WHAT THEN SHALL WE SAY TO THESE THINGS: Ti oun eroumen (1PFAI) pros tauta: (Ro 4:1)

If we are interested in a life crowned with confidence, this could be our foundational text.

Romans 8:31 was John Calvin’s life verse.

The logic of our text, seriously applied, pushes us to the heights of confidence. This verse means more than the fact that God is graciously disposed toward believers but that He is for us in all that He does. Beloved, as you read this note, you may feel "defeated", but Paul's encouraging truth is that evil will never prevail. Believers will always be led to victory in Christ because God is for us. Write your name in the verse and believe it is true..

"God is for __________________"

William Newell explains that

Our weak hearts, prone to legalism and unbelief, receive these words with great difficulty: God is for us . . .They have failed Him; but He is for them. They are ignorant; but He is for them. They have not yet brought forth much fruit; but He is for them.  (Romans 8: Expository Notes Verse by Verse)

Ray Stedman commenting on this section Romans 8:31-39 writes...

"Now, that is a wonderful statement, and, in times of doubt, I suggest that you try to answer these questions...Now, what is the effect of this realization? It is clear from this passage that it is the removal of fear. If God is for us, who can be against us? All fear of successful opposition is removed. It is not that there is no opposition. The Law is still there, the Sin nature is still there, the flesh nature is still there -- there is still going to be opposition (1Pe 2:11-note  Gal 5:16-note; Gal 5:17-note; Gal 5:18-note). But Paul is saying, "If God is for us, what difference does it make?" A few weeks ago at our elders' meeting, Barney Brogan was telling us about his grandson. His daughter has moved to Missouri with the boys. As some of you know, their father is Chicano, and the children look like their dad. Their 13-year-old ran into a tremendous nest of White Supremacy at school. Because of the prejudice against blacks and Chicanos, that little innocent lad began to suffer very unjust torment and persecution. He didn't understand it; he came home weeping, beaten up because of his looks. His mother didn't know what to do, and so she wrote and asked us to pray for this situation, and we did. A week or so later a letter came back and described how one night the biggest kid in school appeared at their door and said that he was a Christian, that he knew they were Christians, and that he had come to tell them that he had gone to every kid in school who had beat up on the boy and told them that if they ever did anything like that again, they would answer to him. I don't know what that boy's name was, but let's call him Mike. I can imagine this little boy going back to school, walking in the shadow of Mike, with all his tormentors looking at him. He probably would be saying to himself, "If Mike is for me, who can be against me?" That is what God is saying here." (If God be For Us)

In regard to these things Denney says

The idea underlying all that precedes is that of the suffering to be endured by those who would share Christ’s glory (Ro 8:17-note). The apostle has disparaged the suffering in comparison with the glory (Ro 8:18-note); he has interpreted it (Ro 8:19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 -see notes Ro 8:19ff thru 8:27) as in a manner prophetic of the glory; he has in these last verses asserted the presence through all the Christian’s life of an eternal victorious purpose of love: all this is included in ‘these things.’ (Nicoll, W Robertson, Editor: Expositors Greek Testament: 5 Volumes. Out of print. Search Google)

Concerning these things Nelson Study Bible says

The words these things refer to God’s purpose (v28-30). If God has done everything from foreknowledge to glorification for us, all adversaries are powerless. (Radmacher, E. D., Allen, R. B., & House, H. W. The Nelson Study Bible: NKJV.  Nashville: Thomas Nelson)

IF (Because) GOD...FOR US, WHO...AGAINST US: ei o theos huper hemon, tis kath hemon: (Ge 15:1; Nu 14:9; Dt 33:29; Josh 10:42; 1Sa 14:6; 17:45, 46, 47; Ps 27:1, 2, 3; Ps 46:1, 2, 3,7,11; 56:4,11; 84:11,12; 118:6; Isa 50:7, 8, 9; 54:17; Jer 1:19; 20:11; Jn 10:28, 29, 30; 1Jn 4:4)

Literally If God for us, who against us?

