Romans 8:31-39--God's Everlasting Love

Romans 8:31-39
English Standard Version

God's Everlasting Love
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.

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This passage ties in directly with yesterday's and is the continuation of the answer to the question "How do we know?" that we naturally want to ask after reading Romans 8:28, "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."  Last time we talked about being able to know this because we have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit as a surety and down payment.  We also hinted at the fact that we are know with certainty that God will fulfill His promises because we know His character and nature and that He is "Faithful and True."  (see Revelation 19:11).

We are coming back to this idea of God's character and nature today as we talk about His great love for His children--even His adopted children.  Paul starts off with a rhetorical question:  "What then shall we say?  If God is for us, who can be against us?"  Of note is that the word for "if" and "since" are the same in Greek as both are correct ways to start a conditional argument, but it can mean very different things as "if" implies a certainty of the conclusion only if the premise is true, but "since" implies that knowing the premise is definitely true, then we know for certain that the conclusion is also true.  Given the context of the argument so far, it might be fair to think of the "if" in verse 31 as "since," but only if we understand that the "us" in verse 31 refers to the "those" in verses 28-30, "...those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified."  We are certain of His promises to us, because we are certain of our identity in Him as children by adoption and we are certain that the Father loves all of His children, for God is love.  (1 John 4:8).  The epistle of 1 John has much to day about the love of God, especially in chapters 3 and 4, and about being children of God.  It might be a good read alongside the portion of the book of Romans.

How do we know how much He loved us?  "But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8).  Paul comes back to this argument again to say that if God gave us the best gift already of His Son, then why should we be concerned that He would withhold any good thing from His children?  (See Matthew 7:11, Luke 11:13, and James 1:17).

Now there is a change in the argument.  We move from defending God's reputation so that no one can bring a charge against His Elect because Jesus is the Judge.  He died for us to secure our atonement and has pronounced us "righteous" in His sight and called us "sons of God."  So then there is nothing that anyone can say that will change His mind--not Satan, called "the accuser of the brethren" in Rev. 12:10, nor the world, nor anyone else in the Church.  Christ is good and just and no one can question His judgment and at His death He said, "It is finished."  The debt has been paid in full.  Not only did He die for us, but He is now at the right hand of the Father acting as High Priest and making intercession on our behalf.  So then our hope and security rests not in who we area and what we have done, but in who He is and what He has done.  

Paul wants to make sure that we understand that nothing can change our position and our standing before God, because nothing can change the love of God.  Even when we go through "tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword [threat of death, like the Christians at that time]."  Even if we are simply to be like "sheep led to the slaughter," God is still good and it does not change what He has promised or prepared for us in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

Paul then answers His own question--"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?"--with these words, "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."   That is the certainty with which we can approach the promises of God, "Not because of who I am, but because of what You've done.  Not because of what I've done, but because of Who you are." (Lyrics from "Who am I?" by Casting Crowns).