sincerity. Address those who know nothing of this joyful persuasion, and those whose persuasion accords with that of the apostle.—Simeon.

A double righteousness.—In the Scripture there is a double righteousness set down, both in the Old and in the New Testament. In the Old, and in the very first place that righteousness is named in the Bible: “Abraham believed, and it was accounted unto him for righteousness.” A righteousness accounted! And again (in the very next line), it is mentioned, “Abraham will teach his house to do righteousness.” A righteousness done! In the New Testament likewise. The former in one chapter (Romans 4.) no fewer than eleven times: Reputatum est illiad justitiam—“It is accounted to him for righteousness.” A reputed righteousness! The latter in St. John: “He that doeth righteousness, is righteous.” A righteousness done! Of these, the latter philosophers themselves conceived and acknowledged; the former was proper to Christians only, and altogether unknown in philosophy. The one is a quality of the party; the other an act of the judge declaring or pronouncing righteous. The one, ours by influence or infusion; the other, by account or imputation. That both these there are, there is no question.—Andrewes.

Works do not justify.—Truth it is, that our works do not justify us, to speak properly of our justification: that is to say, our works do not merit or deserve remission of our sins, and make us, unjust, just before God; but God of His mere mercy, through the only merits and deservings of His Son Jesus Christ, doth justify us. Nevertheless, because faith doth directly send us to Christ for remission of our sins, and that by faith given us of God, we embrace the promise of God’s mercy, and of the remission of our sins—which things none other of our virtues or works properly doth, therefore the Scripture useth to say, that faith without works doth justify. And forasmuch as it is all one sentence in effect to say, Faith without works, and only faith, doth justify us; therefore the old ancient Fathers of the Church, from time to time, have uttered our justification with this speech, “Only faith justifieth us”; meaning no other than St. Paul meant, when he said, “Faith without works justifieth us.” The right and true Christian faith is, not only to believe that Holy Scripture, and all the aforesaid articles of our faith, are true, but also to have a sure trust and confidence in God’s merciful promises, to be saved from everlasting damnation by Christ; whereof doth follow a loving heart to obey His commandments. And this true Christian faith neither any devil hath, nor yet any man, which in the outward profession of his mouth, and in his outward receiving of the Sacraments, in coming to the church, and in all other outward appearances, seemeth to be a Christian man, and yet in his living and deeds showeth the contrary.—Homily of Salvation.

Imputation of righteousness.—Imputation of righteousness hath covered the sins of every soul which believeth; God by pardoning our sin hath taken it away: so that now although our transgressions be multiplied above the hairs of our head, yet being justified, we are as free and as clear as if there were no spot or stain of any uncleanness in us. For it is God that justifieth; “And who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s chosen?” saith the apostle. Now, sin being taken away, we are made the righteousness of God in Christ; for David, speaking of this righteousness, saith, “Blessed is the man whose iniquities are forgiven.” No man is blessed, but in the righteousness of God; every man whose sin is taken away is blessed: therefore every man whose sin is covered is made the righteousness of God in Christ. This righteousness doth make us to appear most holy, most pure, most unblamable before Him. This then is the sum of that which I say: Faith doth justify; justification washeth away sin; sin removed, we are clothed with the righteousness which is of God; the righteousness of God maketh us most holy. Every one of these I have proved by the testimony of God’s own mouth; therefore I conclude, that faith is that which maketh us most holy, in consideration whereof it is called in this place our most holy faith.—Hooker.

ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 8

Rom_8:37. The last words of Ignatius.—Ignatius, who was martyred A.D. 107, said: “Let fire and the cross, let wild beasts, let all the malice of the devil come upon me, only may I enjoy Jesus Christ. It is better for me to die for Christ than to reign over the ends of the earth. Stand firm,” he added, “as an anvil when it is beaten upon. It is part of a brave combatant to be wounded and yet to overcome.” In losing life he found it.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom 8:33. Ἐκλεκτῶν Θεοῦ, of God’s elect) Rom 8:29.—δικαιῶν, that justifieth) To justify and condemn are the words in antithesis to each other, Rom 8:3, note. In Isa 50:8-9, a passage, which we have previously quoted, there similarly comes first an hypothesis in each of the consecutive sections, and there follows the Answer subjoined by the speaker, in each case respectively, expressed in the form of a question; for example,

A. He is near, who justifies me:[102]

[102] This expression, that He is near, seems to be in the meanwhile said in the Old Testament sense, whereas, on the contrary, He is said in the Romans to be the God that justifieth, without any restriction.

A. He is near, who justifies me:[*]

B. 1. Who will contend with me? we shall (let us) stand together.

2. Who is the lord of my cause? let him draw near to me.

C. Behold the Lord God will help me:

D. Who is he that shall condemn me?

Here the apostle seems to have assumed A, and on the contrary to have omitted B, and likewise to have omitted C, and on the contrary to have quoted D.

[*] This expression, that He is near, seems to be in the meanwhile said in the Old Testament sense, whereas, on the contrary, He is said in the Romans to be the God that justifieth, without any restriction.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom_8:33 ff. It is impossible that this σὺν αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα ἡμῖν χαρίσεται should be frustrated, either on the side of God, with whom no accusation of His elect can have the result of their condemnation (Rom_8:33, down to κατακρίνων in Rom_8:34), or on that of Christ, whose death, resurrection, etc., afford the guarantee that nothing can separate us from His love (Rom_8:34, Χριστὸς ὁ ἀποθανὼν, on to Rom_8:36). In the analysis of this swelling effusion we must return to the method for which Origen, Chrysostom, Theodoret, and other Fathers paved the way, and which Erasmus followed: namely, that to the question τίς ἐγκαλέσει κ.τ.λ. the answer is: Θεὸς ὁ δικαιῶν· τίς ὁ κατακρίνων; and then follows, moulded in similar form to that answer, the expression, passing over from God to Christ, Χριστὸς … ἡμῶν· τίς ἡμᾶς χωρίσει κ.τ.λ.; so that after δικαιῶν, and also after ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, only a colon is to be inserted. Who shall raise accusation against the elect of God? Answer, in a boldly triumphant counter-question,

