Small-group study
Romans 8:38-39: Nothing Can Separate Us
One page, about 45 minutes. Read it through before you meet, and feel free to skip a question if the conversation is already flowing.
For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, 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 God’s love which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1. To begin
What is the longest list you have ever made when you were anxious, all the things that might go wrong? How did writing it down feel?
2. Read it again, and look closely
Have someone read the verse aloud a second time, slowly.
- Paul makes a list too, but a different kind. Roughly how many things does he name that cannot separate us?
- Notice the pairs: death and life, things present and things to come, height and depth. What is he trying to cover?
- Separate us from what, exactly? Read the last line slowly.
3. What does it mean?
- Paul is "persuaded". This is not a wish but a settled conclusion. What do you think led him to be so sure?
- He says not even "powers", nor "anything else in all creation". Why pile it so high? What fear is he answering?
- The love is located "in Christ Jesus our Lord". Why might that matter more than a general sense that God is loving?
4. What about us?
- Which item on Paul’s list is the one you most fear could cut you off from God? Name it.
- Is there a part of you that quietly believes your own failure is the exception, the one thing that could separate you? How does "nor anything else in all creation" speak to that?
- If nothing can separate you from God’s love, what would change in how you face the thing you are dreading?
5. To close, pray
Name the thing you fear could come between you and God. Hand it to him and ask for the deep assurance Paul had, that even this cannot separate you from his love.