I love Romans 8. This remarkable chapter highlights and elevates the glorious salvation we possess in Christ which is to be known and experienced and walked in. Romans 8 shows us and presses upon us the assurance of salvation that we can know in Christ.  

Do you want to live in the abundance of life that Christ died to give you? It is found in this assurance.

And so in my view, Romans 8 above all, I believe, is a chapter on assurance. It overflows with the language of assurance, starting in the first verse: 

• No condemnation (8:1)
• spirit of adoption crying abba father (8:15)
• the spirit bears witness with our spirit (8:16)

But it is when we get to the last section of this marvelous chapter, that we come to a sort of crescendo and it reaches its peak in these verses we are looking at today. 

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? 

Now, Paul could simply say: Nobody! But instead he develops his answer. He doesn’t just give a one word answer. He gives a four and a half verse answer. Sometimes fewer words are better. We can use too many words to say something very simple, very straightforward. But Paul here is developing a truth that must be fleshed out and unpacked for us. Here we have the final layer to this thick and strong foundation for the Christians assurance. A foundation that in turn makes us strong rather than brittle. Full of confidence in the Lord rather than anxiety at the difficulties of life. Full of joy rather than despair. What Paul unpacks here is the final layer of this foundation and I think it is the final layer for a good reason. 

You may remember that there are two previous questions Paul asks. After proclaiming that is the Author of the Christian’s salvation is God - from foreknowledge (in eternity past) to glorification - he asks the question in verse 31:

What shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

He didn’t spare his own Son! Of course he will give us all things we need now and into eternity with His Son Whom he has already given us! That is assurance! Then Paul asks another question. Actually two, but it is the same essentially:

Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? Who is to condemn? (v. 33-34)

What is the answer? Well nobody! And why? Jesus! The right answer in Sunday school is always Jesus. I’m joking, of course, But here it is! Why can nobody bring a charge? Why can no one condemn? Because Christ Jesus died; he was raised; he has ascended to the Father’s right hand; and he is now interceding for us!  We sing the hymn Before the Throne…

Behold him there the risen Lamb, my perfect spotless righteousness… 

This is meant to give us a soaring assurance. Now it is one thing to know that God is for us. And because he is for us, truly nobody or nothing can successfully be against us! That is wonderful beyond measure. Come what may, God is for me! The Christian has this assurance. Likewise it is a precious gift to know and be assured that no charge can be laid against me. No condemning accusation can stick. This too is part of the assurance of the Christian. 

But Paul doesn’t stop there, and for good reason. The height of this assurance of salvation is not reached until we get here to the end, to the great love of Christ. This is the peak of Mount Everest. And so I come back to the question Paul raises, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” Instead of simply saying, “nobody”, he goes on to press the issue. He asks, 

Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

I think it is quite clear. To be separated from the love of Christ is to be cut off from it. The word separate here is the same word Jesus uses in relation to marriage. What God has joined together, let no man separate (Matthew 19:6). And so Paul lists some things. 

Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 

This is not an exhaustive list, but I think it pretty much covers all the worst things that could happen to us in life. And Christians have faced all of these things. Christians are not exempt from them. Some of these difficulties are part of living in a fallen, sinful world. Some come at the hands of other people. And some come from demonic sources. You only have to look at scripture. Read through the book of Acts, and you will see side by side the advance of the gospel AND difficulties. With only a cursory understanding of church history you would know that Christians have always faced these things. 

We need to look no further than Paul himself. This one man experienced all these things. He speaks from experience. Tribulation. You bet, all the time. Distress - anguish and extreme affliction. Yes. Persecution - all the time! Famine? Did Paul go hungry at times? Yes, he said he knew how to abound and be in want. Nakedness? Was Paul ever exposed to the elements and cold without a place to shelter? Yes! In danger? When was Paul not in danger? He describes his life as one of being in danger from the Jews, Gentiles, false brothers, in the city, out of the city… even in danger of wild beasts. What about the sword. It seems as though Paul lived his entire life as a Christian under a sentence of death. I wonder how often it crossed his mind, “Is this the end?” And so Paul knows from experience… and asks “Can these things separate us from the love of Christ?”

But Paul’s not done building his argument. He goes on. In verse 36, he quotes a portion of Psalm 44. 

As it is written, “For your sake, we are being killed all the day long, we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.

The portion of the psalm that Paul quotes is where the psalmist is lamenting the fact that God has given his people over, he has given them over to be slaughtered by their enemies. When Christians are distressed and persecuted and experience tribulation, and even facing death, is this what is happening? Has God forgotten us? Has he rejected them? Has he rejected us? Are we merely like sheep being led to the slaughter? We know the answer. 

Finally in verse 37, we get the answer that we have all been waiting for… except it is not just one word. Can these things separate us from the love of Christ? Has our God rejected us? Will he ever? Paul gives his answer. And it begins with the one word we all expect, but does not’ end there. 