God is the justifier, who the condemner? (there is consequently no one there to condemn, and every accusation is without result! Comp. Isa_50:8.) And as regards Christ: Christ is He that has died, yea rather also has risen again, who also is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us: who shall separate us from the love of Christ? This view (followed also by van Hengel, but by Hofmann only with respect to the first portion as far as κατακρίνων), though abandoned by nearly all modern expositors, is corroborated by its entire accordance with the sense, by the harmony of the soaring rhetorical form, and by its freedom from those insuperable difficulties which beset the modes of division that differ from it. Of the latter, two in particular fall to be considered. 1. Luther, Castalio, Beza, Calvin, Grotius, Wolf, and many others, including Ammon, Tholuck, Flatt, Fritzsche, Philippi, Reithmayr, and Ewald, take Θεὸς ὁ δικαιῶν as affirmative answer to τίς ἐγκαλέσει κ.τ.λ.; then τίς ὁ κατακρίνων as a new question, and as the affirmative answer thereto: Χριστὸς ὁ ἀποθανὼν κ.τ.λ., thus: Who shall accuse, etc.? God is the justifier (consequently no accuser shall succeed). Who is the condemner? Christ is He that has died, etc. (so that He cannot, therefore, condemn us in judgment). But against this view it may be urged, (a) that Θεὸς ὁ δικαιῶν and τίς ὁ κατακρινῶν are, as regards both substance (δικαιῶν and κατακριν.) and form (Paul has not written τίς κατακρινεῖ to correspond with τίς ἐγκαλέσει), correlative, and therefore may not, without arbitrariness, be separated; (b) that in Rom_8:34 Christ is not at all described as a judge, which would be in keeping with the ὁ κατακρινῶν, but, on the contrary, as redeemer and intercessor; (c) that, if τίς ἐγκαλέσει is at once disposed of by Θεὸς ὁ δικαιῶν, it must be already quite self-evident that there can be no κατακρίνων, and consequently τίς ὁ κατακ., as a new question, would be something superfluous and out of keeping with so compressed an utterance of emotion; (d) and, finally, that in the entire context there is no mention of the last judgment. 2. The theory, that came into vogue after Augustine, doctr. Chr. iii. 3, and Ambrosiaster (adopted in modern times by Koppe, Reiche, Köllner, Olshausen, Baumgarten-Crusius, de Wette, and Maier, also by Griesbach and Lachmann; Tholuck is undecided), consists in supplying ἐγκαλέσει with Θεὸς ὁ δικαιῶν, and taking it as a question, and dealing in a corresponding manner with Χριστὸς … ἡμῶν also: Who shall accuse? Shall God do so, who justifies? Who shall condemn? Shall Christ do so, who has died, etc.? But against this view it suffices to urge the decisive reason, that to conceive of God as accuser (before Christ) is destitute of scriptural analogy, and could not at all have occurred to the apostle. Hofmann takes Χριστὸς … ἐντυγχ. ὑπὲρ ἡμ. as a question with two dissimilar relative adjuncts, of which the first declares how it was possible, after the question τίς ὁ κατακρ., to subjoin the further question, whether it might not be feared with regard to Christ that He should condemn where God acquits; while the second shows the impossibility of such a fear. But this artificial interpretation, in connection with which the first and second καὶ (see the critical remarks) are condemned as not genuine and this condemnation is acutely turned to account, fails, so far as the substance is concerned, on the very ground that the thought of its being possible perhaps for Christ to condemn where God acquits would be an absurd idea, which could not occur to a Christian consciousness; and, so far as form is concerned, on the ground that the second relative clause is annexed to the first with entire similarity, and therefore does not warrant our explaining it, as if Paul, instead of ὃς καὶ ἐντ., should have written ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐντ.

In detail, observe further: The designation of Christians in Rom_8:33 as ἐκλεκτοὶ Θεοῦ is selected as having a special bearing on the matter, and renders palpable at once the fruitlessness of every ἔγκλησις; while Θεός coming immediately after Θεοῦ has rhetorical emphasis.

κατὰ ἐκλ. Θεοῦ] i.e. against those whom God has chosen out of the κόσμος (Joh_17:6) to be members of His Messianic peculiar people to be made blessed for Christs sake, according to His eternal decree (Eph_1:4); comp. on Rom_8:30. This is the Christian conception (comp. 1Pe_2:9) of the Old Testament ἐκλεκτ. (Psa_105:43; Psa_106:5; Isa_42:1; Isa_65:9; Wis_3:9, al.). The elect constitute the Israel of God, Gal_6:16. Regarding the genitive Θεοῦ (ἐκλ. is used quite as a substantive; comp. Col_3:12; Mat_24:31 al.), see Fritzsche, Diss. II. p. 31; Pflugk, ad Eur. Hec. 1135. The absence of the article (comp. Rom_8:27) in the case of ἐκλ. Θεοῦ brings out the quality of the persons.

The predicates of Christ in Rom_8:34under which His death is to be conceived as an atoning death, His rising again as having taken place διὰ τὴν δικαίωσιν ἡμῶν (Rom_4:25), and His being at the right hand of God as personal participation in the government of the world (Eph_1:20, Col_3:1, al.; comp. also Dissen, ad Pindar. Fragm. xi. 9) in the heavenly dwelling-place of the Fathers glory (see on Mat_6:6)exclude the possibility of any one separating us from the love of Christ. For, as regards His past, He has proved by His death the abundance of His love (Rom_5:6 f.; Eph_3:18 f.), and this demonstration of His love has been divinely confirmed by His resurrection; and as regards His present, through His sitting at the right hand of God He possesses the power to do for His own whatever His love desires, and through His intercession He procures for them every protection and operation of grace from the Father (Heb_7:25; Heb_9:24; 1Jn_2:1). But this intercession (comp. Rom_8:26 f.) is the continuous bringing to bear of His work of atonement, completed by His ἱλαστήριον, on the part of Christ in His glory with the Father; which we are to conceive of as real andin virtue of the glorified corporeity of the exalted Christ, as also in virtue of the subordination in which He even as σύνθρονος stands to the Fatheras request properly so called (ἔντευξις) through which the continuus quasi vigor (Gerhard) of redemption takes place. Comp. Joh_14:16. There has been much dogmatic and philosophical explaining away of this passage on the part of systematists and exegetes. Some apt observations are to be found in Düsterdieck on 1Jn_2:1, who nevertheless, without assigning his exegetical grounds, calls in question that the intercession is vocalis et oralis. As such, however, it must be conceived, because it is made by the glorified God-man; though the more special mode in which it takes place is withdrawn from the cognizance of our earthly apprehension. Comp. Philippi, Glaubensl. IV. 2, p. 336, ed. 2.

