The Unshakable Promise of God

Reading Romans 8:26-39 in a small group recently, I was struck most by the last four verses:

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, "For thy sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, 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.

This remarkable and uplifting passage describes the unshakable promise of God. The context of these verses is important. Paul assumes that weakness, conflict, and hardship are normal for the Christian life and, for that matter, human life. We Americans have a hard time understanding that and assume that adversity is abnormal and must be avoided.

In fact, the goal of American Christianity is to get out of adversity and into security. We believe in the God of the quick fix who will make us happy, prosperous, and protected. We are forever wanting to get out of our bad feelings, insecurities, and weaknesses and move into strength, security, and control. And we ask God to help us, to take our problems away. We seek the book, speaker, counsel, experience, or prayer that will get us out of our difficult situation.

All of this is a false gospel.

For Paul adversity is part of life, and especially part of the Christian life lived in conflict with the world.

Success, according to this passage, is not the avoidance of adversity but knowing the love of God in adversity. The promise made by the passage is not that God will remove the difficulties of life, but that God will continue to love us through them.

Those who accept the adversities of life and find God's love in the midst of them are those who become the wise, healed, whole, and joyful people. Often Christians whose faith has been purified through suffering are the most joyful of all. On the other hand, those who spend their lives in the desperate attempt to avoid hardship and pain often end up most miserable and filled with anxiety.

Our comfortable Christian lives in the United States, which are seldom in conflict with the world, make it difficult for us to understand this passage. But it is beginning to make sense to those Christians who are making their way into community, into relationships with the poor, into economic insecurity, into peacemaking. We have begun to experience some of what Paul is talking about; to know our own and others' weakness, fear, pain, conflict, struggle, and persecution by the authorities. This is a passage for our future.

It speaks now to circumstances of the church in many places on the globe today, but it is for our future as we respond more faithfully to the gospel and join in active fellowship with the suffering church in other parts of the world. That is the key to our future.

Suffering does not necessarily lead to spiritual maturity. It can lead to bitterness, frustration, anger, and violence. We all know people who have allowed their suffering to embitter them and destroy their lives. Even social movements, in response to injustice and suffering, can become violent forces of revenge and hatred.

But oppression and suffering can also lead to trust in the love of God. Suffering can help us let go of everything and realize that there is no alternative but to depend on God. Abandoning ourselves to the love of God leads to spiritual maturity and wisdom.

We see both responses in ourselves, others, and in places of great oppression that have become revolutionary situations. The first response will always destroy, the second will heal.

The passage is simply the promise of God, whether we feel it or not, whether we accept it or not. It is our choice.

Who shall separate us from the love of God? Can trouble? No. Hardship? No. Persecution? No. Famine? No. Nakedness? No. Danger? No. Sword? No.

Paul meant the list to be suggestive, not exhaustive. We are invited to put in all that we fear could separate us from the love of God.

What are you afraid of?

Are you afraid that your weakness could separate you from the love of God? It can't. Are you afraid that your inadequacies could separate you from the love of God? They can't. Are you afraid that your inner poverty could separate you from the love of God? It can't.

Difficult marriage, loneliness, anxiety over your children's future? They can't. Negative self-image? It can't. Economic hardship, racial hatred, street crime? They can't.

Rejection by loved ones, the suffering of loved ones? They can't. Persecution by the authorities, going to jail? They can't. The President? He can't. War? It can't. Nuclear war? Even it can't.

I am convinced, says Paul, that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. We, too, must become convinced of that. It is, in the end, the one thing we can hang on to. Let us not run from adversity, fear, and suffering. Rather, let us claim the promise of God.

Jim Wallis was editor-in-chief of Sojourners when this article appeared.