The word if translates the Greek first class conditional particle ei, signifying a fulfilled condition, not a mere possibility. The meaning of the first clause then is not really a question but an unchanging maxim we can live on --

In view of the fact that or because God is for us nothing can be against us.

The obvious implication is that if anyone were able to rob us of salvation they would have to be greater than God Himself, because He is both the Giver and the Sustainer of salvation. To Christians Paul is asking, in effect, “Who could conceivably take away our no-condemnation status?” (Ro 8:1-note). Is there anyone stronger than God, the Creator of everything and everyone who exists?

That is, "What difference does it make who is against us?" If God is for us, is there anything that can be against us that is greater than he?

The thought of Paul is not in the form of a hypothetical condition, as if it were a question whether God was for us or not. His thought is, “In view of the fact that God is for us, who is or could be against us, so as to do us harm? That is, since God is for the saints, on their side, who can harm them?”

Spurgeon comments that...

If God is that great working One who does all this, who can be against us? “Why, a great many,” says one. But they are nothing, nor are all put together anything at all, as compared with him who is on our side.

Two great men stood side by side in the early Reformation movement. One was, of course, Martin Luther, the activist. The other was Philip Melanchthon, the scholar. Luther once said of their relationship:

I am rough, boisterous, stormy, and altogether warlike, fighting against innumerable monsters and devils. I am born for the removing of stumps and stones, cutting away thistles and thorns, and clearing the wild forests; but master Philippus comes along softly and gently, sowing and watering with joy, according to the gifts which God has abundantly bestowed upon him.

Where did Melanchthon get his strength? What made this gentle, retiring man stand with Luther against the world? The heart of the text, Romans 8:31, gives the answer:

If God is for us, who can be against us?

In his lectures and correspondence that verse is quoted more than any other Scripture. It still hangs on his study wall in Wittenberg where visitors can see it. As the record has it, when Melanchthon sensed he was dying he asked to be placed on the traveling bed in his study because that is where he was happiest. When the pastor read Ro 8:31, Melanchthon exclaimed,

“Read those words again!”

The pastor read,

“If God is for us, who can be against us?”

Melanchthon murmured in a kind of ecstasy,

“That’s it! That’s it!”

This text had always been the greatest comfort to him. In the darkest hours of his life when death's cold stare threatened, he comforted himself again by reciting, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”

In Ro 8:31-39 Paul developed the fact that God will not lose one whom He has foreknown in this climactic section, and he gloried in this great truth.

Mounce writes that

"Nowhere in the annals of sacred literature do we find anything to match the power and beauty of this remarkable paean of praise."

Jamieson & Fausset write

"This whole passage strikes all thoughtful interpreters and readers, as transcending almost everything in language"

When Chrysostom was brought before the Roman Emperor, the Emperor threatened him with banishment if he remained a Christian. Chrysostom replied,

"Thou canst not banish me for this world is my father’s house.”

“But I will slay thee,” said the Emperor.

“Nay, thou canst not,” said the noble champion of the faith, “for my life is hid with Christ in God.”

“I will take away thy treasures.”

“Nay, but thou canst not for my treasure is in heaven and my heart is there.”

“But I will drive thee away from man and thou shalt have no friend left.”

“Nay, thou canst not, for I have a friend in heaven from whom thou canst not separate me. I defy thee; for there is nothing that thou canst do to hurt me.”

C H Spurgeon writes the following thoughts on Romans 8:31

And so it was, for, as he could not travel quickly, the journey was prolonged, and he arrived at London some days later than had been expected. When they reached Highgate, they heard the bells ringing merrily in the city down below. They asked the meaning and were told, "Queen Mary is dead, and there will be no more burning of Protestants!"

HE WHO DID NOT SPARE HIS OWN SON: os ge tou idiou huiou ouk epheisato (3SAMI): (Romans 5:6, 7, 8, 9, 10; 11:21; Ge 22:12; Isaiah 53:10; Matthew 3:17; John 3:16; 2Corinthians 5:21; 2Peter 2:4,5; 1John 4:10)

This presents the chief point in the proof that God is for us, the greatest exhibition of the love of God toward us. The reference to Abraham’s offering of Isaac is evident.

