Romans 8:31-39
Paul reaches the end of a long argument in Romans 8 and stops to ask a question. “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?” (New American Standard Bible, 1995, Romans 8:31). In today’s words, he asks, what is the point? What is the point of everything he has said up to this moment? The answer is one sentence. If God is for me, whoever approaches in opposition to me has already lost.
That is a life-changing revelation, and I want to help you do more than admire it. I want to help you live from it this week.
Free Study Outline
Work through Romans 8:31-39 on your own or with your small group. The outline includes the full passage, discussion questions, and the six weekly steps.
The Quiet Objection
Whenever I teach this, I can hear a quiet phrase moving through the room. Yes, but.
Yes, but means no. Yes, but means my lived experience carries more weight than the truth recorded in the word of God. We do not like to say it that plainly, so we dress it up. Yes, but if God were for me, this would not have happened. Yes, but you do not know what the doctor said. Yes, but my situation is complicated.
When we measure life by our own experience, we turn our eyes away from our help. The blessing of the Lord, the goodness of God, and the victory of Jesus do not prevent an enemy, an opposition, or an attack. They do guarantee your victory. Those are two different things, and the difference matters. The promise never said no one would come against you. The promise said no one who comes against you can win.
Who Is For You? (Exodus 14)
Every New Testament writer assumed his readers knew the Old Testament, and Paul draws on Moses constantly in Romans. So think about Moses at the sea in Exodus 14. Pharaoh’s army stands behind him. The sea lies in front of him. Rock closes him in on both sides, and two million people wait for his next move. Everyone present agrees that this is the end.
Moses cries out to the Lord, and God answers with a question that does not sound comforting at first. “Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the sons of Israel to go forward” (New American Standard Bible, 1995, Exodus 14:15). God asks Moses the same question Paul asks us. Whose idea was this? Who is for you? Moses spent all his attention on who stood against him and forgot the One who stood for him. The One who was for him had spoken the sea into existence. The thing Moses saw as his limit, God had made with His words.
Moses stopped crying and stretched out the rod. The sea parted, and Scripture adds a detail I would never have thought to ask for. “The sons of Israel went through the midst of the sea on the dry land” (New American Standard Bible, 1995, Exodus 14:22). Not mud. Dry land. If God is for you, He handles the parts of the problem you never thought about.
We prefer complicated answers because they shift responsibility off of us and hand us a built-in excuse when things do not work. The truth here is simple, and simple asks something of us.
How Cheap We View the Cross (Romans 8:32)
Paul does not leave the claim hanging. He proves it. “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?” (New American Standard Bible, 1995, Romans 8:32).
Our real challenge is how cheaply we view the cross. If you can look at the cross and say that it might work for other people but your situation is unique, you have not looked long enough. Walk that road with Jesus. Hear the insults. Watch the soldiers strike Him. See His back opened and bleeding. See Him stripped and nailed to the wood. God did not hold back His only begotten Son from any of it, and He did it for you.
The cross was not an accident. Jesus said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will” (New American Standard Bible, 1995, Hebrews 10:7). God delivered Him over so that you could say, no matter what arrives on your phone this afternoon, God is for me. I would like you to believe this so firmly that you ridicule bad news. Laugh at defeat while it stands in front of you. God is more interested in your victory than you are, and He gave Jesus to guarantee that not one promise would fail.
What Are You Persuaded About?
Then Paul asks, “Who will separate us from the love of Christ?” (New American Standard Bible, 1995, Romans 8:35). He lists tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, and sword, and he makes separation sound almost impossible. Yet I watch people separate from God’s plan over very small things. An offense. An unexpected turn. A good opportunity that looks like God and leads away from the assignment. Distress works well on us. I cannot concentrate. I cannot serve this week.
None of these are character flaws. They are matters of persuasion. So I have one question for you. What are you persuaded about?
There are things no argument could shake you from. I could show you documents and still never convince you that your name is not your name. There are other things you would at least entertain a debate about. Where does God being for you sit on that scale?
Polycarp, a disciple of the Apostle John, faced that question in his eighties. The governor offered him an easy exit. Offer a pinch of incense to the emperor, check the box, and go on with your ministry. Polycarp interrupted him. He had served Christ for eighty-six years, and Christ had never done him wrong (Holmes, 2007, Martyrdom of Polycarp 9.3). When they led him to the stake and moved to bind his hands, he told them not to waste the rope. He was not going anywhere.
You do not need to measure yourself against Polycarp. Measure yourself against this. How easily do circumstances talk you out of the promises of God?
Paul closes with his own answer. “But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (New American Standard Bible, 1995, Romans 8:37-39).
Notice that he puts death first, the thing we call the end. Then he adds life. Death is an event. Life is the slow passing of hours into days and seasons into years with no visible change. The clock has talked more people out of God’s promises than the grave ever has. Paul was persuaded that what everyone else called the end was not the end for him, and that the passing of time meant nothing against the faithfulness of God.
Live From It This Week
Here is how to move this truth from the page into your Monday.
- When bad news arrives, name the yes, but before it names you. Say out loud, “That is my experience. It is not the truth.”
- Before you count who stands against you, count who stands for you. Speak Romans 8:31 over the situation by name.
- Look at the cross until your problem shrinks to its true size. If God did not spare His Son, He will not withhold what you need.
- Settle what you are persuaded about. Write down the promise you are standing on and the date you decided it was settled.
- If the clock has been talking to you, answer it. Time passing is not evidence that God has changed His mind.
- Refuse the small separations. Forgive the offense, release the distress, and test every opportunity against the assignment God gave you.
God is for you. He did not spare Jesus. He delivered Him over for you. Because of that, no one can invent a circumstance that changes the outcome. If God is for me, who can be against me?
Take It Further
Download the study outline and work through Romans 8:31-39 with your family, your team, or your small group this week.
Watch the Full Message
This article is adapted from a message preached at GoChurch Beirut. Watch the full teaching below.
References
Holmes, M. W. (Ed. & Trans.). (2007). The Apostolic Fathers: Greek texts and English translations (3rd ed.). Baker Academic.
Holy Bible: New American Standard Bible. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.