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by Katie Erickson

“What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died —more than that, who was raised to life —is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:31-39)

This section of Romans is a big one - it concludes the overall argument that Paul has been making since chapter 5! This argument is that we have complete and total security in Jesus Christ. We can be completely confident in this, because of the work of God for us in Christ, and because of the love of God for us in Christ.

We’ve seen that people will still be against us, and we will still suffer in this life (Romans 5:3-4, 8:17-18). But, none of that ultimately matters! We know that God is for us, so it doesn’t matter at all who’s against us. God graciously gives us “all things” - and that includes the death and resurrection of His only Son (5:5-8). God also gives us the final glory we will have someday, which we can fully put our hope in.

With Jesus Christ on our side, no mere man can truly condemn us. Yes, people can make us feel miserable while we’re here on this earth, but we need to set our sights on the bigger picture. We see the work that God has done for us in Jesus Christ, and if we focus on that rather than our present sufferings, we will experience the hope and peace that only God can give.

Paul uses some parallelism here. The “What, then, shall we say in response to these things?” in verse 31 parallels the “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” in verse 35. Christ is not only protecting us from the consequences of our sin, but He loves us! This is like having the best defense attorney ever, but they’re not just your attorney but they are your dearest and closest friend.

In verse 36, Paul quotes Psalm 44:22 from the Old Testament. He is emphasizing again that life as a follower of Jesus Christ will not be easy. We may even face death for following Jesus. But, don’t worry; we can triumph over that! Remember, no one can be against us when God is on our side!

Paul says that we are “more than conquerors” because of God’s love for us. The word used there in the original Greek means to more than triumph over something. Not only that, it is a rare intensive verb form, to show even more emphasis. The English language just doesn’t do it justice for how much we triumph over our troubles through God’s love and power in our lives.

To emphasize this point even more, Paul gives us a list to show all the things that can’t separate us from God’s love. He lists all the big things, and just in case he missed something he says “nor anything else in all creation” can separate us from God’s love. Did you catch that? NOTHING can separate us from God’s love!

We can celebrate the security and hope we have in Christ because of what God has done for us, and because of the complete certainty of His love for us. What are you doing in your life to celebrate that and live it out every day?

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