July 3, 2025 - Romans 8:33 - "Justified by God"

Romans 8:33

^"Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth."

This scripture stands as a towering declaration of the believer's unshakable salvation in the LORD Jesus Christ: "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth."  Amid life’s accusations—whether from Satan, the world, others, or our conscience—this verse brings the soul to rest in the sovereign grace and will of God in how He justifies chosen sinners by His grace alone in Christ. It speaks not of a hope founded in self, but in the unchangeable verdict of the Almighty Judge, who has already justified His elect by the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. Here we are reminded that no charge can stand against those whom God has chosen, redeemed, and declared righteous by His Son's death on the cross. May we consider the glory of God's complete justification of the elect and the triumph of Christ's finished work!

God's chosen, redeemed, and regenerated sinners know and understand that by Christ they are justified from ALL things, from which they could not be justified by the law: "And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses" (Acts 13:39). Justification is the sovereign act of God whereby He has declared His elect to be righteous by the perfect obedience of the LORD Jesus Christ as their Representative: “For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous” (Romans 5:19).

The LORD Jesus Christ came in the flesh as God and earned and established perfect righteousness by His obedient life, to the satisfaction of God the Father's law and justice, by His perfect obedience unto death: "And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Philippians 2:8). Thereby, by the LORD Jesus' perfect obedience unto death, the Father has once, for all and forever, justified (declared righteous) every child of God that the Father gave Him from before the foundation of the world. Their sins are not only put away, but the very righteousness of God was imputed to their spiritual account when Christ had shed His blood unto death.

Stop and consider further how, in ALL things, the child of God in Christ is justified before God. No one can even bring an accusation against any of His redeemed and justified children. The answer to any charges of conscience, Satan, or the world is: "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?" To "lay a charge against" literally means: ‘to call in or summon into judgment.’ None can call the believer before God with any charge against him without the LORD Jesus Christ taking his defense. Believers are ‘blameless’ before Him: "Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 1:8), or ‘above reproach’: "In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:" (Colossians 1:22). They are declared righteous, not because of any inherent righteousness in them, but in their Representative Head, Who is their righteousness before the Father.

The child of God's hope and assurance is that this standing is not affected by what he or she does or doesn't do. God's attitude toward them is not based upon any goodness or weakness in them. Because of the LORD Jesus Christ, the Mediator and High Priest, the believer has a permanent standing in the love, grace, and mercy of the Father. At no time will any believer ever be called into God's court of justice to defend his position, because that position is always one of blamelessness because of the LORD Jesus. It is because of this that all who are in Christ will be found blameless before Him at His coming (1 Corinthians 1:8).

Therefore, the believer in Christ, according to God's Word, enjoys this 3-fold blessing:

NO CONDEMNATION: "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (Romans 8:1);

NO SEPARATION: "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38–39);

NO ACCUSATION: "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth" (Romans 8:33).

In light of this scripture, we rest in the unshakable assurance that no charge can ever be laid against God’s elect. It is God that justifieth—His verdict is final, His righteousness is perfect, and His purpose is eternal. Let every accusation fall silent before the cross of the LORD Jesus, where the Justifier of the ungodly obtained our eternal standing. Herein is our peace: we are accepted in the Beloved, clothed in His righteousness, and forever beyond condemnation.