“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?” -Romans 8:35
Here Paul addresses another area of concern for the believer, one’s well-being. The afflictions we face in this life are not only unsettling, stressful, and sometimes painful, but they also tend to raise, like brooding storm clouds, real doubts about God’s love for us.
Paul bolsters the believer’s confidence in God’s love for them by raising the question: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Sometimes, afflictions are meant to be judgments, but for the believer no affliction is ever punitive. It’s true God’s chastens his own sons (Hebrews 12:5), but even that is a reminder of God’s mercy toward us in bringing by way of repentance back into joyful fellowship with him (for our sakes, not his).
Tribulations are any kind of evil or trouble that afflicts us. Distress is the internal anxiety that weighs on us because of afflictions, tribulations, and persecutions. Persecution is the unjust oppression and violence done to God’s own children. Famine, nakedness, danger, and the sword are the various ways in which a believer may suffer and ultimately lose his or her life. Famine is the lack of proper nourishment or food, nakedness is the lack of proper clothing or shelter, danger are the many and varied perils one faces in an uncertain and fallen world, and of course, the sword is synecdoche for execution.
In all these afflictions, God’s love for us stand assured. It is objective. It is not based on our merits or abilities. He loves us immutably because he is immutable. His knew us before the foundations of the world, his mercy was extended to us on the cross of Calvary, and his love is spread abroad in our hearts by his Holy Spirit, who leads, guides, and comforts us in all our afflictions.
Nothing shall separate us from the love of Christ.
This is so encouraging. Thank you Scott!