GOD'S EVERLASTING LOVE "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" ERRONEOUS QUESTIONS It is vital to perceive how this question is asked. We are living at a juncture in human history when the effects of false teaching have saturated the theologies of men. In defense of their dogmas, men pose questions that are NOT submitted in Scripture. Some examples will suffice to acquaint us with their nature. (1) "Can we lose our salvation?" (2) "Once a person is saved, can they ever be lost?" (3) "Once we are in God's grace, can we ever fall out of His grace?" (4) "IS it possible to fall away?" All such questions come from the mind, not the heart. Such questions are not asked in Scripture, although there is concrete teaching that bears upon them. They are designed to defend a theological view rather than to bring confidence and assurance to the heart. The purpose of our text is to build up the certainty that springs from faith, not wrangle about possibilities posed by mere mortals. – Tomorrow:
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: 'For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.' Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 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." (Romans 8:35-39, NKJV)
WHO CAN DO IT?
Some versions provide varied readings of this text, all with the same essential meaning. "WHO THEN shall separate us from the love of Christ?" (Douay-Rheims), "WHAT shall separate us from the love of Christ?" (Revised Webster), "WHO will COME BETWEEN us and the love of Christ?" (BBE), "Can ANYTHING EVER separate us from Christ's love?" (NLT), and "Can anything CUT US OFF from the love of Christ?" (NJB). This is a question addressed to the heart, not the intellect! It is a question to be pondered, not answered.
The question is a rhetorical one. The Spirit is not asking for an answer, or even suggesting that there is something or someone who CAN separate us from the love of Christ. This is like a challenge to the thinking of those who are being pressed by the enemy to ponder the greatness of the salvation that is "in Christ Jesus with eternal glory" (2 Tim 2:10). It is spoken to those fatigued in the good fight of faith, who, like Philadelphia, have but "a little strength" because of their trials (Rev 3:8). We will find that the love of Christ is strong as well as tender. Grace and power are joined together in the salvation that is in Christ Jesus. Further, they are joined together because it is necessary if we are to be saved.
Men enter the theological battleground to resolve these questions. Debates and lengthy disquisitions are developed to answer them. Yet, all of them miss the mark. They are not stated acceptably, and thus answers to them are not found in Scripture. To put it another way, God does not approach salvation in this manner. There is only one reason for these, and similar, questions posed by men. The Christian community is plagued with members who do not reflect the spiritual life described in Scripture. Thus certain doctrines have been concocted to justify the conclusion they are still Christians, even though any evidences of such a conclusion are sadly lacking.
Our text presumes the involvement and fervent desire of the heart. It postulates a longing for the redemption of the body, and an aggressive discontent with "the law of sin" that is resident in our members (7:23,25; 8:2,23). WHERE THESE ARE LACKING, A DISCUSSION OF THE SAFETY OF THE BELIEVER IS OUT OF ORDER! No person that is not living by faith is safe! Not a single individual who fails to walk in the Spirit is safe! No one, regardless of profession, who is haphazard in their commitment to the Lord is standing in a spiritual safety zone! Let those who declare such people are "safe" or "secure" present to us a single word from God that says or suggests such a thing. Such individuals are NEVER addressed in Scripture as though all was well, their future with Christ is secure, or that they may expect good things to come. If you will be like the Berean's, and search the Scriptures on the matter, you will find it to be so (Acts 17:11).
Those who are not living by faith have no right to indulge in either thoughts or discussions about Divine safety. If they are living in the flesh, they are enemies of God, and are so described by the Spirit. "Because the carnal mind is ENMITY against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh CANNOT please God." And again, "know ye not that the friendship of the world is ENMITY with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is THE ENEMY of God" (Rom 8:7-8; James 4:4). Those texts were addressed to the church. It is said of those who are not believing on the Son that the wrath of God is abiding upon them (John 3:36), and they are "condemned already" (John 3:18). What the worldly church calls "carnal Christians" are a flagrant contradiction of the Spirit's affirmation of life in Christ. They are not "dead to sin" or "alive unto God" (6:11). They are not walking in the Spirit (8:4), mortifying the deeds of the body (8:13), or waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body. No doctrines must be presented to such people that would only serve to complicate their situation.
Our text is comforting the faithful, not salving the conscience of the unfaithful! It assumes the readers are keeping themselves in the love of God (Jude 1:21), else there is no point to speaking about nothing being able to separate them from it.
Thus, I will not use this text to buttress some preconceived and impersonal dogma about the safety of those who have made a profession of faith, yet live in practical contradiction of that profession. I have no interest whatsoever in defending lifeless dogma or the traditions of men. This text is spoken to those who are living by faith, and that is how it will be used in these devotions. There are words the Spirit addresses to those who are wandering, departing from the Lord, and walking in the flesh. However, they are not found in this text.
PRAYER POINT: Father, through Jesus Christ I thank you for the power to live in a realm where your exceeding great and precious promises can minister comfort, assurance, and expectation.