Who Can Separate?

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?... 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.

If God has already given His own Son for us, what could possibly stand against us—or separate us from His love?

Father, Teach Us by Your Spirit

Father, we thank You for Your word. We praise You Jesus that You have revealed Yourself to us in a way that we can know You, that we can know Your will and know what You are like. You desire that we would have relationship with You, and so You have made it possible that we can come before Your presence with thanksgiving, to honor and worship You. As we open Your word, may this also be worship, as we see You high and lifted up. Draw us to Yourself, and continue to transform us by the renewing of our minds, that we would display Your good and perfect will. We live in a world in desperate need of Your grace, mercy, and peace—and You've given these to us, along with a ministry of reconciliation. Help us to be ambassadors, carrying Your word to those in need. Teach us now by Your Spirit. In Jesus' name, amen. You can be seated.

Remembering All That Is Ours in Christ

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus—and we are in Christ Jesus, not because of anything we have done. The law could not do it, for it was weak through our flesh. But God did it by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh; on account of sin He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the righteous requirement of His law might be fulfilled in us, to the glory of God.

Because of this we have been adopted as His children. "Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called His children." When we meditate on the love of Christ—"He demonstrates His love toward us, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us"—we come to recognize what Paul says here: "how shall He not also freely give us all things?" If He has already done that, how shall He not fulfill what He has promised? Paul had such confidence in this that in Philippians 1 he said, "Being confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus." God will finish the work He started in Christ.

So Paul asks, "What then shall we say to these things?" What should our response be to all we have in Christ? In Christ we are no longer under condemnation; we no longer sit under the sentence of damnation. In Christ we are in the Spirit, with the Spirit of God dwelling in us and enabling us to walk in a way that pleases God. We have all known the place of Romans 7, where we try to please God by our own strength—the good we want to do, we don't do; the evil we don't want to do, we practice—until we cry, "O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me?" Romans 8 reveals that Jesus is our deliverance.

Spirit-indwelt followers of Christ are the adopted sons and daughters of God, and as His children we have an inheritance. More than that, we are joint heirs with Christ, partakers of eternal glory. "When we see Him, we shall be like Him" (1 John). Paul tells us in Philippians 3 that He will "transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body." First Corinthians 15 says that "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye," this corruption will put on incorruption and this mortality will put on immortality. Though we may suffer trials in this life, Paul says these "are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us." He does not say might be revealed—it shall be revealed. It is certain.

We also know, verse 28, that "all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." Not all things are good things—there are people among us, or connected to us, facing difficult and painful things right now—but all things are working for good, because God has a plan. And finally we know that God, according to His foreknowledge, has predestined us in Christ to be conformed to the image of His Son. That is our final destination. Because of that, verse 30 says He has called, justified, and glorified—and Paul says "glorified" as though it is already past tense. In the realm of time it is not yet done, but as God looks at us, it is finished. We are holy and blameless before Him.

Since God Is for Us, Who Can Be Against Us?

Seeing all this, what do we conclude? "If God is for us, who can be against us?" That word if should not be read as doubt; it could equally be translated since. Since God is for us, no one can stand against us.

We have already seen in Romans 1-3 that all humanity is completely lost apart from Christ. There is the hedonist, living in open rebellion—the kind of person you look at and say, "That person's lost." (Maybe you saw him in the mirror this morning.) Then in chapter 2 Paul shifts to the moralist, the one who condemns the hedonist while being guilty of the same things in his heart, for sin resides in the heart and from the heart come evil thoughts and actions (Mark 7). And beyond the moralist, the self-righteous religionist—the one who lives by a codified set of ethics and looks good to everyone, like the Pharisee Saul of Tarsus once was—is just as much a sinner.

So we see our absolute lostness, and then God comes and redeems us. While we were His enemies, still dead in our trespasses, He loved us in a clear and demonstrable way. We had given God every possible reason to be against us—we lived our rebellion out in the open—and yet He died for us to redeem us. The only conclusion is that God is for us. And if He is for us, who can be against us?

Notice it says who, not what. The follower of God endures many trials, sufferings, and hardships, but with God as your "shield and exceedingly great reward," who can stand against you? Psalm 118:6 says, "The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?" One with God is an unequivocal majority.

