NOTHING CAN SEPARATE US FROM GOD’S LOVE

Nothing Can Separate Us from God’s Love

“For I am certain that nothing can separate us from his love: neither death nor life, neither angels nor other heavenly rulers or powers, neither the present nor the future, neither the world above nor the world below—there is nothing in all creation that will ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8: 38-39)

Romans 8:38-39 has been an important verse my whole life. I memorized it when I was a ten or eleven. In college, my friends and I debated what the heavenly rulers or powers were. But it wasn’t until I was in my mid-thirties that this verse became my lifeline. That spring the women’s Bible study focused on Romans. Though no one in the group suspected, I was contemplating filing for divorce. Back then “Thou shalt not get divorced” was the eleventh commandment, and divorce had not yet touched my group of friends or the Bratcher clan.

Two years of prayer and intensive work with three different counselors had failed to make any progress on the monumental problems in my marriage. My life was in ruins, and I was caught in a downward spiral of despair. Then one evening this verse jumped off the page at me: Nothing can separate us from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord–not life. Not even divorce.

Paul’s All-Inclusive Examples

New Testament scholar William Barclay calls Romans 8:31-39 “one of the most lyrical passages that Paul ever wrote.” The list of things we fear most flowed from Paul’s pen: death, life, rulers (seen and unseen), the present, the future, even heaven and hell. Not one of those, exclaims Paul, can separate us from the love of God in our Lord Jesus.

That’s not to say these things won’t do their best to separate us from God’s love; it’s not even to say these things won’t sometimes make us feel we’ve been separated from God’s love. What this verse promises is the constancy of God and God’s love. Paul speaks from experience. His biography is a catalog of the things we fear the most. Paul was run out of town, beaten and left for dead, shipwrecked, even thrown in prison.

The Heart of the Matter

Through it all Paul discovered nothing separated him from God’s love in Jesus. Just as I discovered my divorce didn’t separate me from God’s love in Jesus. That’s the heart of the matter: nothing in all creation can take away God’s love for us in our Lord Jesus. So take heart, friends, whatever you’re facing, God loves you.