Day 7 | Nothing Can Separate Us

Read: Romans 8:31-39

Nothing Shall Separate Us from God’s Love

31 What then shall we say to all this?
If God is for us, who is against us?
32 God, after all, did not spare his own son; he gave him up for us all!
How then will he not, with him, freely give all things to us?
33 Who will bring a charge against God’s chosen ones?
It is God who declares them in the right.
34 Who is going to condemn?
It is the Messiah, Jesus, who has died, or rather has been raised;
who is at God’s right hand, and who also prays on our behalf!
35 Who shall separate us from the Messiah’s love?
Suffering, or hardship, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As the Bible says,
Because of you we are being killed all day long;
we are regarded as sheep destined for slaughter.
37 No: in all these things we are completely victorious through the one who loved us. 38 I am persuaded, you see, that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor the present, nor the future, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in King Jesus our Lord.

THE KINGDOM NEW TESTAMENT: A CONTEMPORARY TRANSLATION by N.T. WRIGHT. Copyright (c) 2011 by Nicholas Thomas Wright. Courtesy of HarperCollins Publishers. Used by permission.

Reflect:

In what ways can this passage be corrupted or misused? Have you seen this in action? If not, what are some scenarios it may be used in? How can the same passage be used in beneficial and harmful ways? What does this reveal about God? About scripture? About Christians?

Consider:

If God is for us, who can be against us? A lot depends on the identity of the "us" here. You can't just pluck it out of the air and make it apply to anyone randomly. The "us" here is the people Paul described in the preceding verses. Those who, in their suffering and hope and agonized wordless prayer, are being conformed to the image of the Son. Those who belong to Messiah Jesus, and hence know that there is no condemnation.

We must state the obvious. Just because God is for us doesn't mean we will never sin, hurt others, be rejected, become ill, be misunderstood, or experience any other negative experiences. The rest of the passage makes that very clear. The question— “who can be against us?” —doesn't mean that nobody will ever oppose us. Instead, it means that when they do, we can know that because God is for us, any such opposition will, in the long run, be negligible, however painful or deserving it may be at the time. He is holding out a stupendous promise which will far outshine any and all challenges.

Here, the charge has been laid and apparently approved. Condemnation is about to be passed, But Romans 8:1 declared no condemnation for the Messiah's people. Those who belong to the Messiah already know the verdict. They know that it has gone in their favor because God raised Jesus from the dead, declaring that his death really had dealt with sins, and that in him, New Creation had now been launched. In that light, all possible secondary condemnations for those in him can be set aside as irrelevant.

Practice:

Meditate on Paul’s list of dangers in this passage. Which danger most resonates with you? Pray to claim this promise that God has those dangers under control. Pray for opportunities to actively celebrate the promises of this passage.