Romans 8: Who Condemns?
Romans 8:33-36
“Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written,
“For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.””
Romans 8:33-36 NASB1995
Paul continues to expand on the theme of who can bring a charge against God’s elect as we near the end of Romans 8. God is the one who justifies, so who can condemn? Jesus intercedes for us because of His sacrifice. Can we be truly be separated from the love of God? These verses in Romans are truly a marvelous tool for reflecting on where we are as a “modern” post-Christian society, so bear with me.
I am sitting here writing this in our comfortable home, with fresh and clean water at my side, a moderate temperature in the house, bright sunshine outside, two fat kitties wandering around, and the knowledge that we are going to have a nice Sunday dinner with a grilled steak tonight. We’ll probably stream a few episodes of a TV show tonight. We had a great church service this morning and were freely able to walk into and out of our church. We are free to read our Bibles on-line or carry them with us. How am I undergoing tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness (lack of sufficient clothing), or peril, or the sword? As I noted in my last devotional, we are not yet becoming martyrs in this country for Christ, but there are many in the world who are Suffering for their Christian faith; I suspect the true cost of obedience is coming here, too (the link is to Voice of the Martyrs). If you know the story of the early church, you know that persecution was a given and came from many sides, not just the Romans. Paul, in his Saul days before his encounter with Jesus near Damascus, even eagerly led the persecution of new Christians. He stood there holding coats as the Sanhedrin stoned the early martyr Stephen to death, hunted down and imprisoned followers of the “Way” in Jerusalem and elsewhere, and was heading to Damascus to do the same when Jesus interrupted and called him to discipleship.
John Piper in Desiring God talks about the risk of obedience:
Obedience is risk. And it is right to risk for the cause of God. Notice some of the risks in verse 35:
"tribulation"—Christians will experience tribulation! I.e., trouble and oppression of various kinds.
"distress"—stressful circumstances occasioned by all kinds of dangers and threats and worries.
"persecution"—active opposition from the enemies of the gospel.
"famine"—note this well! There is no guarantee that Christians will be spared when there are food shortages. When Jesus says that we should not be anxious what we shall eat or drink because our Father knows what we need, he doesn't mean that Christians will never be hungry or starve. He means that there will always be enough food so that we can do his will and glorify his name. And if famine strikes, it will not cut us off from the love of God. This has tremendous implications for our understanding of various national catastrophes and how we might expect to be involved in them. I urge you to think about it.
So can we be strong in the face of this type of adversity? Sadly, many people who call themselves Christian are abandoning their faith or modifying it beyond recognition these days for far less than true tribulation or persecution. They have answered the siren call of the woke culture, deciding that Biblical truths are the basis for bigotry and ignorance and hatred, but only because the cultural mavens and media tell them so. A false sense of compassion runs rampant for self-described “victims” and their causes are instantly affirmed and embraced; this is done instead of truly helping them (and loving them at the same time) in their confusion and sin (there’s a word no one wants to hear).
One by one, the precepts of faith are thrown aside so that people can feel good about themselves and earn their progressive stripes at the expense of their obedience to God. I’m sorry if the truth hurts, for some who are reading this. Steve and I had our “Damascus” experiences twice in our lives - first, we came back to faith, then we recognized that the faith we first came back to was increasingly watered down and more and more accommodating to cultural norms. That mainstream denomination we joined in 2007 and left in 2019 (should have left much sooner) has lost millions of members in recent years, yet they are doubling down on heresy so that no one will be offended (no mention of how God feels about that heresy). And is usually the case, those that are offended by what we believe become the persecutors, either through laws and regulations or through lawsuits and public demoralization or even vandalization and physical attacks on churches and Christian charities (like pro-life counseling centers) after the recent Supreme Court rescission on Roe v. Wade. When we have tried to increase the readership of Heaven on Wheels on social media through modest advertising, we instantly received vitriol from total strangers telling us with foul language to quit cramming our faith down their throats (I guess their scroll buttons don’t work).
So is your faith and obedience strong enough for you to be put to death all day long and led to the slaughter, even if that “death” is the loss of a casual friend or putting up with bullying? Is peace and comfort for a few years in this life worth sacrificing eternal life and eternal truths? I’m really not sure how strong I am, but it is in my prayers every day: should true tribulation, persecution and famine enter the equation my faith should not waiver, because God is for us.
My final Romans 8 devotional will examine Romans 8:37-39: Nothing can Separate Us from God. My next series will study the Parables of Jesus that are unique to the Gospel of Luke.
John Piper and his sermons are available on Desiring God.