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? We have here an allusion to the narrative of Abraham's offering up of Isaac. The same word which is employed in the Septuagint for "withheld" is employed here. Consider — I. THIS MYSTERIOUS ACT OF DIVINE SURRENDER. The analogy seems to suggest to us that something corresponding to the pain and loss that shadowed the patriarch's heart flitted across the Divine mind when the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Not merely to give, but to give up, is the highest crown and glory of love. And notice — 1. How the reality of the surrender is emphasised by the closeness of the bond which knits together the Father and the Son. As of Abraham, so in this lofty example the Son is the only Son. This cannot be any mere equivalent for a Messiah, or for a man who was like God in purity of nature. For the force of the analogy and the emphasis of that word "His own point to a uniqueness of relation and unparalleled closeness of intimacy. Having one Son, His well-beloved, He sent Him." 2. How the greatness of the surrender is made more emphatic by the negative and the positive. "He spared not, but delivered Him up." 3. How the tenderness and the beneficence that were the sole motive of the surrender are lifted into light in "for us all." One great throb of love to the whole of humanity led to that transcendent surrender of God's unspeakable gift. 4. How this mysterious act is grasped by the apostle as the illuminating fact as to the whole Divine nature. We are accustomed to speak of Christ's life of unselfishness and His death of beneficence as being the revelation of the love of God as well as of Christ, because we believe that "God was in Christ reconciling the world," and that "He that hath seen Christ hath seen the Father." But my text bids us see the great demonstration of God's love because the Father's will, conceived of as distinct from, and yet harmonious with, the will of the Son, gives Him up for us. II. THE POWER OF THIS DIVINE SURRENDER TO BRING WITH IT ALL OTHER GIFTS. 1. The question requires for its answer only the belief in the unchangeableness of the Divine heart, and the uniformity of the Divine purpose. These recognised the conclusion follows. "With Him He will freely give us all things." Because — (1) The greater gift implies the less. We do not expect that a man that hands over £1,000,000 to another to help him, will stick at a farthing afterwards. If you give a diamond you may well give a box to keep it in. There is a beautiful contrast between the manners of giving. The expression "freely give" implies a grace and a pleasantness in the act. God gives in Christ what we may reverently say it was something like pain to give. Will He not give the lesser which it is His joy to communicate? (2) The purpose of the greater gift cannot be attained without the bestowment of the lesser. He does not miscalculate His resources. Men build palaces and are bankrupt before the roof is on. God lays His plans with the knowledge of His powers, and having bestowed this large gift, is not going to have it bestowed in vain for want of some smaller ones to follow it up. Christ puts the same argument to us, beginning only at the other end of the process. "It is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Do you think He will not give you bread and water on the road to it?" That is not God's way. He that hath begun a good work will also perfect the same, and when He gave us His Son, He bound Himself to give as every blessing which was needed to make that Son's work complete. (3) Everything is included and possessed in Christ when we receive Him. "With Him" Christ is as it were a great cornucopia, out of which will pour with magic affluence all manner of supplies according as we require. This fountain flows with milk, wine, and water, as men need. Everything is given us when Christ is given to us, because Christ is the Heir of all things, and we possess all things in Him; as some poor village maiden married to a prince in disguise, who on the morrow of her wedding finds that she is mistress of a kingdom. 2. And so just as that great gift is the illuminating fact in reference to the Divine heart, so is it the interpreting fact in reference to the Divine dealings. Only when we keep firm hold of Christ as the gift of God and the Explainer of all that God does, can we face the darkness, the perplexities, the torturing questions that harasses men's minds as they look upon the mysteries of human misery. That gift makes anything believable rather than that He should spare not His own Son, and then counterwork His own act by sending the world anything but good. III. SOME PRACTICAL ISSUES FROM THESE THOUGHTS, IN REFERENCE TO OUR OWN BELIEF AND CONDUCT. 1. Let us correct our estimates of the relative importance of the two sets of gifts. On the one side stands the solitary Christ; on the other side all the things that vulgar estimation recognises to be good are lumped together into an "also." They are but the golden dust that may be filed off from the great ingot. They are secondary; He is the primary. What an inversion of our notions of good! Do you degrade all the world's wealth, pleasantness, etc., into an "also"? Do you live as if you did? Which do you hunger for most, and labour for hardest? "Seek ye first the kingdom," and the King, and all "these things shall be added unto you." 2. Let these thoughts teach us that sorrow too is one of the gifts of the Christ. "Tribulation, distress," etc., are some of the "all things." And looking upon all, Paul says, "They all work together for good"; and in them all we may be more than conquerors. It would be a poor, shabby issue of such a great gift if it were only to be followed by the sweetnesses and prosperity of this world. But the point here is, inasmuch as He gives us all things, let us take all the things that come to us as being as distinctly the gifts of His love, as is the gift of Christ Himself. The diurnal revolution of the earth brings the joyful sunrise and the pathetic sunset. The annual revolution whirls us through the balmy summer and the biting winter. God's purpose is one. His methods vary. The road goes straight to its goal; but it sometimes runs in tunnels, and sometimes by sunny glades. God's purpose is always love. His withdrawals are gifts. And sorrow is not the least of the benefits which come to us through the Man of Sorrows. 3. Let these thoughts teach us to live by a very quiet and peaceful faith. We find it a great deal easier to trust God for heaven than for earth. Many a man will venture his soul into God's hands, who would hesitate to venture to-morrow's food there. Why? Is it not because we want the less more really than we want the greater; that we can put ourselves off with faith for the one, and desire something more solid to grasp for the other? Live in the calm confidence that God gives all things; and gives us for to-morrow as for eternity; for earth as for heaven. 4. Make you quite sure that you have taken the great gift of God. He gives it to all the world, but they only have it who accept it by faith. (A. Maclaren, 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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