Romans 8:33-34 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies.… Justification is specially referred to God because — I. THE WISDOM OF THE FATHER PLANNED IT. His sovereign will must have the alone right to dictate the terms upon which He will take us back to favour. The Father, therefore, appoints the way, and plans the means, and even subordinates the dignity of His Son, as it were, in order that He may put an end to transgression, and bring in an everlasting righteousness. II. THE LOVE OF THE SON ACCOMPLISHED IT. What God purposes, Jesus executes. The Father desired a missionary from heaven to our guilty world to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. The eternal Son of God was heard to say, "Lo, here am I; send Me." The Father desired a victim who should bear the iniquities of man; and the voice of the same Son was heard again, "Lo, I come." The Father desired a justifier, one who should put an end to sin; and again the voice of the same Son is heard, not in heaven, but in earth, "I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do." Thus the part which Christ, the eternal Son, hath in human justification, is to pay His people's debts, to magnify His Father's law, to clear up and vindicate the righteous procedure of Heaven; to weave that spotless robe of righteousness, which might boldly challenge the purity of heaven, and gather in its ample folds the sins of all mankind. III. THE POWER OF GOD THE SPIRIT APPLIES AND ENFORCES AND SEALS IT. He shows the heart its wickedness, the will its stubbornness, the mind its blindness; and then, by penitence and faith, leads us to the feet of Him who "of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption." It is this Spirit, then, that performs the last best office for our souls. He shows to us, in all its spirituality and breadth, that law which we have broken, sets before us the dangers that we are in, and points us to "the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world." Thus the Spirit is the preacher of righteousness. The Spirit it is that instructs us in the necessity of justification, that explains to us its way and manner, that seals our souls with a comforting assurance of God's favour and being "justified by faith, we have had peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." (D. Moore, M.A.) Parallel Verses KJV: Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.WEB: Who could bring a charge against God's chosen ones? It is God who justifies. |
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