“Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭35‬ ‭NLT‬‬

One last question…one final conclusion…what?

What, in heaven, earth, or anywhere else, can separate us from God’s love revealed in Christ Jesus? You see, if God has dealt with everything that separated us from Him, and that it is God’s love that made it possible for us to be reconciled and reunited with Him, there’s nothing in heaven, on earth, or even in hell, that can nullify what God, in His righteousness, has done. 

Paul’s question is rhetorical. There is no possible answer. In Romans 8:31-34, he has already answered the objections to our reassurance… that we are now completely safe in God’s love. 

“What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭31‬-‭34‬ ‭NLT‬‬

…no antagonism…no accusation…no condemnation…Jesus has, in His death and resurrection, removed them all. 

Every obstacle to the free flow of God’s love toward us, His children, has been removed and destroyed…He can lavish His love in us without hindrance now…and He does!

The Greek word “pitho”, translated “convinced” or “persuaded” has the idea of both active and passive actions…Paul’s experiences have convinced him and he now gives his assent to the evidence…that nothing can separate us from God’s love. 

Do you get the force of what Paul is writing? In his history of both bitter persecutor of the church and radical transformation into a dedicated apostle of Jesus, Paul was the object of divine love so great that transformation was possible, even of a God-hater. 

Not only that but every difficult and painful experience as a Jesus-lover that he suffered…the persecution…the stoning…the deprivation…the loneliness…imprisonment…beatings…death threats…shipwreck…miles of walking…sailing…travelling…to make Jesus known, could not rob him of the certainty that God loved him unconditionally. He could declare that, in all these things, good and bad, he had learned to be content, and he had overcome his insecurities, fears, insufficiencies, weaknesses…everything that his old nature was tempted to feel and to cause him to react…through God’s love for him. 

Paul knew and felt that love on the road, on the sea, in a prison cell, when he was cold and hungry, when he was at odds with  Barnabas, when he was in Asia Minor, in Europe, in Jerusalem being arrested…beaten…on trial… threatened with death…falsely accused! 

If Paul could go through so much and never doubt God’s love because he had the evidence…Jesus…what about us whose suffering is much less? What about every convert from a false religion, who has chosen to follow Jesus and lost everything…home…family…name…reputation…work…homeland…and even, sometimes, life…and never doubted God’s love in Jesus, what of us?

God’s love is the beginning, the end, the reason, the motivation, the purpose, the goal, the pinnacle, the everything of His gift of Jesus to the world. 

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world, not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.”

‭‭John‬ ‭3‬:‭16‬-‭17‬ ‭NLT‬‬

God has done nothing outside of His love and everything through His love…and we know that love because of what He has done and does for us.  Now…convinced and persuaded…He wants us to live in His love. 

To be continued