One with God Is a Majority

Think of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. At Helm's Deep the battle has raged for five days and all seems lost. On the morning of the fifth day, Aragorn remembers Gandalf's word—"Look for me at first light on the fifth day"—and they ride out against an insurmountable army of orcs. As they do, they look east and there is Gandalf with a great army, coming to tip the scale, and the day is won. We love stories where help arrives at just the right time. Even though you anticipate the victory, there is a moment in the middle where you wonder, "Is it really going to be okay?"—and then your blood pressure drops as deliverance comes.

Every one of us is in a spiritual battle. What happens in the realm of humanity is the physical manifestation of a spiritual battle going on behind the veil. When you put your faith in Christ, you enlisted in that battle—maybe the evangelist didn't tell you, but you found out quickly. We wrestle "not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places." And in that battle we sometimes think, "I'm going to lose; I can't handle this anymore."

Then we come to a passage like this: "If God is for us, who can be against us?" The answer to that rhetorical question is simple—no one. Why? Because "greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world." The battle may seem too big, but we have a great Partner who is stronger than anything we could imagine. And there's a book at the back of your Bible called Revelation—the answers are always at the back of the book—that tells us we win. There are many Christians living in defeat, reading too much of the Drudge Report and listening to too much Glenn Beck, thinking everything is falling apart. We win, church. It's His battle, and He already won it.

He Did Not Spare His Own Son

How can we be so sure He is for us? Verse 32: "He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" We need to ponder anew what He has already done. If He has already paid the greater price, we are guaranteed He will pay the lesser. He has accomplished our redemption, salvation, and adoption. On the cross He did not say, "It's nearly done; you've got to do the rest." He said, "It is finished." If He has already paid that great price, will He not also fulfill the rest?

There are two ways to read this verse, and I think both are true. God the Father, with Jesus by His side, freely gives us all things—and indeed, when Jesus ascended on high, He gave gifts to men, so Jesus is the giver. But we can also read it this way: How shall God the Father not freely give us all things along with Jesus? If He has already given us His Son, He will give us everything. If He was willing to bankrupt heaven by giving His only begotten Son, then everything else is no great matter.

God in Christ has paid our insurmountable debt and borne our unbearable burden. Beyond what He has already done, He has given us great and precious promises—He will "freely give us all things." Not a couple of things, as if He hands us a bow but makes us craft our own arrows and figure out the rest. Second Peter 1:3 says that "His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature." Ephesians 1:3 says He "has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places"—not might bless, but has blessed, all of it in Christ.

Who Shall Bring a Charge Against God's Elect?

Therefore, verse 33: "Who shall bring charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies." If God is for us and has done all these things, who can possibly accuse God's elect?

The word "elect" here is plural—it speaks of us who are in Christ. But we must recognize that Jesus is the Elect One. Isaiah 42:1 says, "Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles." He brings salvation to the Gentiles—and that's most of us here, a bunch of pig-dog Gentiles, myself included. First Peter 2:4-6 likewise calls Him the chosen, precious cornerstone, "elect and precious." Jesus is the Elect One, and we are elect in Him. By the very nature of being in Christ (Ephesians 1:3-14), we are elect. This is the only way I believe you can rightly understand election in the Bible.

There is a teaching in the church that says God, before the foundation of the world, elected certain people to be saved and elected the overwhelming majority to be damned. I have a problem with that, because it impugns the character of God and makes Him evil—electing people to hell, and then sending them there for the sin He destined them to commit, saying, "That's your fault." That is not revealed in Scripture. Jesus is the Elect One, and God has elected that all who are in Him will be elect too. Just as Rahab and all who were in her house in Jericho were saved because they were in the house, so we are elect in the Son.

Romans 8 has the great bookends "in Christ Jesus"—in verses 1-2 and again in verse 39. For all who are in Christ, who shall bring an accusation? The devil is called the accuser of the brethren, and he comes before God day and night to accuse us. But he is met with this reality: "It is God who justifies." Romans 3:26 tells us God is the justifier. To justify is to declare righteous, and we are clothed in a robe of Christ's righteousness, not our own. When the accuser stands before God, God says, "I have justified that person; he is in My Son."

Who Is He Who Condemns?

Verse 34: "Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who makes intercession for us." We instantly assume Satan is the one who condemns, but Satan has no authority or jurisdiction to condemn. Who has that power? Jesus does. John 5:22 says the Father has committed to Jesus the authority—the Greek exousia, jurisdiction—to judge. Jesus said, "Do not fear the one who can take your life, but fear Him who can take your life and condemn to hell." That is Jesus. John 5:26 says, "As the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man." He alone can justly condemn someone to hell.

