Introduction

A couple of week ago we reached the place in Romans 8 that shifts from doctrine to application. This is not a hard and fast division but more a matter of accent. Application kind of floats around in doctrinal sections and doctrine emerges in application sections. Thus, Paul asks, "What, then, shall we say in response to this? (v. 31). "Say" indicates a confession of faith: what shall we confess and affirm with confidence? What can those who trust in Christ alone now say? Outline: we can say 1) we are loved by God and 2) we are loved by Christ.

1A. We can say we are loved by God

He is for us (v. 31). He foreloved us which means that He set His love upon us before times eternal and chose us to be His redeemed children (v. 29; recall that foreknow is an intimate way of saying "lovingly chosen"). In love for us He has appointed us to the destiny of conformity to Christ and glorification (vs. 29-30). He appointed all the means to get us there as well such as calling us out of helpless bondage to faith by which we are justified (v. 30; so no charge can be made to stick, v. 33). His love is shown supremely in the fact that He did not spare Christ (v. 32a).

What can we say? We can say that His love is such that all for whom He gave His own Son will in fact receive all things (v. 32b). In providential love all is being worked for our good (v. 28).

What can we say about our love for God in this connection (v. 28)? We can say that His love for us does not depend on our love for Him at any point and we can say that our love for Him is under-girded and upheld by His love for us. We love Him because He first loved us. To speak of any dependence of God on us runs against the flow of the text. This is worse than trying to swim up stream, up white water rapids, and for thousands of miles. To make anything depend on us such that our salvation involves what God does plus something that we do to prevent God's action from being fulfilled goes against the thrust of the passage and the fullness and completeness of God's love for us. He works in all things for our good with the determined goal of seeing to it that we receive all things!

Therefore, each of us who trust in Christ alone can say, "I am loved with an amazing, powerful, and saving love that stretches from eternity to eternity."

2A. We can say we are loved by Christ

At first this may seem unnecessarily repetitive to refer to God's love and then to the love of Christ. But this way of unpacking the love of God shows how much flows from this well that we need more than one container.

Consider how this part of our response is developed. Paul presents an argument again but it is not mere intellectualism; rather it is like carefully and deliberately setting sticks of dynamite in place and then feeling the explosion. It is all very logically laid out and the conclusion is explosive. We can follow the thought by considering the form and the impact of the argument.

1B. The form of the argument

Form is a matter of structure. It is how the material is presented, the pattern that underlies its content. It is like saying "A + B = C" whatever A, B, and C actually are as to content (1 + 5 = 6 of whatever: apples, shekels, computer codes).

The form is this: a stated premise, an implied premise, a question. The question follows the statement rather than the reverse that we would expect (as in catechism questions followed by answers). The argument on the love of Christ is found in 34b-35a. Let's back up to verse 33 to see this argument form earlier to help us move forward.

In verse 33b to 34a Paul gives a claim that is followed by a question: "It is God who justifies" (stated premise); "Who is He that condemns?" (question). Notice that the question contains a conclusion within it and the basis for the conclusion is the stated premise. Thus we have the following flow of thought: "It is God who justifies us, therefore, no one can condemn us." To complete the argument we can identify a missing or unstated premise: if God justifies us then no one can condemn us (unstated but implied premise) and it is God who justifies us (stated premise) so no one can condemn us (conclusion housed in the question).

The case is the same in 34b to 35a on the love of Christ. A claim is given, which is the stated premise of the argument: "Christ Jesus who died-more than that, who was raised to life-is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us" (v. 34b). Then a question is presented: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" (35a). The question contains the conclusion: no one can separate us from the love of Christ. The basis is already given in the stated premise: He died, was raised, is at the Father's right hand, and intercedes for us. The unstated premise is this: "if it is Christ who intercedes for us then we are loved in an exceptional way and no one-no thing-nothing can possibly separate us from His love." Thus we have the following flow of thought: if it is Christ who intercedes for us then we are loved in an exceptional way and he does (stated premise), therefore, we are loved in an exceptional way so that no one and no thing can ever separate us from His love.

First Christ is identified as the one who died, was raised and seated at God's right hand. Then His love is cited and these facts are shown to be acts of love inseparable from one another. His love is crystallized in His intercession which is for us.

The love is thus strengthened by emphasizing who it is that intercedes for us. It is the risen and exalted Lord Jesus who accomplished our redemption by His death, conquered death by His resurrection and who has supreme authority (all authority in heaven and earth, Matt. 28:19; authority over all people to give eternal life to those given to Him by the Father, Jn. 17:1-2).

Therefore, He intercedes in terms of the accomplishment of the cross, the victory of the resurrection and ultimate authority at the right hand of God.

Amazing love, how can it be that Thou my God didst die for me.

Amazing love, how can it be that Christ secured all things for me!

