If God Be for Us… And He Is! Part Four

Romans 8:31

Romans 8:35 asks the question: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” Following is one of the strongest passages proving the eternal security of the believer, that is, once you are saved you are kept.

The “Who” is a personal pronoun referring to Satan. He is the counter universal super power. If He can’t separate us no one can. Observe the inventory of tyrants that try to separate us.

Tribulation. This is a reference to the many common problems we face. It translates a word meaning “to be squeezed or thrashed” from without.

Distress. This is a compound word meaning “to be caught in a narrow place” or “to be hemmed-in with no way out.” It speaks of being trapped by oppressive circumstances.

Persecution. This refers to physical or mental suffering inflicted by others.

Famine. Emphatically NO!

Nakedness. Not even a non-designer label wardrobe.

Peril. Any number of threatening dangers can’t.

Sword. A reference to war. Not even it can separate us.

In all these things “we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (8:37).

This was no abstract theory. This was a statement coming from a man who had experienced all of these things. Out of his personal crucible of crisis he reached this conclusion.

The list goes on and whatever the extreme in all these things we are more than conquerors.

In life or death we are MORE than conquerors.

In things present and things future we are MORE than conquerors.

Whether heights or depths, whatever dimension or space or time, we are more than conquerors.

“We are more than conquerors,” we are B – I – G winners, super-conquerors.

“I am persuaded” (8:38), I have reached a fixed conviction about which there is no doubt. This persuasion came from and comes from experiencing God in all circumstances.

Have you been doubting instead of being persuaded of God’s love? You can undergo a change. Three steps are involved.

The first level is knowledge. This is easy to change. You have been afforded Biblical insight in this passage that is enough to change your knowledge level.

Second is attitude. This is tougher to change. It is knowledge that is emotionally charged. Now you know something and you feel very strongly about it positively or negatively.

The third level is behavior. You have to do something. You have to overcome an old way of thinking or habit. “To separate” is an aorist infinitive meaning no one at any one moment in time is able to separate us from the love of God for even an instant, much less for eternity. The believer is secure in Jesus. That is true today and every day.