Spared (5339) (pheidomai [word study]) means to save from loss or discomfort. In some contexts it means to refrain from doing something (cf 2Cor 12:6)

Pheidomai - 10x in 9v - Acts 20:29; Rom 8:32; 11:21; 1 Cor 7:28; 2 Cor 1:23; 12:6; 13:2; 2 Pet 2:4f

The word rendered spared is the same as in the Septuagint (LXX) of Genesis 22

Genesis 22:12 And he said, "Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld (Hebrew = chasak = withhold, keep back, spare; Lxx = pheidomai) your son, your only son, from Me."

Genesis 22:16 and said, "By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son

In providing His only Son as the Substitute for sacrifice, God was showing His ultimate provision for our needs, even as foreshadowed in Genesis 22 where Abraham experienced the reality that He is Jehovah Who Provides the ram in the thicket and the Lamb on the Cross. God sees our needs and provides for those needs and is fittingly known as Jehovah Jireh.

He who so freely gave the choicest thing that he had to give when we were yet helpless, ungodly, sinners and enemies of God (Ro 5:6, 8, 10-see notes Romans 5:6; 5:8; 5:10) -- now that we are His friends -- will He not complete the process (Php 1:6-note)?

BUT DELIVERED HIM UP FOR US ALL: alla huper hemon panton paredoken (3SAAI) auton:

Delivered Him up - This repeats what Paul stated at the end Romans 4...

He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification (Ro 4:25-note)

Delivered (3860)(paradidomi [word study] from para = alongside, beside,  to the side of, over to + didomi = to give) conveys the  basic meaning of to give over from one's hand to someone or something, especially to give over to the power of another.

Paradidomi - 119x in 117v - Matt 4:12; 5:25; 10:4, 17, 19, 21; 11:27; 17:22; 18:34; 20:18f; 24:9f; 25:14, 20, 22; 26:2, 15f, 21, 23ff, 45f, 48; 27:2ff, 18, 26; Mark 1:14; 3:19; 4:29; 7:13; 9:31; 10:33; 13:9, 11f; 14:10f, 18, 21, 41f, 44; 15:1, 10, 15; Luke 1:2; 4:6; 9:44; 10:22; 12:58; 18:32; 20:20; 21:12, 16; 22:4, 6, 21f, 48; 23:25; 24:7, 20; John 6:64, 71; 12:4; 13:2, 11, 21; 18:2, 5, 30, 35f; 19:11, 16, 30; 21:20; Acts 3:13; 6:14; 7:42; 8:3; 12:4; 14:26; 15:26, 40; 16:4; 21:11; 22:4; 27:1; 28:17; Rom 1:24, 26, 28; 4:25; 6:17; 8:32; 1 Cor 5:5; 11:2, 23; 13:3; 15:3, 24; 2 Cor 4:11; Gal 2:20; Eph 4:19; 5:2, 25; 1 Tim 1:20; 1 Pet 2:23; 2 Pet 2:4, 21; Jude 1:3. NAS = betray(17), betrayed(10), betraying(9), betrays(3), commended(1), committed(3), deliver(6), delivered(21), delivered over(1), delivering(3), entrusted(3), entrusting(1), gave(4), gave...over(3), given...over(1), hand(6), handed(9), handed...over(1), handed down(4), handed over(4), hands(1), permits(1), put(1), putting(1), risked(1), surrender(1), taken into custody(2), turn...over(1).

For (5228) (huper) is a Greek preposition  which in the context expresses the idea of substitution (Click here for study of this use of huper in the NT). Instead of for one can render it as Christ died...“in place of, for the benefit of, on behalf of, or  instead of." This act of love can never be fully appreciated until we understand exactly who the objects of that love were (unlovable, unlovely, ungodly, helpless to help themselves, sinners constantly rebelling against God's will for their lives, God's mortal enemies!)