μᾶλλον δὲ is the imo vero, vel potius, by which the speaker amends his statement (see on Gal_4:9); for what would Christs having died have been of itself? how could it have been to us the bond and the security of His love against all distresses, etc., Rom_8:35 f., if the divine resurrection had not been added to it? Paul therefore appends to the bare ἀποθανών, by way of correction: imo vero etiam resuscitatus, in which the καὶ, also, signifies: non solum mortuus, sed etiam resusc.; comp. Eph_5:11. It is thus clear that (contrary to Hofmanns view) this καί was quite essential and indispensable; for it was not the ἀποθανών itself, but its having been mentioned alone, and without the resurrection belonging to it, that needed correction. It is, moreover, self-evident that all this application of the corrective expression is here merely of a formal nature, serving to bring into marked prominence the two elements in their important correlation.

The ὃς καὶ occurring twice has a certain solemnity.

Rom_8:35. τίς] Paul puts the question by τίς, not τί, in conformity with the parallel τίς ὁ κατακρίνων. The circumstance that he subsequently specifies states and things, not personswhich, however, naturally suggest themselves to the conception of the readercannot lead any one astray, least of all in such a bold flight of rhetoric.

ἀπὸ τῆς ἀγάπ. τ. Χριστοῦ] Most expositors take τοῦ Χ. (comp. Eph_3:19) as genitive of the subject, and rightly, because this view was already prepared for by Rom_8:34 (in which the great acts of Christs love toward us are specified), and is confirmed by Rom_8:37 (διὰ τοῦ ἀγαπ. ἡμᾶς), and by Rom_8:39, where the ἀγάπη τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡ ἐν Χριστῷ comes in the place of the ἀγάπη τοῦ Χ. This excludes the interpretation of others, who understand it of the love to Christ (Origen, Ambrosiaster, Erasmus, Majus, Heumann, Morus, Köllner, and Ewald). Köllners objections to our view do not touch its true sense, since the point in question is not a possible interruption of the love of Christ to us, nor yet the hindering of our access to it (Philippi), but a possible separation from the love of Christ (that helps to victory, Rom_8:37) through hindrances intervening between it and us, which might nullify its manifestation and operation upon us and might thus dissolve our real fellowship with it. It was therefore very unwarranted in de Wette (comp. Calvin, Rückert, and Tholuck) to convert, in accordance with Rom_5:5, the love of Christ into the joyful feeling of being loved by Christ, which Rom_8:37 does not permit, where manifestly the aid of the exalted Christ, who has loved us (comp. Mat_28:20; Php_4:13), is meant.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom 8:33 f. The punctuation here is a very difficult problem: see the text and margin of R.V. The reminiscence of Isa 50:8 f. in Rom 8:33 makes it more difficult; for it suggests that the normal structure is that of an affirmation followed by a question, whereas Paul begins with a question to which the affirmation (with at least a trace of Isaiah’s language in it) is an answer. It is even possible to read every clause interrogatively, though that is less effective. τίς ἐγκαλέσει κατὰ ἐκλεκτῶν θεοῦ ; who shall bring a charge against persons who are God’s chosen? The absence of the article ( cf. ὑπὲρ ἁγίων , Rom 8:27 ) brings out the character in which the persons in question figure, not their individual personality. For the word see Col 3:12 ; 2Ti 2:10 ; Tit 1:1 ; for the thing cf. 1Th 1:4 ; Eph 1:4 ; Joh 15:16 . It describes Christians as persons who owe their standing as such to the act of God’s grace. All Christians are conscious that this is the truth about their position: they belong to God, because He has taken them for His own. To say that the word designates “not those who are destined for final salvation, but those who are ‘summoned’ or ‘selected’ for the privilege of serving God and carrying out His will” (S. and H.), is to leave the rails of the Apostle’s thought altogether. There is nothing here (Rom 8:28-30 ) about the privilege of serving God and carrying out His will; the one thing Paul is concerned with is the security given by the eternal love of God that the work of salvation will be carried through, in spite of all impediments, from foreknowledge to final glory. The ἐκλεκτοὶ θεοῦ are those who ought to have such security: they should have a faith and an assurance proportioned to the love of God. Paul is one of them, and because he is, he is sure, not that he is called to serve God, but that nothing can ever separate him from God’s love in Christ. The question τίς ἐγκαλέσει is best answered by taking both the following clauses together: “It is God that justifieth: who is he that shall condemn?” ( cf. Isa 50:8 f.). But many make τίς ὁ κατακρινῶν a new question, and find the answer in Rom 8:34 : Χριστὸς [ Ἰησοῦς ] ὁ ἀποθανών = the only person who can condemn is the Judge, viz. , Christ, but He is so far from condemning that He has done everything to deliver us from condemnation. What Christian, Paul seems to ask, can speak of κατάκριμα with his eye on Christ, who died for our sins? μᾶλλον δὲ ἐγερθεὶς [ ἐκ νεκρῶν ]: cf. Gal 4:9 ; and chap. Rom 4:25 . The correction in μᾶλλον is formal (Weiss): Paul does not mean that the resurrection is more important than the cross; he improves upon an expression which has not conveyed all that was in his mind. Our position depends upon Jesus Christ who died, nay rather, over whom death no more has dominion (Rom 6:9 ), who is at God’s right hand (this phrase, which describes Christ’s exaltation as a sharing in the universal sovereignty of God, is borrowed from Psa 110:1 , and is oftener used in the N.T. than any other words of the Old), who also makes intercession on our behalf. ὂς καὶ ἐντυγχάνει : a solemn climax is marked by the repetition of ὃς , and by the καὶ which deliberately adds the intercession to all that has gone before. The Christian consciousness, even in an apostle, cannot transcend this. This is Paul’s final security the last ground of his triumphant assurance: Jesus Christ, at God’s right hand, with the virtue of His atoning death in Him, pleads His people’s cause. cf. Heb 9:24 ; Heb 7:25 , 1Jn 2:1 f.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom_8:33

Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God elect? This and the following verse show how fully the security of believers is provided for by the plan of redemption. What is it they have to fear under the government of a just and powerful God? There is nothing to be dreaded but sin; if that be pardoned and removed, there is nothing left to fear. In the strongest manner possible, the apostle declares that the sins of believers are pardoned, and shows the ground on which that pardon rests. To them, therefore, there can be neither a disquieting accusation nor condemnation. Who can lay any thing? τίς ἐγκαλέσει; the word ἐγκαλεῖν means in jus vocare, to summon before the bar of justice. The question is in the form of a challenge, and implies the strongest confidence that no accuser against Gods elect can appear. If the law of God be satisfied, the strength of sin, its condemning power, is destroyed. Even conscience, though it upbraids, does not terrify. It produces the ingenuous sorrow of children, and not the despairing anguish of the convict, because it sees that all the ends of punishment are fully answered in the death of Christ, who bore our sins in his own body on the tree.

Gods elect, i.e., those whom God has chosen; see Rom_8:29. The word elect is sometimes used in a secondary sense for beloved, which idea is implied in its literal sense, as those chosen are those who are peculiarly beloved. This sense may be given to it in 1Pe_2:4, elect and precious may be beloved and precious. And so in a multitude of cases it were optional with a writer to say chosen or beloved, as the one implies the other. But this does not prove that chosen means beloved, or that the idea of choice is to be excluded from the idea of the word. The elect are those whom God has chosen out of the world to be the members of his family or kingdom; just as under the Old Testament the Hebrews, whom he had chosen to be his peculiar people, were his elect. Men may dispute as to what the elect are chosen to, and why some are chosen and not others. But there seems to be no ground for dispute whether the elect mean the chosen. This passage, however, proves that those who are elect, and whose election has become recognized, are in a state in which they are free from condemnation. No one can lay any thing to their charge. The demands of justice as regards them have been satisfied. This is not true of those who are chosen merely to church privileges. There is an election, therefore, unto grace and salvation. The elect are safe. This is the grand theme of this jubilant chapter.

It is God who justifieth, Θεὸς ὁ δικαιῶν. Editors and commentators are about equally divided on the question whether this and the following clauses should be taken interrogatively or affirmatively. If the former, the idea is, that as God is the being against whom we have sinned, and who alone has the administration of justice in his hands, if he does not accuse there can be no accuser. Who shall lay any thing against the elect of God? Shall God, who justifies them? In favor of this view is the fact, that the questions in Rom_8:32, and also in Rom_8:35, are answered by questions, and hence the questions in Rom_8:33, Rom_8:34, are most naturally so answered. Nevertheless, the impossibility of any accusation being sustained against the elect of God, is better expressed by the affirmation. It is God who is their justifier. If he justifies, who can condemn? Besides, according to the current representation of Scripture, God is the judge, not the accuser. To justify, is to declare the claims of justice satisfied. If God, the supreme judge, makes this declaration, it must be true, and it must stop every mouth. No rational creature, no enlightened conscience, can call for the punishment of those whom God justifies. If justice is not satisfied, there can be no justification, no peace of conscience, no security either for salvation or for the moral government of God. The Bible knows nothing of mere pardon. There can be no pardon except on the ground of satisfaction of justice. It is by declaring a man just, (that is, that justice in relation to him is satisfied,) that he is freed from the penalty of the law, and restored to the favor of God.

Charles Hodge — Commentary on Romans (1835), First Corinthians (1857), and Ephesians (1856) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

A most glorious and comfortable conclusion of the whole second part of this Epistle, that is, of the treatise of justification. There are no accusers that we have need to be afraid of before God, seeing that God himself absolveth us as just: and therefore much less need we to fear damnation, seeing that we rest upon the death and resurrection, the almighty power and defense of Jesus Christ. Therefore what can there be so weighty in this life, or of so great force and power, that might seize us, as though we might fall from the love of God, wherewith he loveth us in Christ: Surely nothing. Seeing that it is in itself most constant and sure, and also in us being confirmed by steadfast faith.

Who pronounceth us not only guiltless, but also perfectly just in his Son.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Who shall lay anything to the charge of--or, "bring any charge against."

God's elect?--the first place in this Epistle where believers are styled "the elect." In what sense this is meant will appear in next chapter.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 33. This and the two following verses contain a string of questions, most appropriately introduced and most powerfully urged, tending to show the safety of the state of those who have believed the Gospel of the grace of God. I shall lay these verses down as they are pointed by the best Greek critics:-

"Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect?-God who justifieth? Who is he that condemneth? - Christ who died? or, rather, who is risen again? He, who is at the right hand of God? He, who maketh intercession for us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? - Tribulation? or distress? or persecution? or famine? or nakedness? or peril? or sword?" In all these questions the apostle intimates that if neither GOD nor CHRIST would bring any charge against them who love him, none else could. And as God justifies through Christ who died, consequently no charge can lie against these persons, as God alone could produce any; and He, so far from doing this, has justified them-freely forgiven their trespasses.

