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Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.
Romans 8:33 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB Who could bring a charge against God’s chosen ones? It is God who justifies.
  • BSB Who will 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 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 50:8–9He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me? let us stand together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to me.
  • Rev 12:10–11And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
  • Isa 54:17No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.
  • Rom 8:1There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
  • Luke 18:7And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?
  • 1 Th 1:4Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God.
  • Zech 3:1–4And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.
  • Rom 3:26To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
  • Isa 42:1Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
  • Job 42:7–9And it was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words unto Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath.
  • 1 Pet 1:2Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.
  • Matt 24:24For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
  • Job 1:9–11Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?
  • Gal 3:8And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
  • Job 2:4–6And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.
  • Job 34:8–9Which goeth in company with the workers of iniquity, and walketh with wicked men.
  • Ps 35:11False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge things that I knew not.
  • Job 22:6–30For thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought, and stripped the naked of their clothing.
  • Titus 1:1Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (3)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Romans videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Romans 8:33YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on RomansMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.