If accusations are brought against us, we need not fear, for the charges are silenced by the upraised, pierced hands of our Intercessor. If we are to be condemned, it will have to be over Christ’s resurrected body, which is the basis of our salvation! How is that for confidence?

S Lewis Johnson writes that...

Romans 5:8-10 and Romans 8:32 appear to me to be unanswerable texts for those who deny the scriptural teaching of Christ's substitutionary atonement. These passages state plainly that, if Jesus gave Himself for us in atonement, everything else must follow because, having done the most that He could do in dying as our substitute, the lesser things—such as conviction of sin, repentance, effectual grace, faith— must inevitably follow. God's great eternal purpose, expressed so beautifully in 8:28-30, must reach its fruition in glorification for all those for whom He died."

HOW WILL HE NOT ALSO WITH HIM FREELY GIVE US ALL THINGS: pos ouchi kai sun auto ta panta hemin charisetai (3SFMI): (Ro 8:28; 6:23; Ps 84:11; 1Co 2:12; 3:21, 22, 23; 2Co 4:15; Rev 21:7)

Freely give (5483) (charizomai from charis = grace, undeserved merit or favor) has the basic meaning of to give. To grant as a favor. To give gratuitously, generously, graciously and in kindness. It means to bestow as a gift of grace or out of grace. To give out of grace. To give help to those who don't deserve it. To show grace by providing undeserved help to someone unworthy (see Eph 4:32)

Vine adds charizomai means

to bestow a favor unconditionally...then to remit a debt, and hence to forgive...Charizomai primarily denotes to show a favor (charis)...In each case the idea of a free, unconditioned act is involved, and in all save one or two cases this is the dominant thought, cp. Acts 27:24; Philemon 22 (Vine, W. Collected writings of W. E. Vine. Nashville: Thomas Nelson or Logos)

The specific meaning of charizomai depends on the context of what is given accounting for the following renderings in the NAS...

bestowed(1), forgave(2), forgive(3), forgiven(4), forgiving(2), freely give(1), given(1),graciously forgave(1), granted(5), hand(2), things freely given(1).

Half of the NT uses of charizomai (12/23) convey the sense of granting forgiveness, both Divine and human. To forgive out of grace, doing it freely and graciously. In Luke 7:42 this meaning overlaps with the forgiving or canceling of a debt, which in a sense is what one does when they forgive another individual. 

In Acts 25:11, 16 charizomai is used as a legal technical term of putting Paul under the control of another and so to hand him over.

Charizomai was a common term ancient Greece in honorific documents lauding officials and civic-minded persons for their beneficence.

Here are the 23 NT uses of this great verb charizomai...

Luke 7:21 At that very time He cured many people of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits; and He granted sight to many who were blind.

Luke 7:42 "When they were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them both. Which of them therefore will love him more?" 43 Simon answered and said, "I suppose the one whom he forgave more." And He said to him, "You have judged correctly."

Acts 3:14 "But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you. (Comment:  Here charizomai speaks of the release of a prisoner under sentence, as an act of clemency).

Acts 25:11 "If then I am a wrongdoer, and have committed anything worthy of death, I do not refuse to die; but if none of those things is true of which these men accuse me, no one can hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar." (Comment: In the legal context the idea is to release.)

Acts 25:16 "And I answered them that it is not the custom of the Romans to hand over any man before the accused meets his accusers face to face, and has an opportunity to make his defense against the charges. (Comment: Although charizomai usually has a good meaning "give freely or graciously" as God gives to us His favor, here it is a matter of giving a prisoner over to his enemies)

Acts 27:24 saying, 'Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has granted you all those who are sailing with you.'

Romans 8:32 (note) He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?

1 Corinthians 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God,

2 Corinthians 2:7 so that on the contrary you should rather forgive and comfort him, lest somehow such a one be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.

2 Corinthians 2:10 But whom you forgive anything, I forgive also; for indeed what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, I did it for your sakes in the presence of Christ,

2 Corinthians 12:13 For in what respect were you treated as inferior to the rest of the churches, except that I myself did not become a burden to you? Forgive me this wrong!