For the proper meaning and sense of the terms chosen, elect, called, c., &c., see the discourse prefixed to this epistle and especially sect. vi. p. 19, &c., and sect. vii. p. 23, &c.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

33. Who shall bring an accusation, etc. The first and the chief consolation of the godly in adversities, is to be fully persuaded of the paternal kindness of God; for hence arises the certainty of their salvation, and that calm quietness of the soul through which it comes that adversities are sweetened, or at least the bitterness of sorrow mitigated. Hardly then a more suitable encouragement to patience could be adduced than this, a conviction that God is propitious to us; and hence Paul makes this confidence the main ground of that consolation, by which it behoves the faithful to be strengthened against all evils. And as the salvation of man is first assailed by accusation, and then subverted by condemnation, he in the first place averts the danger of accusation. There is indeed but one God, at whose tribunal we must stand; then there is no room for accusation when he justifies us. The antithetic clauses seem not indeed to be exactly arranged; for the two parts which ought rather to have been set in opposition to each other are these: “Who shall accuse? Christ is he who intercedes:” and then these two might have been connected, “Who shall condemn? God is he who justifies;” for God’s absolution answers to condemnation, and Christ’s intercession to accusation. But Paul has not without reason made another arrangement, as he was anxious to arm the children of God, as they say, from head to foot, with that confidence which banishes all anxieties and fears. He then more emphatically concludes, that the children of God are not subject to an accusation, because God justifies, than if he had said that Christ is our advocate; for he more fully expresses that the way to a trial is more completely closed up when the judge himself pronounces him wholly exempt from guilt, whom the accuser would bring in as deserving of punishment. There is also a similar reason for the second clause; for he shows that the faithful are very far from being involved in the danger of condemnation, since Christ by expiating their sins has anticipated the judgment of God, and by his intercession not only abolishes death, but also covers our sins in oblivion, so that they come not to an account.

The drift of the whole is, that we are not only freed from terror by present remedies, but that God comes to our aid beforehand, that he may better provide for our confidence.

But it must be here observed, as we have before reminded you, that to be justified, according to Paul, is to be absolved by the sentence of God, and to be counted just; and it is not difficult to prove this from the present passage, in which he reasons by affirming one thing which nullifies its opposite; for to absolve and to regard persons as guilty, are contrary things. Hence God will allow no accusation against us, because he has absolved us from all sins. The devil no doubt is an accuser of all the godly: the very law of God and their own conscience convict them; but all these prevail nothing with the judge, who justifies them. Therefore no adversary can shake or endanger our salvation.

Further, he so mentions the elect, as one who doubted not but that he was of their number; and he knew this, not by special revelation, (as some sophists falsely imagine,) but by a perception (sensu - feeling) common to all the godly. What then is here said of the elect, every one of the godly, according to the example of Paul, may apply to himself; for this doctrine would have been not only frigid, but wholly lifeless had he buried election in the secret purpose of God. But when we know, that there is here designedly set before us what every one of the godly ought to appropriate to himself, there is no doubt but that we are all encouraged to examine our calling, so that we may become assured that we are the children of God.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

33. Who shall lay any thing to the charge] The Gr. word is technical and legal. The legal ideas of accusation, condemnation, acquittal, which have been so prominent through the Epistle, here reappear, in a final statement of the certainty of the Divine Acquittal of those who are in Christ.—No doubt the great “Accuser of the Brethren” (Rev_12:10) is in view in this phrase, though not exclusively.

God’s elect] The persons chosen by Him and belonging, as such, to Him; identical, manifestly, with the “foreknown, foreordained, called, justified, and glorified.” The phrase occurs Mat_24:31; Mar_13:27 : Luk_18:7; Col_3:12; Tit_1:1. The word “elect,” (chosen,) is always used in N. T. in connexions that indicate the highest dignity and worth in the sight of God. The present passage throws as much light on the greatness of its meaning as any other. Cp. with it specially Eph_1:4-5.—In the O. T. Israel is “My people, My chosen, (Isa_43:20.) In the N. T. the chosen are “the Israel of God,” (Gal_6:16 : cp. Gal_3:29; Rom_4:11.) As with the old so with the new Israel, the choice is emphatically sovereign. On the other hand, the choice of the “justified and glorified” takes effect through means; through the Gospel. See 2Ti_2:10; (a passage sometimes, but not justly, quoted against a sovereign election to salvation;) and ante, note on “work together,” Rom_8:28.

It is God, &c.] The Gr. equally allows the rendering Is it God, &c.? And this on the whole is more likely to be right, if only because we are here in a series of questions, (from Rom_8:31-35 inclusive,) the force of which is surely greatest when unbroken.—The doctrine of the passage is unchanged by the difference of rendering. The only finally effective Accuser must be God Himself; but He is pledged to be the very opposite.

that justifieth]—“him that believeth in Jesus.” (Rom_3:26.) The use of this word here, so amply illustrated already, shews how entirely the acquittal and acceptance now in question are “not of works.”

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?.... The elect of God are a certain select number of persons, whom he has so loved, as of his sovereign good will and pleasure, to choose in Christ before the foundation of the world, unto eternal life and salvation, by certain ways and means of his own appointing, as sanctification and faith, so that they are peculiarly his: but are these persons chargeable with nothing criminal? yes, with Adam's sin; with a want of original righteousness; with multitudes of sins before conversion, some of them with very great ones; and all, even after conversion, with frequent infirmities and backslidings: and will none rise up and exhibit charges of this nature against them? yes, even now, they very often bring charges against themselves; they are very apt to charge one another; Satan, the accuser of the brethren, lays many things to their charge very frequently, and so do the men of the world; but all these charges avail nothing, since none of the divine persons, Father, Son, and Spirit, lay anything against them: not God the Father, for

it is God that justifieth; he against whom sin is committed, who is the lawgiver, and the righteous judge, justifies them from every charge; not by teaching them the way of justification, nor by infusing righteousness into them, or on account of any works of righteousness done by them, but by pronouncing them righteous through the imputation of the righteousness of his Son unto them: observe, that "God's elect", as such, are the objects of justification; which proves the eternity of it; the speciality of it as belonging to particular persons, and the everlasting security and continuance of it.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.