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

In all these things… not once we get through them or after they are past. Not when we die and go to heaven. All of that is true, but it is not what Paul is saying. He is pressing upon us that it is in the midst of the greatest difficulties we could face in life - in them - that we are more than conquerors through the love of Christ!

More than conquerors… I have to take issue with the translation of the ESV here. More than conquerors. I understand why they chose this rendering instead of the NASB “overwhelmingly conquer” because that seems a little clumsy. But “overwhelmingly conquer” is better nevertheless. And here’s why: it is a verb and not a noun. It describes something we do and not merely something we are. In other words, this is something that the Christian can expect to experience in his relationship with Jesus Christ. 

In all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us. 

The word conquer is the Greek word “Nikao”. The tennis shoe brand Nike gets its name from this word. It means to overcome, to win a victory. We see this word used extensively throughout the book of Revelation. It is used in each of the letters to the seven churches describing a certain kind of Christian: “To him who overcomes…”

Jesus also uses this word when he says, “In this world you will have tribulation. But take heart, I have overcome the world.” These are statements of victory. Of triumphing. So what does it mean to overwhelmingly conquer? 

We have to see this. We have to understand this… as much as we possibly can. To conquer means to win. But this says we do more than just conquer. The compound word is “hupernikao”. We talked about “nikao” - to overcome, to win a victory. The prefix “huper” means exceedingly or abundantly or overwhelmingly. Through the love of Christ, in tribulation, distress, and so forth, we don’t just win a victory. No, we abundantly win. We abundantly conquer. How on earth can that be? 

1. When these things that threaten to divide us and cut us off from the love of Christ actually serve God’s greater purpose for our good. Romans 8:28-29 shows us God’s purpose. 

2. When we experience the great love of Christ even more in the midst of these things. This is how we overwhelmingly conquer! It is when facing some difficulty, some trial, or hardship that the Lord Jesus Christ comes to us and his love is more precious and real to us. This is what it means to overwhelmingly conquer through his love. Of course, we have to understand that the Holy Spirit is the vital Person in all of this. Remember the Holy Spirit is called the “Spirit of Christ”. And it is the Holy Spirit, through Whom God pours his great love into our hearts. John 16:7. How could this be true if Christ, his presence, and his love weren’t more deeply known and experienced through the Holy Spirit.

Samuel Rutherford, a Scottish minister from long ago, knew and expressed this truth:

The secret formula of the saints: When I am in the cellar of affliction, I look for the Lord’s choicest wines.

Well, Romans 8 ends with Paul giving this glorious, boastful, confident declaration:

For I am sure that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

He says, “I am sure…” You can hear Paul’s boasting, his total confidence. Can you say that? Not just read if on the pages of scripture as something Paul said, but can you say that because you know the great love of Christ? Nothing in all creation. Well, what else is there? Nothing. 

Only someone who knows the love of Christ… by experience and not just as a theological truth can say this. And this is where I fear I am too inexperienced. I want to know this love, by experience, more. 

Only someone who has experienced the love of God poured into their hearts by the Holy Spirit can say such things (Romans 5:5). Only those who know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge can speak like this (Ephesians 3). Only one who is so controlled by the love of Christ has this kind of confidence (2 Corinthians 5:14). 

But beloved, this is for all of God’s children. We have all seen the difference between a child that is well loved and cared for and one who is not. The one soars with a joyful confidence, an assurance that mom and dad are for me, they love me. The other struggles with fears and anxieties… often taking out their insecurities on themselves and others in all sorts of sinful and destructive behavior. 

All of God’s children are to know this great love of Christ. This is not for a special few Christians. This is for all who are in Christ. And that is the point. It is the love of God “in Christ Jesus”. The love of God found in Christ Jesus our Lord. It is found in Christ who died for us. Who lives and intercedes for us. We will never be separated from this love. There can be many reasons why this is not our experience, I suppose. 

But we may pray for it. And we should! Paul teaches how. In fact, in one of the great prayers in the NT, Paul prays for this very thing. He prays that the Christians in Ephesus would experience the great love of Christ. Here is what he says,

14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:14-19)

Do you not hear in these words a deep and glorious experience of the love of Christ? Strengthened with power through the Spirit in your inner being. Christ dwelling in your hearts through faith. Rooted and grounded in love. To know the incomprehensible love of Christ is described as being “filled with all the fullness of God”. If you are a Christian, this is for you. This is the way of assurance. This is the way of abundantly conquering in all of life’s circumstances. This is the path of boldness and joy and holiness and generosity. This is the way of confidence even though we don’t know what the future holds. We need this full assurance for the days in which we live… for the dark days ahead. 

Nothing in all of creation can separate us from the love of Christ. Brothers and sisters, seek God for it. Seek him for a heart full of the love of Christ and all the riches of full assurance that comes with it. This is where the abundant life is found. Let’s pray.