Galatians 3:18 For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise. (Comment: Wuest writes that charizomai "is a specialized word. It denotes not merely a gift, but a gift which is given out of the spontaneous generosity of the giver’s heart, with no strings tied to it. The Greek word grace [charis] has the same root and the same meaning. Thus the word refers, not to an undertaking based upon terms of mutual agreement, but upon the free act of one who gives something, expecting no pay for it. This at once shows the difference between law and grace [Ed note: Especially in context of Galatians]. If salvation were by obedience to the law, that would mean that it would be based upon a mutual agreement between God and the sinner whereby God would obligate Himself to give salvation to any sinner who would earn it by obedience to the law. But the very genius of the word charizomai militates against the teaching of the Judaizers, namely, that salvation is by works. There is a Greek word huposchesis  which is used of an offer based upon the terms of a mutual agreement. But it is not used here. (Wuest, K. S)

Ephesians 4:32 (note) And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. (Comment: Means "forgive freely"—graciously, not grudgingly.  To forgive in the sense of treating the offending party graciously.” The same word is used of God here forgiving us in Christ. That is the way God has forgiven us, so that is, the way we [enabled by His Spirit] should forgive others. The idea of freeness lies in the word forgive, which is forth-give.).

Philippians 1:29 (note) For to you it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake (Comment: Lightfoot writes that "God has granted you the high privilege of suffering for Christ; this is the surest sign that He looks upon you with favor." Freely bestowed, even as Jesus freely offered Himself to humiliation.)

Philippians 2:9 (note) Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, (Comment: Here charizomai means to give freely, confer, here signifies that God the Father bestowed the Name upon Him as a gift of supreme love and approval)

Colossians 2:13 (note) And when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, (Comment: Note that the more common word for forgive is aphiemi which literally means to leave off or send away. The verb charizomai for forgive carries a deeper sense of wholehearted forgiveness.)

Colossians 3:13 (note) bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.

Philemon 1:22 And at the same time also prepare me a lodging; for I hope that through your prayers I shall be given to you.

The Psalmist extols the gracious Giver of every good gift...

For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
The LORD gives grace and glory;
No good thing does He withhold
From those who walk uprightly. (Psalm 84:11)

Spurgeon's Note = Grace makes us walk uprightly and this secures every covenant blessing to us. What a wide promise! Some apparent good may be withheld, but no real good, no, not one. "All things are yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's." God has all good, there is no good apart from him, and there is no good which he either needs to keep back or will on any account refuse us, if we are but ready to receive it. We must be upright and neither lean to this or that form of evil: and this uprightness must be practical, -- we must walk in truth and holiness, then shall we be heirs of all things, and as we come of age all things shall be in our actual possession; and meanwhile, according to our capacity for receiving shall be the measure of the divine bestowal. This is true, not of a favoured few, but of all the saints for evermore.

MacArthur has a slightly different interpretation based on the meanings of charizomai (see above)...

It therefore seems reasonable to interpret Paul’s use of charizomai in Romans 8:32 as including the idea of God’s gracious forgiveness as well as His gracious giving. If so, the apostle is also saying that God freely forgives us all things (cf. 1John 1:9). God’s unlimited forgiveness makes it impossible for a believer to sin himself out of God’s grace. (MacArthur, J: Romans 1-8. Chicago: Moody Press or Logos)

Denny on the other hand says that freely give us all things...

is usually taken to mean the whole of what furthers the Christian's life, the whole of what contributes to the perfecting of his salvation; all this will be freely give to him by God. But why should it not mean all things without any such qualification? When God gives us His Son He gives us the world. There is nothing which does not work together for our good. All things are ours. cf 1Cor 3:22ff.

Considering the nuances of the verb charizomai it is reasonable to interpret passage as freely gives and freely forgives all things. Is that indeed not what we have experienced in our Christian life so far?

