Romans 8:26-39
This text is used for the Lectionary Year A on July 30, 2017.
Many would call the final section of Romans 8 the “crescendo” of the book of Romans.
One author describes it as “the apostle soaring to sublime heights unequaled elsewhere in the New Testament.” In these verses Paul is summing up much of what he has asserted in the earlier chapters of this letter: that God’s love is most definitively displayed on the cross (5:8, 8:32), that the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the gift of the Holy Spirit (5:5) which invites us to receive a spirit of adoption pronouncing us children of God (8:16), that God’s love promises ultimately to redeem us, body and soul (8:11, 23), and offers us the opportunity to share in the glory to come (8:18). During a time of tremendous persecution, these affirmations of faith and words of assurance offer hope abounding to the believers in Rome.
Paul begins this section of his letter with what is now one of the most often quoted verses of the Bible: Romans 8:28. It can be translated several different ways. I prefer the NIV translation which says: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” I like this translation because it reminds us of three important things:
- God works! God is with us in all the messiness of our lives. Picture a God who stoops down, in overalls, boots, and bandana to plow a field or plant a garden. Genesis tells us that God worked hard those 6 days of creation, so hard that on the 7th day God needed to rest – setting aside one day each week as Sabbath, for rest and worship. When you stop to remember that the word “work” and the word “worship” are from the same root word, you realize that our work should be one of the ways we worship God and our worship should overflow into our work. There should be a symbiotic relationship between the two.
- The second thing to notice in this verse is that God is at work for “good” in the world. So often we take this for granted. And sadly, we often call natural disasters “acts of God.” A better way to think of it is that God is working for good during times of trial or tragedy, often through the people who are bringing good out of a bad situation, offering medical aid, food, and shelter. Much of what we know of God is a mystery, but one thing we can take confidence in is that God is at work for good in the world.
- Lastly, Romans 8:28 reminds us that there is a cooperative relationship between God and humans, that God works with those who have been “called according to his purpose.” God does not inflict things on us and remain distant; God’s desire is to work with us to bring about the good. That means there is responsibility on our part – not only to be God’s hands and feet in the world but to live as consistently as possible in accordance with God’s purposes. And we know from the final verse of chapter 8 that God’s greatest purpose is love. So we are called to love God first and foremost, and as a result, we will then love God’s people.
As Paul builds toward the climax of this chapter, he raises five questions about God’s sovereignty and love. Each question builds upon the ones before it, leading to the final question which sums them all up: “Who will separate us from the love of Christ?” Paul offers up a sample list of adversities and adversaries (hardship, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril or sword) that range from pressures of a hostile world to martyrdom. These symbolize the kinds of oppression that might cause a deep enough chasm between humanity and God that God’s love might be overwhelmed by them. But no. By all means “we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” Paul strongly asserts. Then he shifts to the first person pronoun and the perfect tense: “For I am convinced…” Writing in this way he is saying “I have become convinced and I will remain convinced” that nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Then, just in case we hadn’t found the list above to be exhaustive enough, he sets forth ten more things that he is convinced will never separate us from God’s love. These ten things relate to cosmic forces, natural and superhuman, that stretch our minds in varieties of directions toward the expanse of space and time, on the one hand, and toward rulers, powers, and principalities, on the other. Paul is asserting boldly that everything in creation is ultimately under the control and lordship of God the Creator – and that this promise is based, not on our faltering, frail love of God, but on God’s steadfast, undying love for us. Thanks be to God!
Rev. Susan Pendleton Jones
Sr. Fellow, Institute for Faith and Learning
Baylor University
susan_jones@baylor.edu
Tags: cross, work, hope, nothing can separate