What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
—Romans 8:31
At the end of Romans 8 we come to the greatest power ballad in all of Scripture, the soaring promises and assurances of God about our security in Christ. And Paul opens this final crescendo with a question that’s really an exclamation: “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”
Sometimes when I’m texting and I want to ask a question and make a point at the same time, I’ll write the sentence, then add a question mark, and then a string of exclamation points. That’s exactly what Paul is doing here. “If God is for us, who can be against us?!!!” It looks like a question, but it lands like a shout of triumph.
All of Romans 8 has been building to this. Paul looks back over everything he’s written, no condemnation, the Spirit’s power, our adoption, the unbreakable chain of grace, and asks, in light of it all, what is there left to fear? The great preacher John Stott noted that Paul answers his own question by hurling out five more questions in bold defiance, challenging anyone in heaven, earth, or hell to answer them, and no one can.
Here’s the first of those questions, and the promise behind it: for the believer, there is no intimidation. We do have adversaries, external enemies, internal shame, and Satan himself, who accuses us. The question is not whether anyone is against you. People are against you. The question Paul asks is far better: “If God is for you, who can be against you?”
Do you grasp the weight of that little phrase, “God is for us”? Not merely aware of us. Not tolerating us. For us. On our side. Committed to our good. The Creator and Sustainer of the universe has taken your side, and once that’s settled, every other foe shrinks to size.
This is the first and last truth of my theology, the thing I come back to in every circumstance of life: God is for me. It’s my default setting. When things get misaligned, when the bottom seems to drop out, when fear comes knocking, I return to this rock, God is for me. Someone said there are no odds He cannot overcome and no enemy He cannot defeat.
So, we can face any adversary, external, internal, or even supernatural, and refuse to be intimidated. Because God is not somewhere off in the distance, vaguely sympathetic. He is for us, with us, above us, below us, beside us, and inside us. He surrounds His child entirely.
Stop walking around defeated, bracing for the next blow. If the God of heaven has declared Himself for you, then the verdict on every threat against you is already in. Who can be against you? Let them line up, it doesn’t matter. God is for you, and that settles it.
IF GOD IS FOR US, WHO CAN BE AGAINST US? LET THAT BE YOUR DEFAULT SETTING IN EVERY CIRCUMSTANCE OF LIFE.
