Romans 8:31

What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? WHAT SHALL WE THEN SAY TO THESE THINGS? As Bengel says, with his own unrivaled terseness, 'We can no further go, think, wish.' This whole passage, in fact-on to , and even to the end of the chapter-strikes all thoughtful interpreters and readers as transcending almost everything in language; while Olshausen notices the 'profound and colossal' character of the thought. IF GOD [BE] FOR US, WHO [CAN BE] AGAINST US? - If God be resolved and engaged to bring us through, all our enemies must be His; and "Who would set the briers and thorns against Him in battle? He would go through them, He would burn them together" (). What strong consolation is here! Nay, but the great pledge of all h...

31._What then_, _etc. _The subject discussed having been sufficiently proved, he now breaks out into exclamations, by which he sets forth the magnanimity with which the faithful ought to be furnished when adversities urge them to despond. And he teaches us in these words that with the paternal favor of God is connected that invincible courage which overcomes all temptations. We indeed know, that judgment is usually formed of the love or of the hatred of God, in no other way than by a view of our present state; hence when things fall out untowardly, sorrow takes possession of our minds, and drives away all confidence and consolation. But Paul loudly exclaims, that a deeper principle ought to be inquired after, and that they reason absurdly who confine themselves to the sad spectacle of our present warfare. I indeed allow, that the scourges of God are in themselves justly deemed to be toke...

28-31 That is good for the saints which does their souls good. Every providence tends to the spiritual good of those that love God; in breaking them off from sin, bringing them nearer to God, weaning them from the world, and fitting them for heaven. When the saints act out of character, corrections will be employed to bring them back again. And here is the order of the causes of our salvation, a golden chain, one which cannot be broken. 1. Whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son. All that God designed for glory and happiness as the end, he decreed to grace and holiness as the way. The whole human race deserved destruction; but for reasons not perfectly known to us, God determined to recover some by regeneration and the power of his grace. He predestinated, or before decreed, that they should be conformed to the image of his Son. In this lif...

Verse 31. _WHAT SHALL WE THEN SAY TO THESE THINGS?_] What conclusion should we draw from the above premises? From all that was already laid down in the preceding chapters, but especially in the preceding verses, from Romans 8:28 inclusive. As if he had said: What comfort may we derive from these doctrines? God has called us all to _holiness_, and to _love to him_, which is the principle of holiness. We are persecuted and despised, it is true, and we may be more so; but, as God has called us to love him, _and all things work together for good to them that love him_; and, as his covenant with Abraham, while he was in his _Gentile_ state, shows his gracious _purpose_ towards us _Gentiles_, whom he has foreknown, who have been objects of his _gracious foreknowledge_, as well as the _Jews_, and who have now the fullest proof that we were so, by...

WHAT SHALL WE THEN SAY ... - What fairly follows from the facts stated? or what conclusion shall we draw in regard to the power of the Christian religion to support us in our trials from the considerations which have been stated? What the influence is he proceeds to state. IF GOD BE FOR US - Be on outside, or is our friend, as he has shown himself to be by adopting us Romans 8:15, by granting to us his Spirit Romans 8:16, Romans 8:26, and by his gracious purpose to save us, Romans 8:29). WHO CAN BE AGAINST US? - Who can injur

EXPOSITION ROMANS 8:1 (_c_) _The blessed condition and assured hope of such as are in Christ _Jesus. The summary of the contents of this chapter, which follows the Exposition, may be referred to in the first place by the student, so as to assist comprehension of the line of thought. ROMANS 8:1 THERE IS THEREFORE NOW NO CONDEMNATION TO THEM WHICH ARE IN CHRIST JESUS. (The additional words of this verse in the Textus Receptus have but slight support, having probably been supplied from Romans 8:4. They are out of place here.) "Nunc venit ad liberationem et libertatem. Non autem ponit adversativam δὲ, _autem,_ sed conclusivam a!ra, erg

WHAT SHALL WE THEN SAY TO THESE THINGS? C, Either to these afflictions, shall we murmur and repine at them? no, since they work together for our good, and are not to be compared with our future glory, which is certain for if we suffer with, and for Christ, we shall be glorified together: or to these blessings just now mentioned, as the foreknowledge of God, divine predestination, effectual calling, free justification, and eternal glorification, what can be said to these? nothing can be added to them, they are a complete set of blessings, wanting nothing; nor can the greatness of them be fully expressed, or the freeness of God's grace displayed in them, sufficiently declared: what remains for us to do, but to be thankful for them, and glory in them? or what can be said "against" them? nothing at all, they cannot be contradicted or gainsaid; they are true and faithful sayings; they can nev...

Romans 8:1. _There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit._ To my mind one of the sweetest words of that verse is that little word now. «There is, therefore, now no condemnation» at this very moment. Walking under the power of the Spirit of God in Christ Jesus, there is, therefore, now no condemnation to believers. It is a logical conclusion, too, from something that went before. You and I are not absolved from sin apart from the truth, but there is a great truth at the back of it which necessitates it. «There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.» Romans 8:2. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Je

CHAPTER 8 _ 1. In Christ; no Condemnation but Deliverance. (Romans 8:1 .)_ 2. Flesh and Spirit. (Romans 8:5 .) 3. The Body and the Spirit. (Romans 8:9 .) 4. Sons and Heirs of God. (Romans 8:12 .) 5. The Time of Travail and Groaning; the Future Redemption. (Romans 8:18 .) 6. The intercession of the Spirit. (Romans 8:26 .) 7. The Saints Calling; the Challenge and the Assurance. ...

THE CHRISTIAN ASSURANCE. Romans 8:28. One thing we do know, that all goes well for those that love God including their worst sufferings (Romans 8:18; cf. Romans 5:3). Romans 8:29 f. This assurance rests on God's manifest purpose toward them a purpose disclosed in five successive steps: foreknowledge, pre-ordination, call, justification, glorification. The foreknowledge covers everything about the persons concerned; God never acts by guess (_cf. Romans 3:3_, Romans 11:2