Enough is enough. We really need to talk about this.
I’m sure everyone is familiar with Romans 8:31:
If God be for us, who can be against us?
On any given day, you can find a plethora of colourful memes and inspirational Instagram posts all sounding this verse like it’s a battle cry.
“If God be for us, who can be against us!!!!!!!!!!!!” they scream. It’s become the unofficial motto for a lot of Christians worldwide. They just eat it up, thinking that this is the proof that as long as they have God on their side, absolutely NO ONE will ever dare to come against them.
But there’s a problem here. First and foremost, it’s a punctuation problem, or rather, a lack of understanding punctuation.
And secondly, this right here masterfully illustrates why you can NOT read the Bible singling out one verse at a time and think that you’re going to understand ANYTHING properly. Because you won’t.
This is the most misquoted, misunderstood verse in the entire Bible. And my plea to everyone today is to please stop ignoring the punctuation, and just reading that one single verse while ignoring everything else around it.
I, of course, encourage you to read the entire chapter as a whole, but at the very least, we must back up and begin at verse 28 and read through to the end if we’re going to understand what verse 31 actually means.
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all–how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died–more than that, who was raised to life–is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:31 is a question, not a statement. Let’s look at the very next verse:
“What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all–how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?”
“He (God) who did not spare His own Son (Jesus, God’s one and only Form), but gave Him up for us all–how will He (God) not also, along with Him (Jesus), graciously give us all things?” This is still part of the question! It’s NOT a statement!
Now read through the rest of the chapter, and pair it with John 15:20: “Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.”
Romans 8:31 is NOT telling us that if God is for us, no one can be against us. It’s telling us the exact opposite — that if God is for us, EVERYONE will come against us! As they persecuted our Lord, so they’ll persecute us also. If God didn’t even spare Himself, what makes you think that He’s going to spare you? If you follow Jesus, many will hate you, and the devil will constantly come against you, throwing everything he has at you, seeking to destroy the children of God.
It then goes on to talk about trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, and the sword; it says that for His sake we face death all day long and are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
This is not describing our Journey through life as one that is FREE from all these things. Exactly the opposite.
But… IN SPITE of the fact that we will face endless trials and tribulations for the sake of our Lord, we have His promise that we will still conquer. He will bring us through it. In John 17:15, Jesus says that He didn’t come to take us out of the world, but that He’d protect us from the evil one. “What then shall we say? If God be for us, who can be against us?” Nope, we shall not say that.
You see, people do a huge disservice by misquoting this passage of Scripture. We need to stop promoting this false narrative that we’re just supposed to go out and face no hardship or persecution, and that no one will dare stand up to us as long as God is on our side. NO. We will not have many friends in this world, and those who follow the devil, Falsehood and hatred, will never stop trying to tear us down. Life following God, Truth and Love, Jesus is His name, isn’t going to be easy. And if He didn’t spare Himself (His own Form) and went all the way to dying on the cross, then we cannot say that WE will be spared.
So be prepared for battle. Don’t think that God is going to put us into a nice little cozy bubble where we can wait out the war. No. We are called to be warriors in God’s army, and it’s a spiritual battle we fight. Arm yourselves so that you can fight. Because the entire world is coming against us.