Saturday, January 05, 2008

If God is for us...

Rom 8:31-39

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 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. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written:

"For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter."

37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
NKJV

3 comments:

  1. LOL

    Hey Joel no wonder you posted the Biblical text with no comment upon it, this is so rich and abundant a treasure that you wouldn’t be able to stop!!

    Since the US is election mode do you want to elaborate upon “God’s elect?”

    This part of the Blade is sharp indeed….

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  2. LS,

    I know for sure that I don't want to comment on the current US election. LOL.

    As for "God's elect," I'll borrow from a line of a post from someone who recently commented on my Lies, Lies, Lies!!! post. Not to comment on the content of this post from Russ on
    atonement theory
    , but the line I want to borrow is, "Atonement is a very complex theological issue and there are various perspectives from Biblical scholars." In my case, just substitute "God's elect" for "atonement." :D

    However, Russ's purpose was not to sidestep the issue and he went on to briefly lay out several views.

    In my case I'll be very brief, although I do seriously know that there are various view out there. I'll simply stick to the context of the passage, and if anyone differs or has anything to add to what I say, that's fine.

    Before Paul says, "who shall bring a charge against God's elect" (Rom 8:33), he mentions "we" and "us."
    Right afterwards, he says, "it is God who justifies," which to me is saying that no charges can be brought against "us" because it is God who has justified us. He goes on to talk about "Christ who died and furthermore is risen... who also makes intercession for 'us.'"

    There is much more context, and my purpose here is not to fully elaborate, but to me it looks like the context of "God's elect" is "us," or those who have been justified.

    Indeed, there is much more to say on this... it's sharp indeed. :)

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  3. Hey Joel….like how I did that…two controversial topics to choose from! LOL

    Pick an election any election…

    I think perhaps you picked the less controversial one!!! LOL

    The Biblical text just set this up so nicely, I couldn’t resist…

    Since salvation is all God’s work from beginning to end…

    Once genuinely saved always genuinely saved…

    …By the way it wasn’t a trap, I just like to throw a curve ball now and then (nice use of an “Americanism” eh?) Besides it is so much fun to talk about these things, and to see what God will do with it in our lives…

    Well done…

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