33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.
34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
Courtroom scene — accuser, accused, judge, executioner. For the elect, there can be no accuser and the execution has already taken place.
Christ’s intercession — For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us (Hebrews 9:24). My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous (1 John 2:1).
Verses 33-34 [have] a four-fold assurance for wavering believers of our eternal security in Christ. Consider the four headings carefully:
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s Elect? The answer: It is God that Justifieth (v. 33), and this is what really matters.
Who is he that condemneth? Again the answer: It is Christ that died (v. 34). He paid the penalty for our sins that we might not be condemned. But more:
Yea, rather, that is risen again (v. 34). We have seen at Romans 4:25 that as our Lord died to pay the debt of our sins, He arose again to prove that the debt was fully paid. Who, then, can condemn us?
Who is even at the right hand of God, Who also maketh intercession for us (v. 34). How can we be condemned while God’s precious Son, our Savior, appears in His presence in our behalf?
What blessed assurance for the fainting believer! True, Satan accuses, the Law condemns, and our hearts acknowledge that daily we sin in thought, in word and in deed. But our glorious Lord defeated Satan at the Cross, making a show of him openly (Colossians 2:15), and as to the Law, He took that out of the way, nailing it to His Cross (Colossians 2:14). As to the sins our hearts must continually acknowledge, has not God justified us, did not Christ die to pay our debt and rise to prove it paid — and does He not intercede for us at this very moment? Let us then put aside our doubts and fears, rejoicing that if God be for us we are eternally secure.
Does this promote lax conduct in the believer? Indeed not. In fact God’s infinite grace to us offers the greatest possible incentive to holy living, an incentive that the Law could not possibly provide. Let us not tell God what we think will promote more godly or more careless conduct among His people! He says that it is His grace that teaches, or disciplines us to live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world (Titus 2:11-12). — Stam, pages 212-213.
