Romans 8:32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? It may assist us in understanding the text if we take a brief view of the inventory of a believer's privileges in this chapter. 1. Their free and full justification by faith in Christ (ver. 1). 2. Their regeneration by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost (vers. 8-10). 3. The knowledge which they have of the relation to God as His children by the testimony of the Holy Spirit (vers. 15, 16). 4. Their right to eternal life (ver. 17). 5. Their title to such helps of providence and grace as may be necessary to prepare them fully for that inheritance and to conduct them safely to it (vers. 26, 28). It is after this review that the apostle exclaims, "What shall we then say to these things?" etc. Consider — I. THE FACT ASSERTED IN THE TEXT. This fact supposes the guilty, fallen, helpless condition of man without Christ. Now it was when the whole race was in this condition that — 1. God "spared not His own Son," i.e. (1) He did not withhold Him when the necessities of our condition required such a gift. This implies that God might have spared Him; He was under no obligation or compulsion of justice. (2) He did not exempt Him from the sufferings subsequent upon His undertaking the mediatorial and atoning office. The innocent infirmity of our Saviour's human nature wished to have been spared. But He could not be spared (as the fact proved) and we spared too. Had it been possible, in any other way, in answer to the prayer of such a Son, that other way would have been preferred. But He who saved others could not, in consistency with the engagement into which He had entered, and with the claims of God on the Redeemer, save Himself from death. 2. He "delivered Him up."(1) It was the permissive providence of God which delivered Him to the malice of the chief priests, etc., etc. (2) He was thus delivered up for us. And this does not mean that He died in a general sense for our ultimate benefit, by any circuitous process, but instead of us. And this is the great doctrine of vicarious atonement and expiation, on which hang all our hopes, and from which flow all our legitimate comforts. II. THE INFERENCE FROM THIS FACT. By a very common mode of speech this interrogatory is equivalent to the strongest possible affirmation. 1. The "all things" are, of course, only all things conducive to the great purpose of our being, and especially to the great purpose of our redemption. (1) It may, doubtless, include all such comforts and blessings of the present life as God sees to be safe and fitting for us to possess. More than this no man in his senses would wish to have. Who would wish to have more worldly good of any kind than God sees to be safe and proper for him? Nor have we any right to complain that God has reserved to Himself the power of deciding how much of worldly good will be consistent with our highest welfare. Has anybody with common understanding, who has lived twenty years, not made the humbling discovery that, if he were left to choose his own lot, he would very often choose amiss? "Who knoweth what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow?" "How often," as an old Puritan remarked, "if we were left to carve our own portion, should we cut our own fingers?" None but God thoroughly understands the bearing of one thing on another; none but He so accurately sees the end from the beginning; none but He is so intimately acquainted with the peculiarities of every man's moral and mental constitution as to be able to see what will certainly be best for each individual. (2) By "all things" especially are meant things spiritual and eternal catalogued in this chapter. "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him freely give us" — the pardon of our sins, and the justification of our persons; His Holy Spirit to renew our natures; the witness of our adoption, etc., etc. 2. Now consider, in support of the view which the apostle here takes of the "all things" that in giving us His own Son — (1) God bestowed a boon upon His enemies. What blessings, then, would He refuse to His friends, to His children? This is the apostle's own argument in chap. Romans 5. (2) God bestowed a boon which was in the first instance unasked, unsought, undesired. If the heart of God had never moved towards us, not the heart of any one human being would ever have moved towards God. If God had not taken this first step, not one of you would ever have had the smallest inclination to take one step towards God and goodness. Well, then, if the boon was unsought, what will not God give to His own elect who day and night cry unto Him — what will not God give in answer to the inwrought prayer which His own Spirit inspires? (3) God gave His greatest and best gift. The stress lies here: His own Son — His proper Son — His only Son. Were He to ransack His universe He could not find such another boon to confer. You think it a great thing that God should give you pardon for your innumerable sins. But though so great a thing, it is comparatively a little thing on the part of God; it implies no sacrifice; His justice is not compromised, for Christ has removed all barriers by His atonement. But when God gave His Son there was great sacrifice. He who finds it quite easy to do everything just because He wills it; He who finds it perfectly easy to make a world when He chooses to make one; He who has only to say, "Let there be light," and light is, is represented as obliged to use expedients and counsel, to make one thing fit another, when He wants to save a sinner. In doing this, then, in giving His own Son, He went to the utmost length to which even Divine compassion can go. Whatever God gives you after this, He gives you a less blessing than when He gave Christ. You think it a great thing that God should give you a place in heaven. But why not? That is nothing to what He did long before you were born, when He "spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all." 3. The same arguments go to show that God will freely give these things. In the language of Scripture, a thing is said to be given "freely" which is given without reference to the worthiness of the party. Now nothing can be more free than the gift of Christ; none of us can pretend, on good grounds, to have deserved anything at the hand of God. God looked just at man's necessities, and at nothing else, when He gave a Saviour; and He acts, we are told, in the same way in the dispensation of the blessings which are purchased by the death of Christ, Conclusion; We learn from the text — l. The close connection between the great doctrines of the gospel and the comfort and stability of Christian experience and practice. 2. With what sentiments and views you ought to approach God the Father. (Jabez Bunting, D.D.) Parallel Verses KJV: He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? |
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