Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom.8:35-39)
Paul finishes this section of his letter, which translators have dubbed Romans 8, with a theological volley. It reveals the mindset of a spiritual warrior and a mindset that we must all adopt as we move into a probable season of persecution in the world and our nation. There is definitely a war on Christianity and Judaism unfolding all around the globe and we would be naïve to think we will escape it. The spirit of Anti-Christ is certainly on the move.
In the face of his own battles with this spirit, we should notice Paul’s emphasis in this section. It is not so much on power as it is on love. His great hope is the love of Christ and the devil’s inability to sever us from that love. As you look at this part of Paul’s letter, you realize that this love is a sustaining love. If you don’t watch the context, you might assume that Christ’s love keeps us from trouble in this world and just moves us from blessing to blessing as we live the good life above the fray. The context does not suggest that and Jesus never promised that either. In fact, what he did promise was persecution and trouble (see Matt.5:10-12 and John 16:33). He also promised great reward for those who did not abandon their faith in the midst of that trouble.
I have noticed an essential difference between our brothers and sisters in places like China and the Middle East and American believers. Those coming to Christ in “non-Christian” countries expect and even invite persecution and hardship for the sake of Jesus. They pray for strength to endure while we in America pray for God to deliver us from any hardships and almost take offense when they come.
Paul makes no promise that God’s umbrella of protection will keep us from struggles. To the contrary he uses words like hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, sword, death and slaughter to describe the potential Christian experience in this world. Paul’s hope is not in a life of ease and blessing in this world but in the love of Christ sustaining him in seasons of hardship as he presses toward the next life.
Many believers see hardship as evidence of God’s indifference or abandonment. Paul saw hardship as the normal course of the believer’s life while we push back against the dominion of darkness. But in the midst of that he experienced the love and faithfulness of the risen Lord. In fact, it is in the midst of battle and struggle that we truly discover the goodness and faithfulness of God. Because of that he saw himself as more than a conqueror. The Greek word means to “completely prevail” and is actually a verb declaring that we live in a state of absolute triumph. The “indicative mood” of the verb makes it clear that Paul sees this state as an actual rather than a potential or figurative view of the believer’s life. The paradox is that we truly are more than conquerors even while sitting in a “Chi-com” cell in a re-education camp outside of Beijing or in a hospital room watching a loved one fight a losing battle with cancer. Only an eternal and relational view of our faith makes that possible.
Ultimately, for our faith to endure we must believe that God is, that God is always good, and that God is always motivated by his love toward us. We must also believe that the “norm” is this world is hardship at some level. We live in fallen world. We still live in enemy territory. We still have bodies subject to aging and our own bad choices in diet and exercise. Hardship comes in the form of persecution, broken relationships, damaged genes, internal struggles against temptation, demonic attack, and more. (Don’t think about it or you won’t want to get out of bed in the morning.) It is the rare believer and, probably, the one who keeps a low profile on the devil’s radar that doesn’t encounter significant battles in this world.
The victory comes in knowing the ultimate outcome of every struggle and every encounter with the enemy. The victory is often apparent in this world but at other times it won’t seem so apparent except that the “big win” is always being with Jesus. In the movie, Saving Private Ryan, Captain John Miller (played by Tom Hanks) told his men that his primary objective in the war was to get home to his wife. Our primary objective must also be to get home and our primary mindset must be that this world is not our home. How often do we find believers who are angry at God because some saintly person they knew died. If our primary goal for ourselves and others is to be with Jesus then we should not be angry when those we love reach that goal – maybe envious but not angry.
Paul’s celebration was not about “the good life” on earth but that no person, no demon, and no circumstance can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. No doubt there will be seasons of blessing in this life but there will also be seasons of battle. In all of that, the love and grace of God is assured and we can take heart in that. We will never be alone and his grace will also be sufficient. Knowing that, we can live without fear as those whose ultimate triumph is absolute and absolutely assured. Be of good courage.
