Romans 8:32, commentary by me

This verse has hit me with so much force lately that I keep coming back to it to see what else I can dwell up from it.  It summarizes so much of what the gospel message is about that I thought maybe I would share.

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

Romans 8:32

The first thing that hit me was the word “spare.”  You know when you secretly look up a word in the dictionary that you had as a spelling word in fourth grade, but sometimes you still need to break it down?  Well, let’s just say I was thankful for my Kindle app’s built-in dictionary so that I wouldn’t look like, well…a fourth grader.

Anyway, my Kindle app’s dictionary (actually taken from The New Oxford American Dictionary) defines the verb form (as used in this verse) of “spare” as “refrain from killing, injuring, or distressing.”  It gives a “special usage” definition of “refrain from inflicting (something) on (someone).”  What got me on/off course was when I focused on the noun form of “spare” which is defined as “additional to what is required for ordinary use” with a “special usage” definition of “not currently in use or occupied.”  With this, it made me think of how there is only one Jesus, not a spare by any means.  No one else could have done what He did.  God didn’t have a swarm of substitutionary kin that could have been designated to save humanity.  God could have spared Him knowing that he had only one Son, but so much was on the line…us.  

(“Alex, what is John 3:16?"  "Right you are!  OK, let's finish up the 'Overly Quoted Scripture That We Don't Really Care to Internalize' category after the break!”)  

OK, back to serious stuff...

The honest reality is that a transaction took place on Calvary between God and man with Jesus as a form of payment for our debt.  For God, Jesus was far from some spare change in his infinite pocket; He was the whole bank.

Later in the verse, the phrases containing the present and past tense forms of “give” sparked my interest.    (Wow, this is turning into some kind of grammar lesson!)  Paul uses two different Greek words for each of these, specifically in the phrases he uses them in.  (I know—this is getting exciting!)  In the phrase “gave him up,” the word paradidomi which means “to hand over, betray, deliver to prison” is used in reference to God giving Christ the condemnation we deserve.  Now in regard to the truly guilty, humanity, the word charizomai is used in the phrase “graciously give us” and means “to give grace, to forgive, cancel (a debt), to grant.”  That's for us?!  We get to walk even though the evidence is clear.  With all of this, I am left trying to fathom the depth of God’s love for us, a love that would heap the darkness of this world onto a beloved Son. 

God, no matter how long I follow you or how many dips my faith takes in life, please help me to not take your love for me, for all of us, lightly.  I am so grateful that when I showed up on your doorstep with Christ's blood on my hands, you just wanted to wipe me clean, take me in to your family, and help me grow.

P.S. Reading this verse within context (vv. 31-39) is even better!

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OK, that’s enough for today.  I’ll make sure that my next post is about something more superficial like cupcake sprinkles (oooh, those pearl-like ones!) or what my first post-hospital meal will be after Caden is born.