How can we be so certain of this promise? Because the greatest gift ensures all the rest, whether one interprets it as giving or forgiving. The logic that flows from this is irresistible. If God has already given us the greatest gift of His Son as our Savior and Redeemer, is there any lesser gift that He will not give? If He has already paid the highest price, will He hesitate to pay any lower price? If He has gone to such lengths to procure our salvation, will He ever let us go? In short, if the Father has already given His ultimate Gift, how can we think that He will fail to give us the smaller gifts?

Mackintosh comments on the way Paul phrases this question writing that...

The language of unbelief “is ’How shall He?’ The language of faith is ’How shall He not?’

Stedman writes

He who has already given us the best, the greatest, the dearest, the most precious thing He has, and Who did so while we were sinners -- while we were enemies, while we were helpless -- will He not also give us some of these trivial, piddling little things that we need? If someone thinks enough of you to give you a costly, brilliant, beautiful, flawless diamond, do you think he will object when you ask him for the box that goes with it? If a mother will give up a baby, do you think she will object if they ask to take his clothes too? And if God has given us his own Son already, do you really think God is going to withhold anything else that we need? Paul's argument is unanswerable: Of course he won't. We can say with David in the 23rd Psalm, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want," {Ps 23:1 - }. (If God be For Us)

Our Father freely gives as illustrated by the story of a poor European family who saved for years to buy tickets to sail to America. Once at sea, they carefully rationed the cheese and bread they had brought for the journey. After 3 days, the boy complained to his father,

“I hate cheese sandwiches. If I don’t eat anything else before we get to America, I’m going to die.”

Giving the boy his last nickel, the father told him to go to the ship’s galley and buy an ice-cream cone. When the boy returned a long time later with a wide smile, his worried dad asked,

“Where were you?”

“In the galley, eating three ice-cream cones and a steak dinner!”

“All that for a nickel?”

“Oh, no, the food is free,” the boy replied. “It comes with the ticket.”

Spurgeon commenting on He freely gives has the following devotional thoughts...

IF this is not a promise in form, it is in fact. Indeed, it is more than one promise, it is a conglomerate of promises. It is a mass of rubies and emeralds and diamonds, with a nugget of gold for their setting. It is a question which can never be answered so as to cause us any anxiety of heart. What can the Lord deny us after giving us Jesus? If we need all things in heaven and earth, He will grant them to us: for if there had been a limit anywhere, He would have kept back His own Son.

What do I want today? I have only to ask for it. I may seek earnestly, but not as if I had to use pressure and extort an unwilling gift from the Lord’s hand; for He will give freely. Of His own will, He gave us His own Son. Certainly no one would have proposed such a gift to Him. No one would have ventured to ask for it. It would have been too presumptuous. He freely gave His Only Begotten; and, O my soul, canst thou not trust thy heavenly Father to give thee anything, to give thee everything? Thy poor prayer would have no force with Omnipotence if force were needed; but His love, like a spring, rises of itself and overflows for the supply of all thy needs.

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Cheese Sandwiches - Author Peter Kreeft tells the story of a poor European family who saved for years to buy tickets to sail to America. Once at sea, they carefully rationed the cheese and bread they had brought for the journey.

After 3 days, the boy complained to his father, “I hate cheese sandwiches. If I don’t eat anything else before we get to America, I’m going to die.” Giving the boy his last nickel, the father told him to go to the ship’s galley and buy an ice-cream cone.

When the boy returned a long time later with a wide smile, his worried dad asked, “Where were you?”

“In the galley, eating three ice-cream cones and a steak dinner!”

“All that for a nickel?”

“Oh, no, the food is free,” the boy replied. “It comes with the ticket.”  (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

WHO WILL BRING A CHARGE AGAINST GOD'S ELECT?: tis egkalesei (3SFAI) kata eklekton theou: (Ro 8:1; Job 1:9-11; 2:4, 5, 6; 22:6-30; 34:8,9; 42:7, 8, 9; Psalms 35:11; Isaiah 54:17; Zechariah 3:1, 2, 3, 4; Revelation 12:10,11) (Isaiah 42:1; Matthew 24:24; Luke 18:7; 1Thessalonians 1:4; Titus 1:1; 1Peter 1:2)

Bring a charge (1458) (egkaleo from en = in, on, at + kaleo = call) literally means a call in and thus a summons and was the Greek legal term meaning to accuse, call into account or bring charges against.