Ver. 33. Who shall lay anything] This is that confident interrogatory of a good conscience, επερωτημα, 1Pe 3:21.

It is God that justifieth] Some read it questionwise thus, Shall God that justifieth? No such matter. And if the judge acquit a prisoner, he cares not though the jailor or fellow prisoners condemn him; so here.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Who shall lay anything to the charge - This expression is taken from courts of law, and means, who shall accuse, or condemn, or so charge with crime before the tribunal of God as to cause their condemnation?

God’s elect - His chosen people. Those who have been chosen according to his eternal purpose; Note, Rom 8:28. As they are the chosen of God, they are dear to him; and as he purposed to save them, he will do it in such a way as that none can bring against them a charge that would condemn them.

It is God that justifieth - That is, who has pardoned them, and admitted them to his favor; and pronounced them just in his sight; Notes, Rom 1:17; Rom 3:24. It would be absurd to suppose that he would again condemn them. The fact that he has justified them is, therefore, a strong proof that they will be saved. This may be read with more force as a question, “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? Shall God who justifieth?” The Greek will bear either mode of rendering. The passage implies that there would be a high degree of absurdity in supposing that the same being would both justify and condemn the same individual. The Christian, therefore, is secure.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Who shall lay any thing to the charge of the elect of God? God who justifieth. Others read without an interrogation, it is God who justified us: the sense will scarce be different; for it is the same as to say, we need not fear that God will accuse us, since by his mercy he hath been pleased to die, and to rise again from death for us. (Witham)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? Who can implead such, or put in any accusation against them? There is nothing to accuse them of, they are justified; and there is none to accuse them:

It is God that justifieth; the Supreme Judge hath absolved them. This seems to be taken out of Isa 50:8,9. They were Christ’s words there, and spoken of God’s justifying him; they are every believer’s words here, and intended of God’s justifying them. Here seems to be two reasons of their indemnity; one is implied, i.e. God’s electing them: the other expressed, i.e. God’s justifying and acquitting of them.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

33. Lay… charge—There is one great enemy who is styled preeminently the accuser of the brethren; and he in fact appeared before God himself to bring charge against Job, (Job_1:9,) and he has his human representatives in the world during all ages. And yet the apostle triumphantly proclaims that their charges are no charges at all, and gives his reason.

God… justifieth—Hereby the apostle shows how God is for us, (Rom_8:31.) God justifies us at first in pardoning our sins; and whenever the adversary or his agents bring charges against us he ever repeats his justification; or, rather, God’s perpetual holding us righteous in spite of every calumniator is one continuous justifying act. That same justification holds us clear on earth, defends us against the danger of condemnation in the final judgment, and secures our place forever with the righteous.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 33, 34. The triumphant challenge.

He has asked the general question, challenging an answer: "If God be for us, who can be against us?" He now proceeds to two special questions, the first of which has reference to the justification of believers by God. In view of that he asks, "Who shall lay anything to their charge? who shall condemn?" And again, amplifying the fact of their justification, he tells of the death, the resurrection, the ascension, the intercession, of Christ Jesus, as the pledge and declaration of their acquittal. We may consider the possible sources of charge against God"s people, and their triumphant vindication.

I THE CHARGE. To them that are in Christ Jesus there is now no condemnation, and yet whispers of condemnation may again and again be heard.

1. The transgressions of the past may come to mind with such force as to destroy our joy in God. Past irreparable, and though first consciousness of free forgiveness of God may almost blot it from our memory for the time, yet there are times when it seems to live again, and so vividly that we can hardly detach the thought of overwhelming guilt as still upon us.

2. The imperfections of the present. How far from the perfectness of the ideal! And how the very growth of earnestness and increase of endeavour seem to make the ideal more distant still! So conscience, the Law, the adversary, and accusing men (see Beet, in loc. ) may make us feel condemned.

II THE VINDICATION. But the condemnation is not real; it exists only in the diseased imagination. Let it be brought face to face with the great facts of the gospel, and it must vanish quite away. What are these facts?

1. The great central fact is that we are God"s chosen ones; and who shall dispute God"s choice? Not that he ever can act without reason; but, whether we see the reason or not, we are elect, the elect of God, as being his people, and who shall gainsay it?

2. This great election is declared by his justification of the believer, which has gone abroad in the gospel to all the world: "He that believeth is not condemned.

3. And even the reasons of the election of believers are graciously made known, and graciously confirmed: Christ"s death, resurrection, exaltation, and intercession.

(1) The death of Christ, as the great Propitiation for the sins of the world, utterly does away all guilt to those who sincerely receive it by faith. As the Son of God, he thus sets forth the infinite love of a God who laid down his life for our sake; as Son of man, making reconciliation for the sins of the people, he appeals on our behalf even to the infinite justice for our acquittal. And though we may still be frail, and sin may cleave to us, yet, if we are sincere in our faith, that atonement avails for all things and for ever.

(2) The resurrection of Christ, following after the expiation, is God"s sure setting-forth of the value of the expiation, and the effectiveness of the finished sacrifice. Raised for i.e. because of our justification". (Rom_4:25)

(3) The exaltation, as the resurrection completed, is the completing of the guarantee that we are accepted in him. And he is our Forerunner.

(4) The intercession, as the work of the exalted High Priest, is the continuous application of the atoning work, in itself for ever finished and for ever guaranteed. For returning prodigals, and for us with our frailties who have believed, he ever liveth to make intercession," and is therefore "able to save unto the uttermost.

