Who Can Be against Us?

Welcome to Tuesday’s Things Unseen. And first of all, maybe I should apologize for leaving you dangling on the edge of a cliff yesterday when I signed off. But I did say that today I’d tell you what strikes me as being a rather unusual feature of Romans 8:28–39, and specifically of verses 31–35. And I do think it’s really quite significant. And when you notice it for the first time, as I said, it tends to stick in your mind.

So what is it? Well, it’s the fact that this series of verses is actually framed by a rapid-fire series of questions: If God is for us, who can be against us? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? Who is to condemn? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

It’s not just the simple fact that there’s this rapid-fire series of questions that strikes me as significant here. Of course, you get a sense from Paul that he’s got tremendous confidence that nothing can withstand the purposes of God or the power of the gospel. But what’s significant, I think, is that all of these questions begin with the same interrogative pronoun. And it’s not just that the interrogative pronoun is the same each time. It’s that the interrogative pronoun on each occasion is a personal pronoun: he doesn’t ask what but who.

It’s not, “What can be against us?” or, “What can constitute a charge against us?” or, “What can condemn us?” or, “What shall separate us?” It’s, “Who? Who? Who? Who?” all the time. And that surely can’t be accidental. After all, when he asks his fourth question, he goes on to give a list of potential separators, doesn’t he—tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, sword—and all of these things are “its,” but he doesn’t ask, “What shall separate us?”

So, there must be a reason he uses the personal pronoun, who, and not the impersonal one, what. Why? Well, you’ve perhaps already guessed the answer. It’s because all opposition to the Christian and to his or her relationship to the Lord Jesus is not ultimately rooted in things, in events, in circumstances—not in whats. It’s rooted in someone, a who—namely the evil one. The one the book of Revelation calls the “ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world . . . the accuser of our brothers” (Rev. 12:9–10).

So, here’s Paul’s first question: “If God is for us, who can be”—or who is—“against us?” Clearly, Paul doesn’t expect the answer, “Nobody.” We face plenty of opposition; he certainly did. But his logic is this: if God is for us, then ultimately, nothing and no one who stands against us can ever be successful. Nobody who is against us can ever prevail. Satan can’t.

True, as Peter wrote, the one who is against us, our adversary the devil, goes around like a roaring lion seeking to devour us. But God is greater than our enemy. And if He is for us, then all the devil’s efforts to be against us and destroy us will fail. He may harass us, harm us, or hurt us, but he cannot overcome us if God is for us.

But Paul’s words raise a very important question: How do we know God is for us, especially when we’re facing all kinds of opposition from people or circumstances, and Satan seems to be shooting his fiery darts at us? And if they hit the mark, then they cause panic in our hearts and they destabilize us. We had assumed that God is for us and that He loves us, but now we’re not so sure.

In some ways, the importance of the original question Paul was asking, “Who is against us?” is that it leads us to this other question. And even more important, it leads us to the answer. That answer is not—despite what some Christians seem to think—it’s not, “Well, I know God is for me because so many good things are happening in my life.” If my assurance that God is for me is based on good things happening in my life, how am I going to handle things when everything seems to go wrong and life begins to crumble? You can’t imagine the Apostle Paul saying, “I know God is for me because everything is going swimmingly in my life,” because usually they weren’t.

So, what’s the answer? Well, what gives us this deep, unshakable conviction that God is for us is this: He didn’t spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all. If that’s true, if He did that for us, if He did that for me, then I can be absolutely certain He will give me everything necessary to keep me safe and to bring me home to Himself. That’s the irrefutable Apostolic logic of the cross of Christ, and I hope you’re learning to use it day by day. Join us again tomorrow for Things Unseen.