No Separation in Christ
Paul wraps up this great section of Romans 8 with the following two verses: “38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” There is nothing that can separate us from God’s love…but note the caveat…”which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”. I believe the scripture reveals to us that God loves everyone but there is a different love and a different relationship for those who are “in Christ”. If one is not “in Christ” he/she will be separated from God’s love upon death but not if he is in Christ. I think this is a truth that we cannot shy away from sharing. I remember listening to President Bush’s speech at the National Cathedral a few days after the attack on the World Trade Center towers. At the very end of his remarks [which you can watch on youtube] he said this: “As we’ve been assured, neither death nor life nor angels, nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth can separate us from God’s love”. Did you notice something missing? Perhaps it was an oversight. But unfortunately I don’t think so. All the words of verse 38-39 were quoted except the phrase, “which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”. Perhaps it wasn’t politically correct…perhaps it was judged to be too divisive…but that doesn’t change what the Bible says. Nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.