 Paul knew that men simply could not be trusted.  “He spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus and disputed against the Hellenists, but they attempted to kill him” (Acts 9:29).  “I consider that I am not at all inferior to the most eminent apostles. Even though I am untrained in speech, yet I am not in knowledge. But we have been thoroughly manifested among you in all things” (2 Cor 11:5-6).  But, God can be trusted.

Nothing to Charge vv 31-34

 Paul pictures the final judgment.  “Bring any charge” (v 34) is a technical term for charging in court.  If God is for us, who can be against us?  The Old Testament often spoke of God as being “for” His people.  “When I cry out to You, Then my enemies will turn back; This I know, because God is for me” (Ps 56:9).

 God did not spare His Son, but He gave Him up for us all.  “By Myself I have sworn, says the L ORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son....” (Gen 22:16).  Abraham did not spare his son; God did not spare His Son.  God gave up His Son.  “God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves” (Rom 1:24).  God’s giving up His Son is the answer to His giving up the Gentiles!  Since God gave us His Son, He, along with His Son, will graciously give us all things.

 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.  When we stand before God, no one will be able to bring a legal charge against us, for God justifies us.  “Justify” means “to make right.”  “By Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:39).  “Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom 5:1).  “Justifies” is in the present tense.  Therefore, the word denotes continual action in the present.  “If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 Jn 1:7).

 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.  Christ died and was raised.  Jesus died for the sins of the world.  “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor 15:3).  Jesus “Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness--by whose stripes you were healed” (1 Pet 2:24).  Christ was also raised.  “Furthermore” or “yea rather” (KJV) signifies Jesus’ resurrection was essential for salvation.  God’s plan was fulfilled at the empty tomb.  The resurrection established Jesus as the Son of God (Rom 1:4).  “If Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!” (1 Cor 15:17).

 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.  Christ died and was raised.  Therefore, Jesus now intercedes for us at God’s right hand.  “If anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 Jn 2:1).  “We do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Heb 4:15).

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:1)

Nothing to Separate vv 35-39

 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Paul knew firsthand that no amount of trouble could separate from Christ’s love (2 Cor 11:23-28).  “As it is written, ‘For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’”  Ps 44:22.  Jewish rabbis often applied that text to martyrdom.  We are more than conquerors.  “More than conquerors” is one word in Greek.  The word means “to prevail completely over.”  The idea is that nothing shall stand in our way.

 Paul was convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation could separate God’s children from His love.  “I am convinced” is in the perfect tense.  “I have been convinced in the past of God’s love and I remain convinced of it.”  Paul gives a whole list of opposites which shall never separate us from God’s love.

What about your love for God?