• Main Idea: When we remember that God has bound himself to us in love through Christ, we’ll be able to face and triumph over any hardship we encounter.
• Head Change: To know that Christ’s death and resurrection prove God’s love for us.
• Heart Change: To feel reassured that no hardship we face will ever separate us from the love of God in Christ.
• Life Change: To trust that God’s love for us is so strong that nothing can take it from us.

Have you ever bought or inherited something of high value? What was it? What was required of you to obtain it? What lengths have you gone to keep and preserve it?

When something is important to us, we’ll go out of our way to protect it. Like the lengths we take to obtain and keep our own valuables, Paul, in this passage communicates what God has done to secure salvation for those he values. And because God has gone to such great lengths, we can be certain that he will take care of us no matter what we face. In today’s session, J.D. will encourage us as he examines Paul’s argument for how God causes us to triumph through the work of Christ.

Read Romans 8:31–39.

Show Session 3: Romans 8:31–39 (10 minutes).

So far in Romans 8, Paul has built an argument on what it means to live as Jesus’s followers. In verse 31, Paul poses a question that builds on what he’s written thus far in chapter 8. How would you summarize all that he’s discussed thus far in Romans 8?

Paul answers the first of several rhetorical questions with another question in verse 31, “If God is for us, who is against us?” It’s an important question to begin with because how we answer it reveals our understanding of God. When have you questioned that God is for you? What events or circumstances caused you to have those questions?

In what ways do you still find it hard to believe that God is for you? Why?

In verse 32, Paul follows his opening question with a resounding answer. We can know that God is for us because God “did not even spare his own Son but offered him up for us all.” How does the death of Jesus on the cross prove that God is for us?

J.D. called Paul’s following questions an “eruption of praise” from Paul. Knowing that God is for us, Paul asks, “Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect?” The implied answer is, “no one.” What accusations do you find yourself having to regularly combat in your life? In what ways does knowing that God has made you righteous shape the way you view those accusations?

In verse 34, Paul goes one step further, speaking not just of accusations but of condemnation. We no longer experience condemnation because Jesus was condemned in our place. If you are in Christ, sin no longer holds any sway on your life—not even the power of shame or guilt. Do you ever feel condemned for your sin? What are the sources of these feelings? How could Paul’s threefold response in these verses (Christ’s death, resurrection, intercession) correct your feelings of condemnation?

For most of us, the question underneath every question is “Does God love me?” Paul addresses this question head-on, starting in verse 35. To what extent do you wrestle with the question of God’s love for you? What arguments or thoughts bolster your doubt?

In verse 35, Paul wonders if Christ’s love for us is dependable. He lists several things—affliction, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, sword—that might convince us that his love is fickle. He even quotes Psalm 44 to acknowledge our tendency to doubt God’s love. But his answer is emphatic: “No.” Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. What in your life has proven God’s love is dependable? What could it look like to remind yourself of God’s unchanging love when you face doubts?

J.D. asked, “If nothing can separate me from the love of Christ, is there anything in the universe left to fear?” How would you answer his question? What situations in your life cause you to fear? In what ways does the love of Christ embolden us to live without fear?

Paul says in verse 37 that “in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (emphasis added). To be “more than a conqueror” is not only to defeat our enemy, as J.D. pointed out, but to make the enemy serve our purposes. How can we use what our enemy means for evil—like suffering and affliction—to serve the purposes of God in our lives?

Paul closes this chapter by doubling down on everything he’s just written. He says he is “persuaded” (some translations use the word “convinced,” some use “sure,” but the sentiment is the same) that what he’s about to write is true. He firmly believes in God’s love for him. What words would you use to convey your belief that God loves you? Do you believe as firmly as Paul did or is your belief more of a work in progress?

What would it take to convince you that God’s love for you is immovable?

Paul ends chapter 8 with a famously bold claim: “Neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” What item(s) from this list still make you question God’s love for you? Are you afraid that there’s something you can do to fall out of God’s love? Based on this passage, what do you think Paul would say to your questions or objections?

Doubt is normal, especially when we feel alone or like our prayers aren’t heard. But you don’t have to live unsure of God’s love. Jesus is God’s living proof of his love. If God would send his own son to die for you, how much must he love you? If you feel far from God, anchor your heart to the truth of Romans 8:38–39. How might your life change if you made Romans 8:38–39 your foundation? How could you remind yourself of God’s love for you in moments when you are prone to doubt?

God loves you. No matter what trials, afflictions, or hardships you face, he loves you. He’s proven his love by sending Jesus to die in your place. Because Jesus died, rose from the dead, and intercedes for us now, we can be certain that nothing can separate us from God’s love for us in Christ. Nothing now or in the future, nothing you’ve done or will do, not a single thing can ever remove his love from you.

Set aside fifteen minutes this week to sit and meditate on the wonder of God’s perfect, unchanging, immovable love for you in Christ Jesus. Hear and believe these words: God loves you.