"If God is for Us" (3)

[Romans 8:31-34]

Look at Romans 8:32: "He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?"
Here, "He who delivered Him up" refers to God, who did not spare His own Son but delivered Him up for all of us. This God is the God who is for us (v.31). And the God who is for us is the eternal God (Deut. 33:27; Isa. 40:28; Rom. 16:26), the omnipresent God (Isa. 57:15; Jer. 23:24), the omnipotent God (Gen. 28:3; Josh. 22:22; Job 8:3, 5; Ps. 50:1; Isa. 9:6; Ezek. 10:5; Rev. 11:17; 15:3; 16:7, 14; 19:6, 15; 21:22), and the God of love (1 John 4:8, 16). This loving God, who is for us, did not spare His only Son, Jesus Christ, but delivered Him up to die on the cross in our place for our salvation.

The "Son" mentioned in Romans 8:32 refers to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who is equal to God the Father. The God who loves us and is for us did not spare His Son ("His own Son") but delivered Him up to die on the cross for our salvation.
As we meditated last week in Genesis 22, when God tested Abraham, He said, "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall tell you of" (Gen. 22:1-2). In fact, Abraham had another son, Ishmael (16:16). But God referred to Isaac as his "only son" (22:1).
In Hebrews 11:17, in the 1956 Korean Revised Version, it says, "By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son." However, in the 1998 Revised Version, it translates as "his only begotten son." To Abraham, Isaac was his only son. Yet, when Abraham obeyed God's word, he did not spare his beloved son Isaac but obeyed God, binding Isaac and placing him on the altar, stretching out his hand, and taking the knife to slay his son (Gen. 22:9-10).
The God who loves us and is for us did not spare His only Son, Jesus Christ, but delivered Him up to die on the cross for our salvation.

How will God not give us all things along with His Son?
If God did not spare His only Son but delivered Him up for our salvation, how will He not freely give us all things along with Him? (Rom. 8:32).
God has given us all things along with His Son, Jesus Christ, and continues to give them to us.
The phrase "with Jesus Christ" can also be understood as "in Christ," "in Jesus," or "in Him." The word "with" can also be interpreted as "through," so "with Jesus Christ" can also be said as "through Jesus Christ." This means that God has given us all things "in" or "through" Jesus Christ.
So, what does "all things" mean here? In other words, what are the "all things" that God has given us "with" or "in" or "through" Jesus Christ?
Look at Ephesians 1:3: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ."
The "all things" God has given us "with" Jesus Christ are "every spiritual blessing" (or "every heavenly blessing," according to the Modern Korean Bible). The Apostle Paul mentions some of these spiritual blessings starting in Ephesians 1:4.
For example, in verse 4, Paul says, "just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love." This is the same as what Paul says in Romans 8:29: "For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son."
God choosing us before the foundation of the world or predestining us is the second stage of the five steps of salvation that we have already meditated on.
To briefly summarize, the "all things" mentioned in Romans 8:32 refer to "every spiritual blessing" (Eph. 1:3), and these spiritual blessings include all five stages of salvation. These five stages of salvation are: (1) God's foreknowledge/love, (2) God's predestination/election, (3) God's calling, (4) God's justification, and (5) God's glorification (Rom. 8:29-30).

When we think about God calling us, 2 Timothy 1:9 says the following: "Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began." God saved us and called us with a holy calling, and that calling was according to His grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.

The phrase "before time began" means that God had planned our salvation from eternity past. In the five stages of salvation, God knew us, loved us, predestined us, and chose us before the foundation of the world. Then, after we were born, God called us. Look at John 10:3: "The doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out." God has called us individually, by name.

Not only has He called us, but before the foundation of the world, God knew us, loved us, predestined us, and chose us individually. Furthermore, in Christ Jesus, God has justified us individually. He has also glorified us individually. The God who loves us and is for us has saved us by calling, choosing, justifying, and glorifying each one of us individually. Who can be against us? (Romans 8:31). Therefore, we can’t help but have assurance of our salvation.

In the second part of Romans 8:32, the Apostle Paul says, "How will He not also with Him freely give us all things?" But who are "we"? Romans 5:6, 8, and 10 describe us in three ways:

1. We were "weak".
   Look at Romans 5:6: "For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly."
   We were so weak that we could not do anything for our salvation, to gain entrance into heaven, or to sit on the throne with the Lord. We still can't do anything. Salvation is never the result of adding works (good deeds) to faith (grace). This glorious salvation is the work of God, not something we can do. God gave His only Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for us, the ungodly and weak.

2. We were "sinners".
   Look at Romans 5:8: "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
   God did not give His Son when we were righteous, but when we were sinners. Our righteousness does not exist. We are totally depraved and cannot do anything to save ourselves. For our salvation, God did not spare His only Son, Jesus Christ, but gave Him up to die on the cross, so that the righteousness of God might be imputed to us.

3. We were "enemies" of God.
   Look at Romans 5:10: "For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life."
   God gave His only Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross while we were still His enemies, reconciling us to Himself. The enmity between us and God could never be resolved by our own efforts or good works. Only God could resolve that enmity, and He did so by giving His only Son as a propitiation on the cross.

If we were saved by doing something, we could never have assurance of salvation. Perhaps the reason we lack assurance of salvation right now is because we focus on our own efforts, the need to do something, to perform good deeds, etc., rather than focusing on what God has done for us. However, because it is God who saves us, we cannot help but have assurance of our salvation. God decided and planned to save us before the foundation of the world, and because He has completed the five stages of salvation, we cannot help but have assurance of it.

In this context, when we look at Romans 8:32 in the Revised Edition (1998), it simply translates as, "Will He not also freely give us all things?" But in the 1956 Korean version, it is translated as, "Will He not freely give it to us as a gift?" The difference is that the word "as a gift" is in the 1956 version, but not in the revised edition. When we look at the original Greek, the word used is xarizomai, which means "to give freely" or "to give as a gift." So, the 1956 version correctly translates it as "as a gift."

This Greek word appears again in Romans 6:23: “… the gift of God (Greek: xarisma) is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” We also see it in Ephesians 2:4-5, 8-9: "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)… For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast."

The important lesson these verses teach us is that eternal life (salvation) in Christ Jesus is entirely God's grace (Eph. 2:5, 8) and a gift (Rom. 6:23; 8:32), and it is by no means something that comes from us (Eph. 2:8) or from our works (v. 9). It is a gift of God’s grace (v. 8).

God, who loved us before the foundation of the world, chose us, called us, justified us, and glorified us through the five stages of salvation—this is entirely by God's grace. In other words, salvation is God’s grace in Christ, and has nothing to do with our merit. God enables us to hear His word, the gospel of Jesus Christ, and through faith in Jesus Christ, we are saved. The power of His word, the power of the gospel, works in us so that we believe in Jesus. And that faith itself is a gift of God's grace, not something of our own doing (Eph. 2:8, 9). God gives us faith by His grace, and through it, we believe in Jesus Christ. Therefore, we can have assurance of our salvation.

God did not spare His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, but delivered Him up to die on the cross for our salvation. With such love, how will He not freely give us all things with Him? (Rom. 8:32). If God loved us so much that He did not spare His only Son (John 3:16) but gave Him up for us on the cross, how will He not freely save us as a gift? God, who loved us and chose us before the foundation of the world, will certainly fulfill this work of salvation, calling us, justifying us, and glorifying us. Therefore, we must look to God, who loves us and desires our salvation, with faith, and have assurance of our salvation. Moreover, we should be thankful for God’s grace in salvation and strive even more to please God by working in the Lord’s service (1 Cor. 15:57-58).