Oh, then, whether we look to God who has chosen and justified us, or to him whom God hath set forth as a Propitiation, and again declared to be his Son, well-pleasing and beloved, by the raising from the dead; whether we regard God in Christ as the Source of our salvation, as the Effecter of salvation, or as the Manifester of salvation; whether we think of the past, the present, or the future in Christ; in any case we can take up the triumphant challenge given us by Paul, "It is God that justifieth; Who is he that shall condemn? It is Christ Jesus," etc. T.F.L.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

God's elect - The above-cited author observes, that long before the coming of Christ the heathen world revolted from the true God, and were therefore reprobated, or rejected. But the nation of the Jews were chosen to be the people of God, and were therefore styled, "the children" or "sons of God," Deut. xiv, 1; "holy people," Deut. vii, 6; xiv, 2; "a chosen seed," Deut. iv, 37; "the elect," Isaiah xli, 8, 9; xliii, 10; "the called of God," Isaiah xlviii, 12. And these titles were given to all the nation of Israel, including both good and bad. Now the gospel having the most strict connection with the Books of the Old Testament, where these phrases frequently occur; and our Lord and his apostles being native Jews, and beginning to preach in the land of Israel, the language in which they preached would of course abound with the phrases of the Jewish nation. And hence it is easy to see why such of them as would not receive him were styled reprobated. For they no longer continued to be the people of God; whereas this and those other honourable titles were continued to all such Jews as embraced Christianity. And the same appellations which once belonged to the Jewish nation were now given to the gentile Christians also together with which they were invested with all the privileges of "the chosen people of God;" and nothing could cut them off from these but their own wilful apostasy. It does not appear that even good men were ever termed God's elect till above two thousand years from the creation. God's electing or choosing the nation of Israel, and separating them from the other nations, who were sunk in idolatry and all wickedness, gave the first occasion to this sort of language. And as the separating the Christians from the Jews was a like event, no wonder it was expressed in like words and phrases only with this difference, the term elect was of old applied to all the members of the visible church; whereas in the New Testament it is applied only to the members of the invisible.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Observe here, 1. The apostle’s confident and daring challenge: Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?

Where note, The universality of the challenge: It is universal in a double respect:

1. In respect of persons accusing, Who shall? He excepts none in heaven, none on earth, nay, none in hell; neither sin, nor the law, nor Satan, nor conscience, having anything to lay to our charge, in order to our condemnation.

2. In respect of crimes; he excepts no sort of sin, though never so heinously aggravated, and sadly circumstantiated; Justifying grace is their full discharge.

Learn hence, That it is impossible for any charge or accusation to take place against those whom God doth justify, because there is nothing to accuse them of, none to accuse them to, and nobody to frame or make the accusation against them.

Well might the apostle say, Who can, who shall, who may, who dare lay anything to the justified person’s charge!

Observe, 2. The ground and reason of this confident challenge, it is God that justifieth, who shall condemn?

Here note, 1. That there is a very gracious privilege vouchsafed to believers, which the scriptures call justification.

2. That it is God that justifieth the believer’s person, and pardons his sins, and none but God; he is the person against whom the offence is committed, and he alone it is that absolves us from the guilt contracted.

When the justice of God accuses, when the law of God accuses, when our own consciences accuse, when Satan and wicked men accuse, the mercy and goodness, the truth and faithfulness of God, will for the sake of his Son’s satisfaction, acquit and discharge us; for it is God that justifieth.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

33. “Who shall charge anything against the elect of God?” Eklektos, “the elect,” is from ek, “out,” and lego, “to choose.” In regeneration God chooses us out of the world. The word “elect” really conveys the idea of a second choosing, as lego means “to choose,” and ek, “from.” Hence the chosen from the chosen, corroborating the fact that Christ does not select a bride from the devil’s people, which would be true if the election was consummated in regeneration; but He chooses His bride from the people of God, superinducing this second election in entire sanctification, determinative of the bridehood.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth ;

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

33. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? No one can, since God himself has justified them.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

Who will bring any accusation against God's chosen ones? God is the one who justifies

Paul uses a question for emphasis. AT: "No one can accuse us before God because he is the one who makes us right with him" (See: Rhetorical Question)

Who is the one who condemns?

Paul uses a question for emphasis. He does not expect an answer. AT: "No one will condemn us!" (See: Rhetorical Question)

more than that, who was raised

Here to raise up is an idiom for causing someone who has died to become alive again. You can translate this in an active form. AT: "whom even more importantly God raised from the dead" or "who even more importantly came back to life" (See: Active or Passive and Idiom)

who is at the right hand of God

To be at the "right hand of God" is a symbolic action of receiving great honor and authority from God. AT: "who is at the place of honor beside God" (See: Symbolic Action)

translationWords

accuse

chosen one

just

condemn

Jesus

raise

intercede

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

33. κατὰ ἐκλεκτῶν θ. Against men whom GOD has chosen: the bare words give tremendous emphasis.

θεὸς ὁ δικαιῶν. In the face of GOD’S acquittal, the condemnation of the world is as nothing; cf. 1Co 4:9 f.; 2Co 2:16; cf. Isa 50:8-9.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

33.] The punctuation of these verses is disputed. Many (Aug., Ambr., Reiche, Köllner, Olsh., Meyer, De Wette, and Griesb., Knapp, Lachmann) follow, in vv. 33, 34, the undoubted form of ver. 35, and place an interrogation after each clause, as in the text; while Luther, Beza, Grot., Wolf, Tholuck, al., make θεὸς ὁ δικ. and χριστὸς ὁ ἀποθ. κ.τ.λ. the reply to and rejection of the questions preceding them. The former method is preferable, as preserving the form of ver. 35, and involving no harshness of construction, which the other does, in the case of χριστός followed by the two participles.

