Romans 8:31–39 (ESV)✞: God’s Everlasting Love
I’ve been going through Paul’s letter to the Romans, but I’m just about to switch back to posts about the Old Testament (in 1 Chronicles). I can’t imagine a more glorious passage to “end” on, before I leave Romans for a bit!
I don’t always do this but before going through the whole thing bit by bit let’s have the passage in its entirety:
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Now let us mine this passage!
Paul starts with a rhetorical question:
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
The short answer is that sometimes everyone is against us! That’s less true in North America than it is in other places but even here the Christian impulse to help the poor (even to our own detriment) and the Christian drive to serve God (even at the cost of our paycheque) are ways in which we go against the ethos of our culture.
If I decide to take a job in which I’ll be serving God instead of one that would make more money it would mean going against capitalism. There’s a very real sense in which I’m no longer a good citizen if I’m purposely making less money (and therefore spending less money). I’ll have a worse credit rating, and maybe be unable to buy a house or have a “decent” place to live; the system would be set up against me.
And even if I do take the good job (and I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with having a high-paying job!), will there be times when I refuse to lie? Times when I refuse to “fudge the numbers?”
So yes, when Paul rhetorically asks, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” we can legitimately answer that lots of people are sometimes against us.
But… who are they in comparison to God?
And when that happens, will God abandon us?
He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
I have a feeling this is another of those verses that could be used in support of the prosperity gospel, but, as with all verses that could support the prosperity gospel, only if used in isolation. When Paul says that God will give us “all things,” he’s referring to all of the things he’s been calling out in the previous passages: justification; glory; an inheritance alongside the Son.
The point Paul is making is that God went so far as to sacrifice His Son on our behalf; how could we ever believe that He would do that and then not carry out the rest of His promises?
And to be clear, we sometimes do worry that He isn’t going to do the rest. There are times when we feel more sinful than usual and wonder if, despite Christ’s work on the cross, maybe we’re just too sinful for God to save. These are understandable sentiments, and I fall into them too. But Paul wants to encourage us: when we feel that way, we should look at all that God has done.
I’ve been saying this over and over in recent passages, but Paul is writing this to comfort his fellow believers so let’s read this verse in that light! God went to the cross on my behalf – I should try to remind myself of that fact when I’m feeling less than holy.
And so, given this, who could possibly condemn me in God’s sight?
33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
Again, when Paul asks these rhetorical questions, we could come up with lots of answers! There are many people who might bring charges against me, or condemn me. But so what if they do? I mean, if I’ve sinned I definitely need to repent of that, and if I’ve wronged someone I need to do my best to make that right, but when those people go before God to tell Him how much I deserve condemnation, He will answer them, that, actually, I no longer do, He has already justified me.
And again, we need to examine that word “justify.” God is not saying people can’t condemn me because He forgave my sins; if that was all God was saying it would be unjust. If I’ve wronged someone God can’t simply ignore that! If He did He wouldn’t be a Holy God! No, when Paul is saying that God “justified” me he’s saying something stronger than that: God didn’t ignore my sin He took the punishment for it, making me right with Him, and that justifies me being His child. When someone brings charges against me to God, God answers that yes, it’s true – and He (God) has taken upon Himself the punishment for it.
To enact justice someone must pay for these crimes, and, in His mercy, God did.
As I continue to sin against God and against others, they may very well try to condemn me, but Christ Jesus, who died, is at God’s right hand, interceding for me. As if He’s saying, “you don’t need to punish him for that, because I’ve already been punished.”
The trinitarian language can get confusing here—Jesus is God, and Jesus is also standing at God’s right hand—but the larger point is clear: I can no longer be condemned, I can’t even have charges brought against me that haven’t already been interceded for, because I’m justified.
But this is just legal stuff. (I say “just legal stuff” as if being justified in the sight of God isn’t the most miraculous thing that could ever happen…) God didn’t just save me out of obligation; what obligation did He have toward me? He saved me out of love!
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
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37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
Once again, Paul is not saying that these things won’t happen to us, he’s saying that even though these things will happen to us none of them can separate us from the love of God. After all that He has done to justify me, dying on the cross and taking my sin upon Himself, all out of love, I can rest assured that His love continues, throughout all the ills that befall me1.
And then he goes even further:
38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I’ve mentioned a few times lately that there are verses that can be taken in isolation and used for purposes that twist their meaning, but this is an example of a couple of verses that can be taken out of context but still retain their meaning. On their own they say exactly the same thing they’re saying in context: God loves me. He loves me so much that nothing can separate me from that love.
My struggle is to remember that that even includes my own sin. I continue to sin but, as we’ve just seen, God has already dealt with that sin, so it can’t separate me from His love.
Footnotes
- This feels like a quote from something, but I don’t remember from what. ↩
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