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Romans 8:35–36
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? (Rom. 8:35)
No one can oppose believers because God is for them. There is no limit to God’s generosity to those He loves. There is no ground on which to accuse believers. And no one can condemn them. All of this Paul has affirmed through his rhetorical questions as he has sought to sum up the thrust of his arguments in the first half of Romans. Is anything left? Is there anything at all that “shall separate us from the love of Christ?” God in the Son has set His love on a people of His own choosing and has provided a great salvation for them. Since it is the sovereign God who has done this, can anything rob them of this salvation? In other words, can anything possibly thwart God’s design?
To drive home his point, Paul throws out for consideration seven circumstances that might be thought capable of yanking us out of the grip of our heavenly Father. 1. Tribulation (or trouble): Dr. James M. Boice defines this as “hard circumstances pressing down upon us.” 2. Distress (or hardship): The Greek word translated here as “distress” means “narrow space,” conveying the idea of circumstances that confine us or oppress us. 3. Persecution: The idea here is relentless pursuit by an enemy intent on doing us harm. This is the world’s negative response when we press Christ’s claims. 4. Famine: A reference to the chronic shortage of food that was so common in the ancient world and still afflicts some regions today. 5. Nakedness: Paul probably was thinking here of an inability to purchase clothing because of extreme poverty. 6. Danger: Anyway in which Christians’ lives are threatened. 7. Sword: Probably the ultimate experience of suffering—martyrdom, or death for God’s sake. This is a circumstance virtually unknown to Western Christians in the twenty-first century, but it is still common in many parts of the world, just it has been throughout history. In fact, so common has it been that the Word of God refers to believers as “sheep for the slaughter” (Ps. 44:22).
Can a believer’s experience of any of these seven circumstances separate him or her from the love of Christ? In a sense, Paul already has answered this question, for he affirmed that God works through all things for the good of His people (8:28). Not only can these things never separate a believer from the lover of his or her soul, but they can even be means by which God demonstrates His love for His people.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
What should you as a Christian do if called to endure one of the hard circumstances Paul lists in this passage? Above all, do not charge God with wrong (Job 1:22). Instead, look to Him in faith, trusting the great promises of Romans 8 and the rest of Scripture, that His love for you is eternal and His purposes toward you are only good always.
For Further Study
- John 10:28
- 2 Corinthians 1:22
- Ephesians 4:30
- 2 Peter 1:10
- 1 John 3:9