Who shall lay (τι) any charge against the elect of God (ἐγκαλέω usually with a dat. see reff.)? Shall God (ἐγκαλέσει), who justifies them (Chrys. strikingly says, οὐκ εἶπε “θεὸς ὁ ἀφεὶς ἁμαρτήματα,” ἀλλʼ ὃ πολλῷ μεῖζον ἦν θεὸς ὁ δικαιῶν. ὅταν γὰρ ἡ τοῦ δικαστοῦ ψῆφος δίκαιον ἀποφήνῃ, καὶ δικαστοῦ τοιούτου, τίνος ἄξιος ὁ κατηγορῶν; Hom. xv. p. 597)? Who is he that condemns them (the pres. part. as expressing the official employment, ‘is their accuser,’ is better than the fut., as corresponding more closely with δικαιῶν)? (Is it) Christ who died, yea who rather is also risen, who also is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us? “All the great points of our redemption are ranged together, from the death of Christ to His still enduring intercession, as reasons for negativing the question above.” De W.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

33-35. The best punctuation of these verses is that which is adopted in RV. text (so also Orig. Chrys. Theodrt. Mey. Ell. Gif. Va. Lid.). There should not be more than a colon between the clauses Θεὸς ὁ δικαιῶν· τίς ὁ κατακρινῶν; God is conceived of as Judge: where He acquits, who can condemn? Ver. 34 is then immediately taken up by ver. 35: Christ proved His love by dying for us; who then shall part us from that love? The Apostle clearly has in his mind Isa 50:8, Isa 50:9 ‘He is near that justifieth men; who will contend with me? … Behold, the Lord God will help me; who is he that shall condemn me?’ This distinctly favours the view that each affirmation is followed by a question relating to that affirmation. The phrases ὁ κατακρινῶν and ὁ δικαιῶν form a natural antithesis, which it is wrong to break up by putting a full stop between them and taking one with what precedes, the other with what follows.

On the view taken above, Θεὸς ὁ δικαιῶν and Χριστὸς Ἰησοῦς ὁ ἀποθανών are both answers to τίς ἐγκαλέσει; and τίς ὁ κατακρινῶν; τίς ἡμᾶς χωρίσει; are subordinate questions, suggested in the one case by δικαιῶν, in the other by ἐντ. ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν. We observe also that on this view ver. 35 is closely linked to ver. 34. The rapid succession of thought which is thus obtained, each step leading on to the next, is in full accordance with the spirit of the passage.

Another way of taking it is to put a full stop at δικαιῶν, and to make τίς ἐγκαλέσει; τίς ὁ κατακρινῶν; two distinct questions with wholly distinct answers. So Fri. Lips. Weiss Oltr. Go. Others again (RV. marg. Beng. De W. Mou.) make all the clauses questions (Θεὸς ὁ δικαιῶν; ἐντυγχ. ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν;) But these repeated challenges do not give such a nervous concatenation of reasoning.

33. τίς ἐγκαλέσει; another of the forensic terms which are so common in this Epistle; ‘Who shall impeach such as are elect of God?’

ἐκλεκτῶν. We have already seen (note on 1:1) that with St. Paul κλητοί and ἐκλεκτοί are not opposed to each other (as they are in Mat 22:14) but are rather to be identified. By reading into κλητοί the implication that the call is accepted, St. Paul shows that the persons of whom this is true are also objects of God’s choice. By both terms St. Paul designates not those who are destined for final salvation, but those who are ‘summoned’ or ‘selected’ for the privilege of serving God and carrying out His will. If their career runs its normal course it must issue in salvation, the ‘glory’ reserved for them; this lies as it were at the end of the avenue; but ἐκλεκτῶν only shows that they are in the right way to reach it. At least no external power can bar them from it; if they lose it, they will do so by their own fault.

κατακρίνων: κατακρινῶν RV. text Mou. This is quite possible, but δικαιῶν suggests the present.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Shall lay - to the charge [εγκαλεσει] . Only here by Paul. Frequent in Acts. See Rom 19:38, 40; Rom 23:28, 29; Rom 26:2, 7. Lit., "to call something in one." Hence call to account; bring a charge against.

The following clauses are differently arranged by expositors. I prefer the succession of four interrogatives : Who shall lay? etc. Is it God ? etc. Who is He that condemneth? Is it Christ ? etc. 47

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vv. 33. “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.”

Paul is not ignorant how many accusers every believer has: conscience, the law, Satan, the accuser of the elect, the persons we have offended or scandalized by our faults: all so many voices rising against us. Did Paul himself, when writing these words, not think of the cries of pain uttered by the Christians whom he had cast into prison and scourged, and especially of the blood of Stephen, which, like that of Abel the righteous, called for vengeance against him? All these charges are only too real. But from the mouth of God there has gone forth a declaration which serves as a buckler to the believer, and against which those fiery darts are quenched, as soon as he takes shelter under the sentence: God hath declared him just. Here we clearly see the juridical meaning of the word justify as used by St. Paul. These words: It is God that justifieth, which paralyze every accusation uttered in His presence, are the summary of the whole first part of the Epistle (chaps. 1-5). The expression: the elect of God, literally, elect of God, has an argumentative value; it serves to demonstrate beforehand the powerlessness of the accusation. This expression recalls what has just been said (Rom 8:28-30) of the eternal predestination of believers to salvation and glory; ἐκλεκτός, elect, from ἐκλέγεσθαι, to draw out of. Rescued by His own call from identification with a world plunged in evil, could God thrust them back into it?

From the time of St. Augustine several commentators (most lately Olshausen, De Wette, Reuss) have taken the last proposition of the verse in an interrogative sense: “Who will accuse? Would it be God? How could He do so, He who justifieth?” The apostle would thus be using an argument ad absurdum. This meaning is ingenious, and seems at the first glance to be more forcible. But can the part of accuser be ascribed, even by supposition, to God? The function of God is more elevated. Besides, it is simpler, graver, and in reality more forcible to regard this proposition as a calm and decided affirmation. It is the rock against which every wave of accusation breaks; compare also the parallel Isaiah 50, which speaks decidedly in favor of the affirmative form (Philippi).

The accusers are reduced to silence...for the present; but will it also be so at the final moment when the tribunal will be set, in the day of the δικαιοκρισία, “of the just judgment of God,” when sentence will be given without “acceptance of persons” and “according to every man’s work” (Rom 2:5-6; Rom 2:11)? Will the absolution of believers then still hold good? Let it be remembered this was the question put at the close of the first part (Rom 8:9-10), and resolved in the second (vi.-viii.). St. Paul raises it again in this summary, but in a tone of triumph, because on this point also he knows that victory is won.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.