All is never all

With Christ, God would give all things to the believer. As a free gift (Romans 8:32). Recently I came across an over simplistic interpretation. It wasn’t the first time. It seems that many evangelicals turned the simplification of Biblical notions into a hobby; "All things is All things" and any other interpretation would be an act of disbelief and doubt.

A new Bentley or a car that can’t break down? Perfect health? Sunshine when I want it? Less sleep? A house overlooking the sea with neighbors who live more than one kilometer away? A maintenance-free garden? The keenest spiritual insight that is humanly possible? A bicycle with tires that can’t go flat? We could go on. So we need to think. And think a bit more though there will always be a few that will hold on to “all things are all things.” Take it away from and their belief system collapses.

This kind of simplifications doesn’t promote the reality and communication of the Good News.

If the owner of the local supermarket surprised me by saying that I am the tenth visitor and as a reward I can take a sample of all things in his store than this “all” is confined to the shop inventory. If I then walk to the store next door and start taking samples from “all” that I find in that store, everyone understands that such action would be insane Context is everything.

For convenience sake (or just because one is lazy) this is the easiest step to skip in understanding scripture. It's tempting to take one verse and apply it metaphysically. Every idea in the Bible story is wrapped in a particular framework, the bigger framework of God’s big story and the framework of immediate surroundings. When Paul says that God in Christ gives us all things you are obliged to investigate the limits and boundaries in which the verse finds itself.

Romans 8 tells the story of all that Christ has done for us. The “all that Christ did” is the basis for our understanding of the “all” we receive in Him. Looking at it from this perspective suddenly adds all depth, meaning and relevance to the verse. Because it is "contained" we suddenly see. It is quite specific!
The "all things" in a metaphysical sense doesn’t do that for us and creates a lot of confusion and disappointment.

A wealthy Roman had a son who broke his heart and a slave who aroused his admiration. On his deathbed, the man decided to disinherit his son and to leave everything to the slave, Marcellus. He had his will written up and then told his son what he had done. "I've decided to leave everything to Marcellus," he said. "However, you may choose one thing for yourself from the estate." "Then I choose Marcellus!" replied the son.

That’s all.