Romans 8:31-32 - Sparing Not His Son

Romans 8:31-32 - 31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?

Message: Sparing Not His Son; God is for us.

Time: This book was probably written between 56 and 57 B.C. Paul was in Greece, probably Corinth when he wrote. It was sent to Gentile believers, but also believers with a strong Jewish element.

What the Lord is Saying:

Review
Returning briefly to the outline I started looking at for the Romans 8:18 entry.
  
8:31-39 God makes Christians victorious

1. 8:31-33 God is on our side
2. 8:34-36 Christ intercedes for us
3. 8:37-39 We are more than conquerors

It seems, thus far, that in Romans 8 the message that 'God is in charge' seems to be communicated.  Paul lets us know that the Spirit is with us, indwelled in us, and giving us life. No matter what sins we may experience or the war that we often have with our flesh, the Spirit is there giving us strength and ministering to us. We also are confirmed as children of God, part of God's family. Once again, because of our connection with God, the Spirit is always with us, giving us life and moving us to holiness. And I have the comfort of knowing that, though I suffer now, it in no way compares with the glory I will experience in the future.

And then I have the assurance that everything in my life will work together for good. But that good is defined by God, not me and I can be confident that He is in control. I am not a mistake but my fellowship with Him He foreknew.

God is for us
So God gives me a special promise in verse 31 and confirmation that, no matter what, God is for me. Whether it is my flesh waging war against me or weakness is praying, God is there and for me. I should rest on that promise and be comforted by that. How I wish I could take that promise with me everywhere I went. How I should not get focused on my suffering.

A Son offering
Verse 32 mentions that God did not spare even His Son for His people, His called ones. I understand this, but I must admit, personally, this has always been a hard thing for me to comprehend since Jesus is God. But, he lived in the likeness of sinful flesh (Romans 8:3). But maybe, the focus is really more on God and what He would sacrifice as a father of a son. The father would have to watch his son suffer. Just as in Abraham who made the decision to not even spare his own son. The focus then is how great a love or rather, how great a devotion one has to a people that the father would do anything for His God or with God, for us.

Delivered Him up for us all
This phrase in verse 32 has the idea of delivering someone over to the police. The other night in our home group the husband and wife mentioned they had to kick their daughter out of the house because she no longer chose to abide by their rules. It was the hardest thing they had ever done. It is turning your child out to society. In a way, the idea is this here, to deliver someone over to the police. Jesus was delivered over to His accusers and the Father had to wait to see what would be done to Jesus and what was done was unimaginable.

He freely gives us all things
We are the benefactor of all that God has given up. Freely gives is the Greek word charizomai. In the New American Standard, this is how the word charizomai is translated: bestowed(1), forgave(2), forgive(3), forgiven(4), forgiving(2), freely give(1), given(1),graciously forgave(1), granted(5), hand(2), things freely given(1).

He forgives us all things. He is gracious to us. He has grace on us. He gives us something we don't deserve. Jesus is the ransom, we are the benefactor. Could it be that God forgives everything? We already have the promise that all things work together for good (v. 28) so it is fitting that God forgives everything we do because we already know there is no condemnation (v. 1) for the things we do that aren't in sync with our new life in Christ (7:14-25).

Promise: From Tabletalk, July 1, 2014, "What looks like our loss and the victory of our enemies over us is only temporary, for the final victory is assuredly ours in Christ."