If God is for us, Who can be Against us?
Romans 8:31 NKJV — What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
To Whom is this promise Made?
Romans was written to Saints, or Holy Ones. It was written to those who were believing ones but it seemed that they needed instruction with regard to what they had believed. This is really an explanation of the Gospel to the gentiles (or people who weren’t Jews) just as the book of Hebrews is an explanation of the Gospel to the Hebrews or Jews. They are among the lengthiest letters written and preserved in the New Testament times. The theme is Christ but in a practical sense, the theme of Romans, Galatians and Hebrews is from Habakkuk 2:4 which says, “Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith.” That the just shall live by faith is emphasized in all three epistles.
Notice that in Romans the Gospel basics (or the doctrines of the Gospel) are given to a holy people who still needed to present their bodies as living sacrifices in Romans 12:1-2. The Gospel had not made them sinless although I am sure that they now had a conscience about sin and wanted to please the Lord. They didn’t want to please the Lord in order to go to heaven but because they had trusted in Christ to put away their sins and to ultimately take them there.
In Romans, it appears that the emphasis is on justification. Romans 3:28 NKJV says, “We conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.
In Galatians the emphasis seems to be on living. The law brings a curse and death but faith brings life. Paul says in that well-known verse in Galatians 2:20 NKJV which says, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
In Hebrews the emphasis is on faith. Hebrews 11 is the chapter dealing with the old testament heroes of the faith. Whoever wrote this letter said in Hebrews 11:6 NKJV, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
Believing is Trust
Now if God is going to be for us, we need to have faith in the Lord Jesus. Do we? Faith has many facets. There is great faith (where we have the ability to believe in things that seem impossible simply because of God’s promises.) There are also people with little faith. That is, they are not able to believe God in crisis situations. Peter was one of those people when he tried to walk on the water in a storm and got his eye off of the Lord. We read, “And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, ”O you of little faith, why did you doubt?’ (Matthew 14:31, NKJV).” I certainly would rather have “little faith” than “no faith at all.”
Faith doesn’t begin with our first birth, it begins with a new birth where we become new creatures in Christ. Just as a new born child has to grow in his understanding and trust in his parents, one who is newly born again has to grow in his new found faith as well. One of the things new believers learn is that their faith is going to be tested. James tell us, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith “produces patience. (James 1:2-3).” Even the Lord tells us, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. (John 16:33).”
Is the Lord really For us?
Only those who are “born again” or “saved” can truly take comfort in the fact that if the Lord is for us, it doesn’t really matter who is against us. The Lord is certainly not “for those” who want to get saved their own way and who miss out on the joy of relying wholly on the Lord to save them. Some scriptures call that repenting (having a change of mind) and believing. I am glad for everyone who knows that God is for them.
Bruce Collins
Meditation for the week of January 19, 2024