Romans 8:31-39: "Nothing Shall separate Us"

A grand conclusion to the 8th chapter of Romans, Paul gives us some more amazing truths of the security a believer has in Christ. This chapter started with the statement that "there is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus", and it will finish with the confident truth that those who are in Christ Jesus will never be separated from Him.

Paul begins by asking, "What then shall we say to these things?" By "these things" Paul is referring to all that has been said previously in this chapter, most specifically to the wonderful thoughts portrayed in vv. 28-30, where we see God's wonderful hand in every step of our salvation. Paul is basically going to reaffirm what was said previously. He will tackle it from a different perspective now. He is asking, 'now that we understand God's plan for us in salvation and we see how we were sovereignly chosen before the foundation of the world to be adopted as a child of His, what does that mean for us? what implications can we make from this?' He begins his answers by asking more questions. "If God is for us, who is against us?" paul questions. The use of the word "if" could be better translated "because", basically 'because God is for us'. Paul has rightly placed God above all other things created, asking us, if the all-powerful God is on our side, what could possibly defeat us, or take Him away from us? The obvious answer is nothing. MacArthur writes, "The obvious implication is that if anyone were able to rob us of salvation they would have to be greater than God Himself, because He is both the giver and the sustainer of salvation". Now that we no longer have condemnation in Christ Jesus, who could possibly place us back in our condemned state? Obviously no one can. We must stand firm in the truths of God as no one can keep Him from doing what He has said.

Paul continues to bolster his case by stating, "He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?" Paul wants to bring the readers attention back to the gospel. If we are to truly understand Christ's sacrifice for us, and believe in that for our salvation, we must be most confident to believe that if God was willing to sacrifice His own Son to reconcile my relationship with Him, He would freely bestow all things good upon me. Wouldn't he want "all things to work together for the good of those who love Him", and wouldn't he desire our "adoptions as sons"? MacArthur writes, "How could it possibly be that God would sacrifice His own Son for the sake of those who believe in Him and then cast some of those blood-bought believers out of His family and His kingdom? Would God do less for believers after they are saved than He did for them prior to salvation?". It also begs the thought, 'would it makes sense for God to do less for us after we become covered in Christ's righteousness, than before it when we were enemies of God? "You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:6-8). To summarize: If God did all he could to restore a relationship with us before we had Christ, would he not do all He could to then keep that relationship with Him after we have received Christ? His grace to us was "freely" given, therefore, there is nothing we can DO once we are in Christ, to have that taken away.

Paul continues his case for our assurance with another question, "who will bring a charge against God's elect?". MacArthur commentates, "The world and Satan are continually bringing charges against God's elect, but those charges amount to nothing before the Lord, because He is the one who justifies, the one who decides who is righteous before Him". It is true that Satan will try to get followers of Christ to doubt their salvation and question their security in Him. However, Paul once again brings our attention back to Christ, he asks us to remember "God is the one who justifies". Therefore, God is the only one who has the power to justify us and declare us as righteous. Only the one who we have sinned against has the power to declare us as righteous. David understood this when he wrote after sinning with Bathsheba, "For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, I have sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You are justified when You speak and blameless when You judge". With this understanding we must look back to what was said at the very beginning of this chapter and believe it in our hearts, "Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus". Since God is the only one who has the power to justify and we are told in His Word that if we are in Christ Jesus, we are no longer condemned, we should easily be able to answer the rhetorical question Paul asks "who is the one who condemns?" The answer is no one can condemn those who are in Christ Jesus.

To further make his case and substantiate that Christ Himself could not and would not take away our salvation Paul writes, "Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us". Certainly, Christ would never take away what He has done for us. It was Christ, who endured all the pain on the cross (physical and spiritual separation from His Father), and now sits at the right hand of God and intercedes for those covered with His blood. It would be absurd for Christ to have gone through all He went through only to take it back. MacArthur writes, "For Christ to take away our salvation would be for Him to work against Himself and to nullify His own promise. Christ offers no temporary spiritual life but only that which is eternal. He could not grant eternal life and then take it away, because that would demonstrate that the life He had granted was not eternal". The very point of Christ conquering sin and death by dying on the cross and raising from the dead would be rendered pointless.

In vv. 35-37, Paul brings up all the earthly circumstances that may seem to threaten our security, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, 'For Thy sake we are being put to death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered'". What can keep Christ from loving those who put their faith in Him? Basically Paul is reiterating that nothing on earth can keep Christ from loving us as well. Many Christians will face trials while here on earth, but instead of those things keeping us from Christ, they encourage the Christian to trust in Christ all the more. God, in fact, uses all the circumstances to "conform us to the image of Christ" by relying on His strength to get us through. Philippian 4:12-13, "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength". Paul also said in II Cor. 12:10, "That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong". For the Christian, not only do hardships not separate us from Christ, but they draw us towards Him. Not only does persecution not defeat the Christian, it encourages him and gives him assurance that He is one of God's children. Therefore Paul says, "But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us". Thanks be to God, we can never be separated from Christ and his atonement for us. MacArthur writes, "we overwhelmingly conquer because our ultimate reward will far surpass whatever earthly and temporal loss we may suffer. With Paul, we should view even the most terrible circumstance as but 'momentary, light affliction' that produces 'for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison' (II Cor. 4:17)".

Lastly, Paul's beautiful conclusion to this chapter and his final findings on the security of the believer, "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord". So we have learned that no person, or circumstance, no earthly nor ethereal being can take away our salvation and Christ's eternal love for His elect. Paul does not just think or hope, but is truly "convinced" through all that God had revealed to Him. MacArthur writes, "There is nothing anywhere at any time that shall be able to separate us form the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Our salvation was secured by God's decree from eternity past and will be held secure by Christ's love through all future time and throughout all eternity". Paul wrote Timothy in 2 Tim. 1:12, "For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day".

How can we read these wonderful verses and not be overwhelmed with joy over the security we have in Christ? How can anyone ever feel that salvation can be lost once it is received?