Egkaleo - 7x in 7v - Acts 19:38, 40; 23:28f; 26:2, 7; Ro 8:33. NAS = accused(4), accusing(1), bring a charge(1), bring charges against(1).

And thus Paul still has us in a courtroom setting, but now a remarkable change has taken place. While the justified sinner stands before the bench, the call goes out for any accusers to step forward. But there is none! How could there be? If God has already justified His elect, who can bring a charge? If God, the Supreme Judge, justifies, then who is going to successfully bring a charge against us?

We are secure from all charges against us; if we have been declared "not guilty" by the highest Judge in the land, who can bring additional charges against us?

To be sure, Satan is identified as the accuser of God’s people in both the Old and New Testaments (Rev 12:10 [note] cf. Zech 3:1, Job 1-2). He charges the chosen of God with sin.  In a sense his accusations are valid, because they are based on the believer’s sinfulness and defilement. However Satan  gets nowhere with God because all sin is against God ultimately (Ps 51:4). Therefore God is the only One in the position to charge the believer with guilt. And so the Adversary's accusations against us will be dismissed, thrown out of court, because it is God Who justifies. The Judge Himself declares the accused righteous on the basis of their faith in Jesus Christ (Ro 3:24-note; Ro 5:1-note). In short, no one can bring an accusation against us that will stand. And God will not accuse us because we are safe in Christ and His righteousness.

Denny writes that

the one thing Paul is concerned with is the security given by the eternal love of God that the work of salvation will be carried through, in spite of all impediments, from foreknowledge to final glory. The elect of God are those who ought to have such security: thy should have a faith and an assurance proportioned to the love of God. Paul is one of them, and because he is, he is sure, not that he is called to serve God, but that nothing can ever separate him from God's love in Christ.

Elect (1588)(eklektos from verb eklego which in middle voice [eklegomai] means select or pick out for one's self which is derived from ek =out + lego =call) (see sermon Chosen in Christ) means literally the "called out ones" or "chosen out ones". The idea of eklektos is the ones who have been chosen for one's self, selected out of a larger number.

GOD IS THE ONE WHO JUSTIFIES: theos o dikaion (PAPMSN): (Ro 3:26; Isaiah 50:8,9; Galatians 3:8; Revelation 12:10,11)

The One Who justifies - earlier Paul written that God is just and the Justifies of the one who has faith in Jesus (Ro 3:26-note)

Justifies (acquits, vindicates, frees) (1344)(dikaioo [word study] from dike = right, expected behavior or conformity, not according to one’s own standard, but according to an imposed standard with prescribed punishment for nonconformity) primarily means to deem to be right. Note dikaioo is in the present tense indicating this is what God always does -- He is the justifying God. His nature is to justify sinners creating saints. Even in the new heaven and new earth when there will no longer be need for justification for there will be no sin, God will still be eternally the justifying God and we will praise and worship Him for that glorious attribute which wrought so great a salvation as we possess forevermore.

God is the One Who justifies - A more literal rendering is God is the (One) justifying i.e., the Justifier, with stress upon the word God. It greatly clarifies the argument of this verse and the following one if we supply the words “No one, because ... ” before each answer. Thus this verse would read,

Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? No one, because it is God Who justifies.

If we do not supply these words, it might sound as if God is going to bring a charge against His elect, the very thing that Paul is denying!

Stedman writes

Now, the devil is the accuser of the brethren. He will try to accuse us constantly. (Job 1:9, 10, 11 2:4, 5, 6 Zec3:1, 2, 3, 4 Rev 12:10, 11 1Pe 5:8)This verse tells us that we must not listen to his voice. We must not listen to these thoughts that condemn us, that put us down, that make us feel that there is no hope for us. These thoughts will come -- they cannot be stopped -- but we do not have to listen to them. We know God is not listening to these accusations.