God is for Us

Romans 8 has been on my mind often over the last few months. There’s just so much good stuff in there – no condemnation, adoption, Christ as our elder brother, the Spirit interceding for us, the promise of God redeeming even the horrific parts of our experiences, assurance of the steadfastness of the love of God, and more – that one could spend months there and not plumb the depths of just that single chapter. But I’ve been thinking of verse 31 more than anything, particularly the second half: “If God be for us, who can be against us?” The expected answer, of course, is no one and no thing, and indeed Paul goes on to say that we are more than conquerors through Christ.

That phrase though……”If God be for us”. Some may take that as a question – IF God be for us, and how are we to know? The entire chapter, and especially verses 35-39, could be taken as evidence that God is for us, and I could write at length about how I know experientially that God is for me, and more broadly for the church. But that will wait for another day. Today I’d like to explore what it means that God is for us.

If I’ve learned nothing else from 24 weeks of church history and 16 weeks (so far) of theology, I’ve at least learned that there are (at minimum) two sides to every issue. There’s the positive aspect – what does ___ mean – for sure, but the negative side – what does ____ NOT mean – is equally important, and sometimes more so. The negative provides additional boundaries that guide and aid our understanding, and so it is here as well. We’ll look at both aspects.

For starters, that God is for us doesn’t mean that He gives us whatever our little (sinful) hearts desire. Yes, God knows how to give good things to those who ask Him, far more so than human parents delight in giving desired gifts to their children (Matthew 7:7-11). That’s not just a theoretical knowledge, but a practical one too; “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” (James 1:17). God doesn’t just know how to give good gifts; He does. But He also will not feed our passions for the things of this world, and we have no reason to think that He will give us what we desire simply because we want it (James 4:1-3). David and John remind us that God answers affirmatively when our desires and prayers align with His will (Psalm 37:4; I John 5:14-15). 

It also doesn’t mean that we’ll always be physically safe and comfortable. David was confident that God was for him (Psalm 56:9b, “This I know, that God is for me”); yet at that time he was dwelling in a foreign city – literally surrounded by his enemies – and the king of Israel (Saul) was hunting him without cause. Yes, God is for us and nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:39), but “all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12). Jesus promised His disciples that they would be treated as He Himself was treated (John 15:18-20), and the lives (and deaths) of the apostles show us that there is no guarantee of personal and physical safety when God is for you (Acts 5:40, 7:57-60, 12:1-5, 14:4-7,19; 2 Corinthians 11:24-28). 

That God is for us does mean that we should expect change. We’re told quite clearly that our sanctification – progressively increasing holiness in the actual conduct of life – is God’s will for us (1 Thessalonians 4:3). Combined with statements about our natural state from which God saves us (dead in sins, Ephesians 2:8; unrighteous, Romans 3:10; worthless, Romans 3:12; utterly depraved, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (paraphrased), among others), commands to be holy, walk in the Spirit, and resist temptation (Matthew 5:48; 1 Peter 1:16; Galatians 5:16; 1 Corinthians 10:13), and references to the transformation that takes place after conversion (Romans 12:2; 2 Corinthians 3:18,4:16), personal growth and change through the power of the Holy Spirit shouldn’t surprise us. Neither should we be surprised when that proves difficult. Putting off one nature and putting on another (Colossians 3:9-10), or mortifying (putting to death) the deeds of the flesh (Colossians 3:5-8), or crucifying the flesh with its passions and desire (Galatians 5:24) is not easy, and we shouldn’t be discouraged by that. 

That God is for us also means that He reorders our affections. If the greatest commandment is “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37-38), and if the second is “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39); if we are naturally lovers of selves more than lovers of God (2 Timothy 3:2), and if God is jealous (Exodus 34:14), refusing to share His glory with another (Isaiah 48:11), then we should anticipate as we are transformed (yes, this is really part of the change already mentioned), our affections – what we love, what we treasure, what we cherish – will change as well.

That God is for us means that we are not alone. We’re not capable of making these kinds of alterations to our character and to our priorities on our own, and God is well aware of that, far more than even we ourselves are. He doesn’t demand that we do this on our own. Rather, He gives us His own Spirit – the Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead (Romans 8:11), that knows the thoughts of God (1 Corinthians 2:11) – to comfort and speak truth (John 15:26), guide (Galatians 5:18; Romans 8:14), empower (1 Corinthians 12:6,11), intercede on our behalf (Romans 8:26-27), teach us and bring to mind what we have learned (John 14:26). 

I could go on all night, and we still wouldn’t have anything close to an exhaustive list of what it means that God is for us. Really, these poor attempts have barely scratched the surface, and time – both in the writing and also in the reading – is a constraining factor. But it’d be remiss of me to end here. That God is for us means that He doesn’t stop halfway. He doesn’t grow weary of our stumbling and our disobedience and our doubt, and decide we’re as good as we’re going to get. No. When we are faithless, He is faithful (2 Timothy 2:13), and He who began a good work in us will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6). Whatever state we’re in now, however much transformative work still needs to be done upon the day of our death, the good work of remaking, renewing, restoring, redeeming us, is brought to fullness on the day He resurrects us to be with Christ.

I can’t speak for you. I don’t know which of these are surprising to you, which you’ve prized through the years, which may be brand-new. But I hope these reminders of what it means that God is for us fills you with as much hope and joy and peace and rest in the character of God as they do me.