The Inseparable Love of God (1) [Romans 8:38-39]

The Inseparable Love of God (1)

[Romans 8:38-39]

Why can nothing separate us from the love of God?

1. Because God’s love is eternal.

Romans 8:29a says:

“For those whom He foreknew…”

The word “foreknew” refers to before eternity began—before the creation of heaven and earth. The phrase “those whom He foreknew” does not simply mean knowing about someone intellectually, but rather loving them.

In other words, it refers to “those whom God loved from eternity past.”

Amos 3:2a says:

“You only have I known of all the families of the earth.”

If “known” merely meant intellectual knowledge, that would imply that God only knew Israel and did not know the other nations—which cannot be true, because the all-knowing God lacks knowledge of nothing.

Therefore, “I have known you only” means “I have loved you only.” God loved Israel among all the nations of the earth.

Hosea 13:5 says:

“I knew you in the wilderness, in the land of great drought.”

The “wilderness” was where the Israelites lived, and the “land of great drought” refers to a dry and scorching place of hardship.

Even in such a difficult place, God said, “I knew you.”

The Revised Korean Version translates it as “I knew you,” while the older Korean Bible says “I cared for you.”

This word carries the meaning of loving, leading, and protecting.

Thus, in Hosea 13:5, “I knew you” means “I loved you.”

In Matthew 7:23, Jesus says:

“Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness.’”

Here, “at that time” refers to when many claimed to perform mighty works in Jesus’ name (v.22).

When Jesus says, “I never knew you,” it means He never loved them—they were workers of lawlessness.

God has loved us from eternity past—before creation, before our birth, before the existence of all things—when only God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit existed.

So who could ever separate us from that love? No one!

God’s love is eternal.

Galatians 4:5 says:

“To redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption as sons.”

God loved us and redeemed us from under the law so that we might become His children.

Galatians 4:6–7 continues:

“Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba, Father!’ So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.”

If we are children, then we are heirs.

Romans 8:17 says:

“If we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him.”

Where will we receive this inheritance? In heaven.

Among the many blessings of this inheritance, Revelation 22:5 tells us:

“There will be no more night. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.”

The inheritance we receive from our King and Father is that we will reign forever.

Thus, no one and nothing can ever separate us from the eternal love of God—who loved us from eternity past and will love us for all eternity.

Romans 8:38–39 again declares:

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

No one and nothing can ever separate us from God’s eternal love!

2. Because God’s love did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us.

Romans 8:32 says:

“He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all—how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?”

What were we like at that time?

(1) Romans 5:6 says:

“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”

When we were powerless—utterly helpless—Romans 8:3–4 explains:

“For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

When we were weak and unable to help ourselves, God did what we could not—He did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us on the cross.

(2) Romans 5:8 says:

“But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

When we were still sinners, God did not spare His Son but gave Him up for us—thus proving His love for us.

(3) Romans 5:10 says:

“For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life.”

When we were enemies of God, He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice of atonement for our sins (1 John 4:10).

So who or what could ever separate us from such love? Absolutely nothing!

God loved us in advance.

If God loved some “in advance,” that implies there are those He did not.

For example, God loved Jacob but hated Esau.

Romans 9:13 says:

“As it is written: ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.’”

In this way, God loved us beforehand, did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us—though we were weak, sinful, and enemies of God.

Through Christ’s sacrifice, He forgave our sins, justified us, reconciled us to Himself, made us His children, and appointed us as heirs together with Christ.

Therefore, God will surely let us share in the inheritance with Christ.

May we hold fast to this confession of faith—that nothing can separate us from the love of God which redeems, saves, and grants us eternal life—and may we live our lives grounded in that unshakable assurance.