Thus His love is expressed in the efficacy of His intercession. His priestly offering and priestly intercession are inseparably bound together. He now sees to the application of all that He accomplished. This is the heart of the awesome doctrine of literal-actual (limited) atonement: "Forgive, forgive, my surety cries; My name is written on His hands!" Because of who He is, what He did, and what He is now doing as High Priest, all for whom He intercedes as offering and offerer will never be separated from His love.

2B. We are prepared now for the impact of the argument

The impossibility of separation is so penetrating, so great, so sure, so vast that Paul must crisscross the dimensions of created reality in order to give us some idea by which to appreciate this fact. Thus he says:

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 killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, or powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (35-39, KJV).

Consider the realms covered: tribulational, historical, spiritual, temporal, spatial, etc.

Consider the fact that there is no technical arrangement. The point of this is cumulative, broad, expansive, explosive! The love of Christ is so wide, so deep, so broad, so high, so rich, so full, so efficacious that nothing of the created order can sever the bond between Christ and His people, a bond established before time!

Replacing the damper: I replaced a 1938 fireplace damper because it would not open and close and its "smokin" got worse and worse. I think the smoke contributed to my wife's illness last January. From this work I draw an analogy. Christ is the divine mason gauging out the old fireplace damper and replacing it with the new.

The process. First, I tried going in through the opening in the living room. I was able to cut out part of the damper and remove the damper door. In the process I got buried in soot so that I looked like Al Jolson (breathing mask and goggles were blackened by the soot). Second, I realized by the taste and feel of dust and by the cramped quarters that I had to go in from the outside. I cut a hole about 2' high and 3' wide through the finished veneer brick then I cut through the smoke chamber. I could now see the top of the entire damper and could reach in with a chisel and peck away at the mortar and brick that sealed the damper in place. It was difficult to swing the hammer and I kept hitting my arms on rough corners. After a couple of hours I tried to cut the damper in half with a sawzall but could only go a couple of inches until it was too cramped to work the tool. When I got the damper loose by banging and prying (not cursing but close to it!), the corners would bind because the damper is wider toward the inside of the fireplace. What a relief when I finally got past the last stubborn ¼ inch bind and out it came (roughly 12" by 36").

Next, I tried to put in the new damper but couldn't get it through the opening in the face of the chimney. So I had to widen the opening. Trying again I could get it into the smoke chamber but only on an angle. I had to cut out a section 4" deep by 16" long on one side so I could slip the damper in on the left then when it was level I could move it to the right to center it. The damper is cast iron and heavy. It took about eight tries before I was ready to clean the area and mix the mud (mortar). Then in a little over an hour I secured the damper sealing it with mud, replaced the smoke chamber, and replaced the exterior veneer.

This story has value as an analogy. Our work as Christians is like this damper replacing task. We face many obstacles, many pulls and tugs, and not a few skinned elbows, soot, and frustration. In the middle of things we often wonder what we are doing here. We are humbled, feel unworthy, finally finish the task and give thanks to the Lord who is with us in the process each step of the way.

But there is a richer perspective: the Lord Jesus is the divine mason taking us through the process of daily life in time. He is the one who is cutting, gouging, hammering, chiseling, and shaping to replace the old with the new deep inside the fireplace. He does His work until the corners are finally trimmed and the old is extracted and the new inserted. Now we have a newness inside-the damper opens and closes freely and properly. Now the fire of God can burn in your soul without the billows of suffocating smoke.

Relative to our text, how is He doing this chiseling and shaping work? Among other things, it is through tribulation, distress, famine, nakedness, peril, sword; through principalities, powers, and accusers laying obstacles in our path way and charges at our feet.

But none of this separates us from His love. All are means through which He lovingly shapes and renews us within. Thus we can say "though the outer man is dying, the inner man is being renewed daily." Through all these things we overwhelmingly conquer for it is Jesus our Lord and Savior who died, was raised from the dead, was seated at the Father's right hand, and who intercedes for us. This intercession insures that all that He accomplished for us as our sin offering is applied to us in time in God's call of us to faith and justification en-route to the destiny He has predetermined by the working of His almighty power (calling to faith is the gift of His atonement; predestination is worked out by His power).

Applications

1) We have an awesome basis given here for confident assurance. We have God as the solid rock under our pathway; He is our shield and defender. Who or what can stand against Him? He is for us; Christ Jesus who died, was raised, and exalted with all authority in heaven and earth intercedes for us. Our way is steady and our end is sure in His matchless love.

2) This becomes a heart tugging exhortation to grateful service. Regarding our love we have to say: "It is so frail, O Lord; it ought to be strong and vigorous because you are worthy." So, we must say, "O Lord, I give myself to you, to serve you in everything I do. I dedicate myself to you. I give you my head, my hands, and my feet that my head may be studying, and my hands working, and my feet walking-yes-running in the way of your commandments. It is your law that is the light of my path. Speak Lord, and I will so do!