<p>8:33&nbsp;<i>Who shall lay anything to the charge</i>&ndash; Again, legal language. Where is our accuser? Can anyone accuse us of anything? No, insofar as we are &ldquo;in Christ&rdquo;. The allusion is to the Gospels, to the way the Lord Jesus could calmly challenge: &ldquo;Which of you can convict me of sin?&rdquo; (Jn. 8:46). If He could not be seriously accused of sin, neither can we. The records of the Lord&rsquo;s trials are perhaps also in view here- for the accusers failed to produce any case which held together (Mk. 14:59). All this takes on striking relevance to us, as we stand in the dock before the righteous judgment of God- and are declared right, without any credible accusers. This of course is only possible because we are &ldquo;in Christ&rdquo;. The only other time the Greek for &lsquo;lay to the charge&rsquo; occurs is in the records of Paul&rsquo;s own trials, where again no credible accusation was found against him (Acts 19:38,40; 23:28,29; 26:2,7). As so often, Paul is reasoning from his own personal experience. He knew what it felt like to stand in court and see your accusers&rsquo; case just crumble before your eyes. He makes the point in his own defence that there is no proof of anything of which he is accused, and that significantly the witnesses against him aren&rsquo;t even present in the courtroom (Acts 24:13,19)- all very much the scene of Rom. 8:33. And he says this is true for each one who is in Christ. God is the prosecutor- yet He is the one who shall search for Israel's sin, and admit that it cannot be found (Jer. 50:20). God is both judge, advocate for the defence, and prosecutor- and this is God is&nbsp;<i>for us</i>, the guilty Rom. 8:33,34 develops the figure at length. The person bringing the complaint of sin against us is God alone- for there is no personal devil to do so. And the judge who can alone condemn us is the Lord Jesus alone. And yet we find the one &lsquo;brings the charge&rsquo; instead being the very one who justifies us, or as the Greek means, renders us guiltless. The one who brings the charge becomes this strange judge who is so eager to declare us guiltless. And the judge who can alone condemn, or render guilty, is the very one who makes intercession to the judge for us- and moreover, the One who died for us, so passionate is His love. The logic is breathtaking, literally so. The figures are taken from an earthly courtroom, but the roles are mixed. Truly &ldquo;if God be for us another courtroom analogy, who can be against us&rdquo; (Rom. 8:31). This advocate / intercessor is matchless. With Him on our side, &lsquo;for us&rsquo;, we cannot possibly be condemned. Whatever is &lsquo;against us&rsquo;- our sins- cannot now be against us, in the face of this mighty advocate. Let&rsquo;s face it, the thing we fear more than death is our sin which is &lsquo;against us&rsquo;. But the assurance is clear, for those who will believe it. With an attorney for the defence such as we have, who is also our passionate judge so desperate to justify us- even they cannot stand &lsquo;against us&rsquo;. Rom. 8:33 states that there is now&nbsp;<i>nobody</i>&nbsp;who can accuse us, because none less than God Himself, the judge of all, is our justifier in Christ And so whatever is said about us, don&rsquo;t let this register with us as if it is God accusing us. Not for us the addiction of internet chat groups, wanting to know what is said about us or feeling defensive under accusation. For all our sins, truly or falsely accused of,&nbsp;<i>God</i>&nbsp;is our justifier, and not ourselves. And thus our consciences can still blossom when under man&rsquo;s false accusation, genuinely aware of our failures for what they are, not being made to feel more guilty than we should, or to take false guilt. This is all a wonderful and awesome outworking of God&rsquo;s plan of salvation by grace. If&nbsp;<i>God</i>&nbsp;is our justifier, where is he that condemns us, or lays any guilt to our charge (Rom. 8:33,34)? And yet in family life, in ecclesial relationships... we are so quick to feel and hurt from the possible insinuations of others against us. We seek to justify ourselves, to correct gossip and misrepresentation, to &ldquo;take up&quot; an issue to clear our name. We all tend to be far too sensitive about what others may be implying about us. All this reflects a sad lack of appreciation of the wonder of the fact that we are justified&nbsp;<i>by God,</i>&nbsp;and in His eyes- which is surely the ultimately important perspective- we are without fault before the throne of grace, covered in the imputed and peerless righteousness of the Lord. Paul, misrepresented and slandered more than most brethren, came to conclude: &ldquo;But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me right now is the Lord&quot; (1 Cor. 4:3-4). The judge is the justifier, according to this argument. Paul is not justified by himself or by other men, because they are not his judge. The fact that God alone is judge through Christ another first principle means that nobody can ultimately justify us or condemn us. The false claims of others can do nothing to ultimately damage us, and our own efforts at self-justification are in effect a denial of the fact that the Lord is the judge, not us, and therefore He alone can and will justify. When a man is under accusation, his conscience usually dies. He is so bent on self-defence and seeking his own innocence and liberation from accusation. And we see this in so many around us. But for us, we have been delivered from accusation, judged innocent, granted the all powerful and all authoritative heavenly advocate. Rom. 8:33 states that there is now&nbsp;<i>nobody</i>&nbsp;who can accuse us, because none less than God Himself, the judge of all, is our justifier in Christ And so whatever is said about us, don&rsquo;t let this register with us as if it is God accusing us. Not for us the addiction of internet chat groups, wanting to know what is said about us or feeling defensive under accusation. For all our sins, truly or falsely accused of, God is our justifier, and not ourselves. And thus our consciences can still blossom when under man&rsquo;s false accusation, genuinely aware of our failures for what they are, not being made to feel more guilty than we should, or to take false guilt. This is all a wonderful and awesome outworking of God&rsquo;s plan of salvation by grace.</p><p><i>Of God&rsquo;s chosen ones? It is God that justifies</i>- The reason why there are no accusers against us, not even our own sins, is because we are &ldquo;God&rsquo;s elect&rdquo;. The supreme chosen one of God was of course the Lord Jesus, &ldquo;mine elect, in whom my soul delights&rdquo; (Is. 42:1). And yet later on in the servant songs of Isaiah, &ldquo;mine elect&rdquo; clearly refers to the people of Israel (Is. 45:4; 65:9,22). The true Israel of God are therefore those counted as somehow &ldquo;in&rdquo; the elect one, the singular servant of God, Messiah Jesus. Those baptized into Him are therefore His elect. And how do we know we are &ldquo;God&rsquo;s elect&rdquo;? If we are baptized into Christ, &ldquo;mine elect&rdquo;, then for sure we are. And further, we have heard the call of the Gospel, we have been called- so, we are God&rsquo;s elect, His chosen ones. Of course the objection can be raised that the whole idea of calling or election may appear unfair. Indeed, the Greek word for &ldquo;elect&rdquo; can carry the idea of &lsquo;the favoured / favourite one&rsquo;.&nbsp; There is no ultimate injustice here. The chosen One is the Lord Jesus, beloved for the sake of His righteousness, His spirit of life. Those who respond to the call to be &ldquo;in Him&rdquo; are counted likewise. And all this is the way, the method used, in order for God to be the one who counts us as right in the ultimate judgment- for &ldquo;It is God that justifies&rdquo;.</p>