But in Christ, "there is therefore now no condemnation." Consider the Old Testament manslayer—someone who killed accidentally, what we call manslaughter. Picture a man cutting down a tree when the axe head flies off and strikes his friend dead. Before God's law, the rule from Genesis 9 governed: "Whoever sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed." So the near of kin would come and kill the manslayer, even though it was an accident.

Then God gave His law and made provision: six Cities of Refuge, three on each side of the Jordan, each within a day's journey. If you killed someone unintentionally, you could flee there, have your case heard by the elders, and if found innocent of intent, live safely as long as you remained in the city, beyond the reach of the avenger. Strikingly, there is not a single reference in the Old Testament to anyone ever using them—a lot of prime real estate and tax money for cities never recorded as used.

Why, then? First Corinthians 10 tells us these things were written as foreshadowings for us. Every human being is guilty of manslaughter—we have all slain the only begotten Son of God by our sin, whether we realize it or not. And He has a near of kin: His Father. So what do we do? We flee for refuge. The only time the word refuge appears in the New Testament is in reference to Jesus in Hebrews 7. He is our City of Refuge. If we are in Him, we are safe from condemnation, though we are guilty. There is no safety outside of Christ—only in Christ.

Christ Died, Rose, and Intercedes for Us

"It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen." Why does His death and resurrection matter here? First Corinthians 15:3 says, "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and was buried, and rose again the third day." Romans 4:25 says He "was delivered up for our transgressions and raised for our justification." He died for our sins; He rose for our justification.

And now? Verse 34 says He is "at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us." He is on the throne in heaven—the Mercy Seat—and there He is our Advocate. First Timothy 2:5: "There is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus." First John 2:1: "If anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." Hebrews 7:25: "He is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them." The accuser may accuse you, but Jesus intercedes, saying, "They are in Me."

J.B. Phillips renders verse 34: "Who would dare to accuse us, whom God has chosen? The judge himself has declared us free from sin. Who is in a position to condemn? Only Christ, and Christ died for us, Christ rose for us, Christ reigns in power for us, Christ prays for us."

Who Shall Separate Us?

Verse 35: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" Every one of these is a rhetorical question, and the answer is the same. Who shall separate us? No one. Tribulation? No. Distress and anguish? No. Persecution? No. Famine, nakedness, peril, sword? No, no, no, no, no. Nothing shall separate us.

Verse 36 quotes Psalm 44: "For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter." Those who are God's possession endure continual tribulation, persecution, and danger. Christians are not taken away from these things; they go through them. Such things may separate life from this feeble body, but they will not separate us from Him.

When facing persecution on his way to Jerusalem—where prophecy declared he would be bound and killed—Paul said in Acts 20:24, "None of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus." And in 2 Corinthians 4 he wrote, "We have this treasure in earthen vessels... We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed... Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though the outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory... For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal." We may go through tribulation, but it is nothing compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.

More Than Conquerors

Verse 37: "Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." Not by our own strength or ingenuity, but through Him. Jesus prayed in John 17:15, "I do not pray that You would take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one." He is not determined to remove us from tribulation, but He has promised to be with us in the midst of it. When Paul faced affliction and pleaded three times that God would remove it, God answered, "My grace is sufficient for you; My strength is made perfect in weakness." So Paul said, "I will boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

Verse 38: "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 created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus." J.B. Phillips renders it: "I have become absolutely convinced that neither death nor life, neither messenger of Heaven nor monarch on earth, neither what happens today nor what may happen tomorrow, neither a power from on high nor a power from below, nor anything else in God's whole world has any power to separate us from the love of God which is in Jesus Christ our Lord!"

Do You Know This?

As we close, I add to the list we began last week of what we know in Christ—the key words of our victory, for there is no victory outside of Christ. We know that we are God's children by new birth and adoption. We have an inheritance with Him forever. Suffering is temporary. Tribulation produces perseverance, character, and hope. The Spirit of God helps us in our weakness and intercedes for us, and apparently through us. All things work together for good. Our being predestined in Him is certain. We are called, justified, and ultimately will be glorified. God is for us. Christ is making intercession for us. We are more than conquerors. And nothing will separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

The question is: Do you know this, or is it just words on a page to you? Have you come to the place where you are in Christ, assured that nothing will separate you from the love of God in Him? Are you today in Christ, or are you trying to fend for yourself outside the refuge found only in Him? God is our refuge, an ever-present help in time of trouble. There is no help outside of Him—desperation, frustration, and loss await those who are not in Christ.