“Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us. Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?” Romans 8:34-35 NLT 

Footsteps #354. V34 is closely related to v33 “who will bring a charge against God’s elect?” The answer implied is no one! Why? Because not only is Christ our lawyer (Advocate) but He is also our Judge! (See e.g. John 5:22, 2Cor5:10). If we are in Christ and He is both our lawyer and Judge, what have we got to fear? This verse declares that He died for us, was raised from the dead for us, and is now our representative in the courtroom of heaven.  

Jesus died for the sins that should condemn us – He who knew no sin was made to be sin for us (2Cor5:21.) That is why there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ. (Rom 8:1). He will never turn around and pronounce judgment against His followers for the very sins that he died for. He absorbed the penalty for those transgressions.  

His resurrection is a demonstration of the acceptability of His sacrifice and substitution in the sinner’s place. He is in the place of honour in the heavenly realm (At the right hand), and there intercedes on our behalf. (see Heb.7:25) 

If the judge is on your side, there is no way that we come under condemnation. You are safe in Jesus. V35 is another question that requires the answer “nothing”.   “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?”  

In this heavenly courtroom, Paul has suggested 7 candidates that might try and bring about our separation from grace. The first three – trouble, hardship, and persecution – seem to denote pressures and distresses produced by Christians simply living in an ungodly and hostile world. The next two, famine and nakedness, represent essential material needs. Any lack along those lines might have raised questions about God’s care in the believer’s minds, since the Sermon on the Mount (see Matt. 6:25-34) seemed to promise both necessities to all of God’s children. Paul concludes his list of possible things that might sever Christians from Christ’s love with physical threats – peril (danger) and sword, including the risk of death. 

Paul had endured the first six himself, and would in the not too distant future suffer from the sword when the Roman authorities put him to death for his faith. The Roman Christians to whom he was writing undoubtedly shared similar problems and would also do so even more in the forthcoming reign of Nero when some of their number would burn as live torches for the sadistic entertainment of the emperor and his guests. 

But none of those ‘problems’ could separate a Christian from Christ’s love or the salvation they had through their faith relationship to Him. We share in His sufferings (v17). Breaking that faith relationship is the only thing that can separate us from assurance in Christ.