God’s Love is Unconquerable

Romans 8:35-39 was mentioned in last week’s missive. Specifically, St Paul lists some of the many things that cannot separate us from the “love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:39). The things that cannot separate us from God’s love include anguish, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, the sword, death, life, angels, principalities, present things, future things, powers, height, depth, nor any other creature. Here principalities and powers more than likely refer to two of the nine choirs of angels, and it is likely that height refers to all heavenly beings and depth refers to the powers of hell. The primary point being made by Paul is that no thing, creature, or being has the power to stop God from loving us in Jesus Christ. Is the sword more powerful than God or can the sword claim dominion over God so as to stop Him from loving us? Time itself – past, present, and future – has no such power. The angels, heavenly and fallen, can’t stop God from loving us.

Many interpret this to mean that our salvation cannot be lost no matter what. But does this section of Romans chapter 8 really say that? It does say that God’s love cannot be negated by any other creature of this world and beyond this world. Indeed, how could a volcano, a hurricane, an angel, a heart attack, a gunshot, our neighbor, our neighbor’s behavior, our neighbor’s opinion, or events in the past, the present, or the future somehow overpower God so that He cannot or will not love us? Satan himself has made it his mission to lead as many people into hell as he can, but he does not have the power to remove us from the hand of God. Satan cannot overpower God and wrest us away from Him. Instead, satan and his minions use deceit and temptation against us. This worked on Adam and Eve and countless others over the centuries. We can’t say the devil made us do it, but he can certainly make evil and depraved acts seem good and enticing such that we choose to fall. Short of demonic possession, duress, or mental illness, our acts are our own. If we act against God’s will with full knowledge and free intent regarding grave matter, we ourselves have mortally sinned. Yes, satan or our fellow man might tempt us, but our sins, both venial or mortal, are our responsibility. We do have to admit, however, that we are fully capable of sinning without any outside influence. Our nature is fallen and is prone to sin, our will is weakened, and our intellect is darkened to the point that we don’t need much help in the department of sinning. We are more adept at sinning than most of us would like to admit.

But if those that God loves are assured heaven no matter what based on the teaching of Paul found in Romans 8:35-39 as claimed by those who believe in the false doctrine of once-saved-always-saved, there is no point in satan or anyone else tempting us to sin. There is no point in tempting the saved or the unsaved. The saved would be impervious while the unsaved are already in satan’s grasp. Then again, satan does hate all of mankind, both the saved and the unsaved. Maybe his tempting of both the saved and unsaved is merely an expression of that hatred. Then again, doesn’t God love all of mankind, the saved and the unsaved alike? After all, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him” (Jn 3:16-17). God loves the world, all of mankind, not just the saved. God loves Peter and Judas Iscariot. Satan hates them as well.

In other words, that nothing outside of us can separate us from the love of God does not really imply the false teaching of once-saved-always-saved. God’s love is unconditional. He chooses to love us all. “But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us… Indeed, if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, once reconciled, will we be saved by his life” (Rom 5:8,10).

Thus, God loves all and no one can stop Him from loving anyone. But that does not mean that God’s love cannot be rejected. God’s love is always given, but it is not always accepted. The rejection of God’s love is one definition of serious sin. Since he can’t stop God from loving us, satan’s plan for our demise is to convince us to stop loving God.

—Fr Booth