Romans 8:35

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?.... By "the love of Christ" is not meant the saints' love to Christ, but his love to them; he is indeed the object of their love, and so strong is their

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Who shall separate us? He continues his triumph: he does not say what, but who; though he instanceth in things, and not in persons, yet it is expressed personally, because that these things do commonly do us hurt in the improvement of persons, whether of Satan or wicked men, who are instrumental thereunto. From the love of Christ; understand it either actively, from our love of him; or passively, from his love of us. The latter seems to be chiefly intended; Who shall separate us from the love of Christ, or from the sense and manifestation thereof? Shall tribulation, &c. He makes an enumeration of particular evils, of seven in number; and he begins with the lesser, and rises to the greater; placing them in order, not casually, but by choice. The word tribulation signifies any thing that presseth or pincheth us. Or distress? The word properly signifies straitness of place, and is transferred from the body to the mind, to point out the anguish or perplexity thereof. Or persecution; the word properly signifies a driving from place to place; banishment is implied therein, if not chiefly intended: see . Or peril; any danger or hazard of life, in any kind whatsoever: see . Or sword; this is put figuratively for death itself, especially violent death.

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Ver. 35. Who shall separate us] Who shall separate me? saith the Syriac.

(35) The love of Christ.—That is to say, the love which Christ has for us, not that which we have for Christ. Shall tribulation?—Comp. 2 Corinthians 6:4; 2 Corinthians 11:23. The Apostle is speaking from his own actual experience.

Verse 35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?] I do think that this question has been generally misunderstood. The apostle is referring to the persecutions and tribulations to which genuine Christians were exposed through their attachment to Christ, and the gracious provision God had made for their support and final salvation. As in this provision God had shown his infinite love to them in providing Jesus Christ as their sin-offering, and Jesus Christ had shown his love in suffering death upon the cross for them; so, here, he speaks of the love of the followers of God to that Christ who had first loved them. Therefore the question is not, Who shall separate the love of Christ from us? or prevent Christ from loving us? but, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Who or what shall be able to remove our affection from him? And the questions that immediately follow show that this is the sense of the passage; for the tribulation, distress, c., which he enumerates, are things by which they might be affected, but by which Christ could not be affected and, consequently, the question most evidently refers to their love to him who had first loved them, and, while it affords a strong presumption of their perseverance, furnishes a most powerful argument against apostasy. Shall tribulation?] φλιψις, grievous affliction, or distress of any kind; from φλιβω, to compress, oppress, straiten, c. any thing by which a man is rendered miserable. Or distress?] στενοχωρια, a word of nearly the same import with the former, but more intense in its signification. It signifies straitness, being hemmed in on every side, without the possibility of getting out or escaping; from στενος, strait or narrow, and χωρος, a place. Or persecution?] διωγμος, from διωκω, to pursue, press upon, prosecute, signifies such pursuing as an enemy uses in order to overtake the object of his malice, that he may destroy him. Or famine?] λιμος, from λειπω, to fail; the total want of bread, and all the necessaries of life. Or nakedness?] γυμνοτης, being absolutely without clothing; forcibly expressed by the derivation of the word γυιαμοναεχων, having one's limbs only, being totally unclothed. Or peril?] κινδυνος, a state of extreme and continued danger, perplexing and distressing with grievous forebodings and alarms; derived from κινειταςοδυνας, it excites anguish; because much evil is felt, and much more feared. Or sword?] μαχαιρα, slaughter; the total destruction of life, and especially beheading, and such like, done by the order of the civil magistrate; for the word is used in this epistle, Romans 13:4, to signify the authority and power which he has of judicially terminating life; i.e. of inflicting capital punishment.

35. Who shall separate us] He speaks in view of these amazing proofs of the grace and truth of the Father and the Son.—“Who,” not “what;” although the following words are of things, not persons. This is in harmony with the intense and vivid tone of the whole passage. Cp. John 10:28-29; “no one shall pluck them out of my hand; no one can pluck them out of my Father’s hand.”—“Us” is slightly emphatic by position: q. d., “us, thus cared for and pleaded for.”the love of Christ] Same word as 2 Corinthians 5:14; Ephesians 3:19. It is the love of Christ for us, not ours for Him. The whole context here relates to our security through the goodness of God.—In what sense are the things now to be named viewed as “not separating” us from this love? Probably they are to be taken as so many veils or clouds between us and the (outward) manifestation of the love; things which might tempt the believer to think that his Lord had forsaken him. St Paul assures him that this cannot be really so; the separation is but seeming; the love is indissoluble.tribulation, &c.] St Paul had indeed a right to use such language as the language of experience. See e.g. 2 Corinthians 11:23-27; 2 Timothy 3:10-12. Cp. Hebrews 11:35-38, (of the O. T. saints.)It will not be out of place to quote from the letter of a sufferer for his faith, in the French galleys, 1739: “Having, by the grace of God, made a Christian profession, we are bound to be faithful soldiers and submit to the Lord’s will. Our chains are where He has placed them. Our persecutors think to disgrace us by putting us with malefactors; but in this we are honoured of God, who gives us cause for rejoicing that He counts us worthy to bear shame for the name of Jesus.… God has predestinated us to be conformed to the image of His Son, that suffering with Him we may also be glorified together. Our life is hid with Christ in God; but when Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall we also appear with him in glory.” (Letter of M. Villevaire, in Bonnefon’s Life of B. du Plan, p. 241, Eng. Trans.)

Who shall separate us - That is, finally or entirely separate us. This is a new argument of the apostle, showing his strong confidence in the safety of the Christian.

35. Who… separate—The apostle now issues his third challenge to the foes of the redeemed. He has called for the accuser, the condemner, and now he summons the separator, sure that none dare appear.