Romans 5-8 is a nonstop thrill ride, accelerating us from one piece of explosive good news to the next.
“Hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” (5:5)
“Just as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all.” (5:18)
“We were buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” (6:4)
“We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, so that we might no longer be enslaved to sin.” (6:6)
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (8:1)
That’s just a slice of the mind-blowing good news we find in these four chapters. It really is too good to be true, and true, at the same time. So as Paul brings this section of Romans to a close, what is there left to do but celebrate? “What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us?” (8:31) Paul hits us with a round of rapid-fire rhetorical questions. Who is against us? Who will bring a charge against us? Who will condemn us? Who will separate us from the love of Christ?
Nothing and no one. Period.
It’s worth thinking about what we feel is working against us. Who or what is trying to condemn us? Who or what in our lives is trying to convince us that all this good news isn’t all that true after all? To help us think about this, Paul brings in a conversation partner: Psalm 44. The Psalms are not afraid to complain to God, and not afraid to express the expectation that God should fix what’s broken. Psalm 44 does all this, but with a dark edge. Here the Psalmist declares God’s people innocent of wrongdoing, and therefore God is the one failing to hold up his half of the covenant! And because of that, “For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.” (Psalm 44:22; Romans 8:36)
But no, not even this voice that rises from the darkest pit of despair can undo the infinite good that the death and resurrection of Jesus accomplished. “No, in all these things we are more than victorious through him who loved us.” (8:37) The final cherry on top of all this good news is that it’s true, and it’s going to stay true. This gospel is stronger than whatever seeks to condemn us. God’s love for us is stronger than all the things working against us. Life is going to throw a lot of things (and people) at us that want to convince us that our sin and brokenness will eventually carry us beyond that final threshold where God’s love can no longer reach us.
But this is what Romans is announcing to us over and over again: there is no threshold. There is no final border past which God’s love vanishes. There is no expiration date for what the cross accomplished. And therefore, “nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (8:39) Let us listen closely to the spatial gospel here: nothing can make us any closer to or further away from God’s love than we are right now. God’s love is near us, in us, around us, binding us, and that cannot be changed. What can separate? Nothing and no one. Period.
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