Examining the Evidence: Romans 8:28-39
SUMMATION
Paul has carefully cultivated an argument to settle the hearts and minds of the
believers in Rome. He has pronounced a great comfort in his assertions that all
things occur within the realm of God's control, and His hands are at the controls of all
that happen to those He has called.
He presents his argument: the God who exists independent of time and space
(though he created both) has always known His own--and, by extension, owned
them.41 His ultimate goal is to grow them up, in the Word and in life
experience, to follow the pattern of His Son.42 He has always had a plan
to develop a people who would become like Him in this way, but they had to be
justified before they could be so glorified. Praise God, in the sacrifice of His Son
He has already done this!
Every trial demands a verdict, and Paul does not disappoint. The emphasis is that if
we are fully God's, He is fully ours. So what can happen to us that His blessing, His
very presence with us in all trials, cannot overcome? What He did for us cost Him
dearly; He did not spare "his own Son."43 For Christ's own sake, as His
firstborn and our Brother by adoption (and God our Father by the same right), we
can surely expect that everything he gives us will be given graciously for life
and godliness.
And now the sentence: who now stands in any position to accuse us? Only God can
do this, and because of Christ's work He will not. Who can pass judgment? Only
Christ, and in His death and, more importantly, His resurrection, He has brought us
over to His side, so that He will not stand against us. Who then can separate
us from God? It would be as easy as removing Christ from His Father. Certainly no
physical tribulation can affect the love of God for us. To be certain, we will always
face tribulations; we will be dealt with maliciously and thought low of. But in the very
existence of these trials we know we have already overcome them--we have been
made "supermen" because of the sustaining power of the God who loved us.
Paul finishes with a little poem of sorts, brushing broad strokes on those things that
the flesh is afraid of. In a way, it is understandable; Paul does not berate his readers
for thinking so. But it is only natural, and we are as good as glorified--in the process
of being made into the very substance of Christ Himself. Nothing in this world, and
nothing in the spiritual world can touch us.
41Henry, 966.
42Ibid.
43Henderson, 98.
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