‘He Who spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things?'

Indeed the extent to which He is ‘for us' is revealed in the fact that ‘He spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all'. God commended His love towards us in that Christ died for us (Romanos 5:8). He was willing to allow men to put His own Son through the suffering of the cross, because He was so much on our side. If then for our sakes He ‘spared not His own Son', delivering Him up as a sacrifice on our behalf (8,3), how can we doubt that He will with Him freely give us all things (i.e. all things which are for our benefit, all that is required for our full salvation). Compare Mateo 6:33, ‘all these thing will be added unto you', which in the Lucan parallel included the giving of the Holy Spirit (Lucas 11:13).

‘His own Son.' It was the use of a similar expression that caused the Jews to want to stone Jesus as guilty of blasphemy for calling God ‘His own Father' (Juan 5:18). The term ‘His own' distinguished Him from all others who in one way or another could be called ‘the sons of God'. It indicated direct and real relationship. There is probably also an indirect look back to when Abraham was called on not to spare his own son, ‘take now your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love' (Génesis 22:2) followed by ‘because you have not spared your son, your only son, from Me' (Génesis 22:12 LXX). However, in that case the requirement was not carried through. He was replaced by a substitute. But there could be no substitute for God's own Son. He had to bear the burden to the full because He was our substitute and Isaac's. In the end there had to be the perfect Substitute who would make all previous substitutes efficacious (Romanos 3:25).

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