There are some wonderful “nothings” of the New Testament, such as the words of the thief hanging next to the Savior, declaring His sinlessness: “this man has done nothing wrong” (Luk 23:41).1 We cherish our eternal security when we hear Christ say, “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me” (Joh 6:39). And we rejoice at the words of Hebrews 2:8, that God has put all in subjection under Christ: “he left nothing outside his control.”
One of the most glorious “nothings” of the NT is found at the conclusion of Romans 8, where Paul asks the question, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” (v35). Then he looks around for potential candidates, naming seven in particular. “Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?” Then comes the glorious answer in verse 37 – “No!” Nothing can separate us. We might have expected Paul’s question to begin with “What” rather than “Who” because these are impersonal events. Yet Paul knew that the source of evil is never impersonal. Hints of that “who” will come in his next list.
Paul speaks with even greater confidence in verse 38, using the words “I am sure.” The perfect tense of the verb means, “I have become and remain sure.” He then goes on to give an even longer list of things (and beings) that might sever us from Christ’s love, including the one who is the source of evil. But with boldness Paul declares, “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth … will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (vv38-39). OK, I left one out. Just in case Paul missed something, he adds at the end, “nor anything else in all creation.” That’s as comprehensive a list as you can get. Who can separate us from God’s love? No one! What can separate us from God’s love? Nothing! And that nothing is everything.
We need to remember this often, for we question it often. It might appear that we have reason to. A young wife and mother suddenly loses her husband and is left to care for her children alone. A missionary couple is arrested, beaten and starved. Cancer is slowly sapping the life out of yet another believer in your local church. Do these tragedies mean that God’s people have been separated from God’s love? How can He love us and allow these things to happen to us? Of course, we could ask those same questions about God as we see His Son hanging in shame, in suffering and in thirst upon a cross. Did that mean the Son was any less loved by His Father? No. A marvelous purpose was being fulfilled. And in ways which may be incomprehensible to us now, God is able to use the trials and difficulties of His people for our good and His glory (v28).
Paul was no stranger to suffering. He knew what he was talking about, for he had experienced (and would further experience) all the terrible hardships he mentioned here and more (2Co 11:23-27), yet he still basked in Christ’s love for him (Gal 2:20; Eph 3:19). And you were questioning God’s love because the car broke down this week!
1 Bible quotations in this article are from the ESV.
