The Unconditional Love Of Christ

Romans 8:35-39

There are many Christians today who live in fear that something they will do, or say, or think, will turn the Lord God against them, and He will no longer love or want them as His child.  Or perhaps some sort of trial or tribulation they are going through will somehow cut them off from the Lord.  Often these are newer Christians, and Satan uses this tactic to send them into anxiety.  As we finish up the 8th Chapter of the Book of Romans today, let’s look at what the Apostle Paul has to say about this.

In verse 35 Paul asks a hypothetical question of his readers.  Is there anything that can separate us from the love of Christ?  Satan has used this thought against believers for centuries, especially newer believers.  He will plant the negative thought in their brain that there is something they have done, or something that has happened in their life, that has shut them off from the love of Jesus.  Paul proclaimed in these verses that this just was not the case.  He, more than most people, had gone through all sorts of tribulations and spiritual attacks in his life.  He knew, though, that nothing he had gone through, and thus nothing we’ll ever go through, that will separate us from Jesus’s love.

“Tribulations” would refer to adversities that are common to all men.  “Distress” is when you are hemmed in by your circumstances.  And “persecutions” are suffering from others because of one’s faith in Jesus.  Paul knew all about these in his own personal life, and he has given us assurance that none of these can separate us from Jesus.  God has a deep and lasting love for His children.  No matter what happens in our lives, we can never lose His love.

In verse 37 we read the term “more than conquerors”.  How can someone be more than a conqueror?  If you conquer someone or something, you have won, you are the victor.  How can you be more than that?  A former pastor of mine told a story that explains this.  There was a boxer who was fighting a championship fight for large prize money.  The fight went on and on, with the boxer getting battered and bloodied, but in the end, after all twelve rounds, he was the winner, the conqueror.  He took the prize money home and gave it to his wife.  She hadn’t been in the fight.  Not one punch fell on her, but she received the prize money.  She was more than a conqueror!  Jesus took all of the blows, all of the pain, and all for us.  Through Him we are more than conquerors!

In the last two verses of our passage, Paul restates his premise that nothing, absolutely nothing can separate the born-again believer from the love of God which we have received through Christ Jesus (vs. 38 - 39).  There are many things that can sever, or at the very least, tangle up the band of human love.  Once we’ve accepted Jesus as our Savior, though, nothing can sever God’s love for us, nor can anything break our bond with Him.  Jesus said that no one can pluck us out of the Father’s hand (John 10:29).

The words “principalities” and “powers” here refer to both rulers or those people in authority over us, and also the powerful beings in the angelic or demonic realm, as well.  Paul is stating that no one or nothing in either the physical realm or the spirit world can separate us from God and His love for us.  Nothing in life, from beginning to end, will separate us from His love.  Nothing created can, either.  Death can’t.  Nor can angels or demons.  Nothing in our past or our future.

Nothing in this world can touch us unless it has first passed through our Savior, and He, in His love, has permitted it.  When we are going through trials, especially if they are severe, we might fear that God has abandoned us.  Paul gives us great reassurance here  that we can never be separated from God.  Jesus’s death for us proves that (Romans 8:32).  As we conclude this great chapter in the Book of Romans we know we can be secure in His love for us.