Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.
Parallel translations
- WEB Who could bring a charge against God’s chosen ones? It is God who justifies.
- KJV Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.
- ESV Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.
- NKJV Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.
- NASB Who will bring charges against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies;
- NLT Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
No accusation against God's chosen people can stand, because God himself has declared them righteous. The Judge has already issued the verdict of acquittal.
Overview
Using courtroom imagery, Paul asks who could successfully accuse God's elect. The answer is no one, for it is God who justifies. Since the highest Judge has pronounced believers righteous through faith in Christ, no charge, whether from Satan, conscience, or the law, can overturn that verdict. The believer's standing rests on God's justifying act, not on personal performance.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 19
- Isa 50:8–9The One who vindicates Me is near. Who will dare to contend with Me? Let us confront each other! Who has a case against Me? Let him approach Me!
- Rev 12:10–11And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ. For the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down—he who accuses them day and night before our God.
- Isa 54:17No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their vindication is from Me,” declares the LORD.
- Rom 8:1Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
- Luke 18:7Will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry out to Him day and night? Will He continue to defer their help?
- 1 Th 1:4Brothers who are beloved by God, we know that He has chosen you,
- Zech 3:1–4Then the angel showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, with Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him.
- Rom 3:26He did this to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and to justify the one who has faith in Jesus.
- Isa 42:1“Here is My Servant, whom I uphold, My Chosen One, in whom My soul delights. I will put My Spirit on Him, and He will bring justice to the nations.
- Job 42:7–9After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends. For you have not spoken about Me accurately, as My servant Job has.
- 1 Pet 1:2according to the foreknowledge of God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by His blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.
- Matt 24:24For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders that would deceive even the elect, if that were possible.
- Job 1:9–11Satan answered the LORD, “Does Job fear God for nothing?
- Gal 3:8The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and foretold the gospel to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.”
- Job 2:4–6“Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give up all he owns in exchange for his life.
- Job 34:8–9He keeps company with evildoers and walks with wicked men.
- Ps 35:11Hostile witnesses come forward; they make charges I know nothing about.
- Job 22:6–30For you needlessly demanded security from your brothers and deprived the naked of their clothing.
- Titus 1:1Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness,
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Paul unfolds the gospel in full: Christ our righteousness received by faith, the second Adam in whom many are made righteous, in whose death and resurrection we are buried and raised.
How Romans 8:33 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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