Chapter 8 of Paul’s letter to the Romans is enclosed by bookends.  At one end, the beginning of the chapter, is the bookend “no condemnation.”  At the other end, the end of the chapter, is the bookend “no separation.”  Central to those bookends is our theme for this season of Advent—“Grace Came Down.”  The baby born in Bethlehem—whose birth we celebrate in a few weeks—brought freedom from condemnation in God’s judgment and freedom from fear of separation from God.

So, the first bookend—“no condemnation.”  Paul points us to the status of things before Christ.  Righteousness, required to avoid condemnation in God’s sight, was possible only through obedience to the law.  The problem, as we’ve seen before, is our inability as human beings to adhere perfectly with the requirements of the law.  Rather than providing assurance of righteousness before God, the law brought realization of our unrighteousness.  That is the despair of the apostle Paul in chapter 7.  “What a wretched man I am!  Who will rescue me from this body of death?”  For Paul, and for us in our imperfect humanity, the law is powerless to bring us righteousness.  It’s important to note that the law is not bad—the law is a good thing in that it makes known to us God’s will for our lives…the standards by which God desires us to live.  However, that same law makes it clear to us that we fail to live up to those standards—that we are not capable of achieving the “righteous requirements” of the law.  More than that, the law is powerless to change our behavior and cannot save us.  Therefore, for Paul, it is a law of sin and death.  In the law, there is no answer for Paul’s chapter 7 despair.

But now, Christ has come bringing God’s grace in a law made powerful through His Spirit.  Where the law of the flesh was powerless, the law of the Spirit has the power to save us…and to change our behavior.  The significance of the baby born in Bethlehem is that he is human—“God’s Son in the likeness of sinful humanity”—yet, without sin.  This baby will reveal to us the best of what humanity can be.  More than that, though he is without sin, he will pay the penalty for human sin—“a sin offering” to God for our sin—and thereby fulfill the “righteous requirements of the law.”  What we cannot do—fulfill the righteous requirements of the law—this baby born in Bethlehem will do it for us.  He is the answer for Paul’s chapter 7 despair—the One who will rescue us from this body of death.  Because of Jesus Christ, there is now “no condemnation” for those who are in Christ Jesus—for those who profess Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.

In between those bookends, Paul writes of the power that is ours through Christ’s Spirit enabling us to turn from sin and live more righteous lives.  Paul doesn’t throw away the law, it’s just not the power that brings righteousness.  Jesus does that.  However, we still must seek to live according to God’s law and the Holy Spirit is given to us to help us do so.

As we do that, we will experience moments of disappointment, moments that seek to pull us into a kind of chapter 7 despair where we wonder if it’s possible for us to remain in a relationship with a righteous God.  Does God remain present with us in such moments, or do our failures bring moments of separation from God?  Paul goes to great lengths to assure us, we remain connected to Almighty God!

He begins with a series of rhetorical questions.  Were Paul to ask these questions differently, we would have several answers in reply.  For example, who can be against us?  Well, Paul, I could come up with a list of things that seem to be against me.  But, Paul asks the question in this way—If God is for us, who can be against us?  In view of the fact that God is for me whatever might seem to strive against me pales in comparison.  We might wonder if God, indeed, graciously gives us all things.  But, reminded that God did not spare His own Son for us, we understand God’s love reaching out to us for our protection and provision.  Who will bring a charge against us?  We might cite several instances.  However, who can bring a charge against those whom God has chosen, for it is God who justifies.  And, who will condemn us?  Sometimes, we ourselves are the answer to that question.  In Chapter 7-like despair, we condemn ourselves to be beyond the reach of God’s love.  Sometimes, others do that to us.  But, Paul’s question is framed in the context of recognizing that only Christ is in a position to condemn.  And Christ died for us, Christ rose for us, Christ intercedes for us.  Rather than condemning us, the only one with the authority to condemn is, instead, our defender.

Then Paul asks what can separate us from the love of Christ and begins to do what we’ve been doing—suggesting possible answers.  Can trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?  We might think those things can separate us from the love of Christ.  But, Paul wants to assure us that they do not.

I enjoy the humanness we see in Paul in his letters.  Sometimes, Paul wrote the letters himself, mentioning that he wrote the letter in his own hand—First Corinthians and Colossians being examples of that (1Cor 16:21; Col 4:18).  Oftentimes he dictated his letters to a scribe who wrote his words down.  This letter, for example, as we learn toward the end of the letter when the scribe inserts a greeting—“I, Tertius, who wrote down this letter, greet you in the Lord,” (Romans 16:22).    In either case, Paul’s emotions sometimes flow out of him and his desire to be clear is evident.  In Galatians, for example, Paul is writing about the importance of doing good to all people.  One can imagine Paul writing more and more excitedly as he emphasizes the point, eventually writing, “See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand,” (Gal 6:11).  Or, as he dictates his letter to the Ephesians and in the classic verse where he emphasizes that it is grace and not works that save us, Paul pauses for a moment to make sure that nowhere in our humanness can we take credit for any piece of our salvation.  The point Paul wants to make is this, “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith…not by works, so that no one can boast.”  But, in the middle of the thought, Paul wants to make sure we won’t take credit even for the faith we have that brings God’s salvation, “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast,” (Eph 2:8, 9; underline mine).  One can imagine Paul stopping and turning in mid-point as he dictates the letter, “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith,” (then turning in a different direction, pausing as he makes the point) “and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God,” (then returning to the direction previously pacing) “not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Paul does something like that in this ending “bookend” of chapter 8 as he seeks to reassure us that we remain connected with God no matter what challenges and disappointments we face in life.  After stating the question, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ,” then, suggesting some possibilities--trouble or hardship or persecution and the like, Paul then states his conviction that rather than being conquered by such things, we are more than conquerors through Christ.  Whatever possibilities we might think cause us to be separated from Christ, Paul wants us to be clear, without a doubt, that Christ’s love for us is greater.  “For I am convinced,” he says, “that neither death nor life, neither angels or demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth,” and then, just in case we might point out that he missed something, “nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Did Paul miss anything?  I don’t think so.  He’s on a roll, and he covers it all!  Paul’s emphatic answer to the question, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?”  Nothing!  Anything you might name as a concern that brings separation from Christ—trouble or hardship, life or death—anything you might name, Paul says emphatically, “No!  None of that can separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  And in case I missed something you might name, let me make sure you get the point by saying nothing in all creation will be able to separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Now, had those words come from someone who never faced such things in his or her life—someone who had lived what we might call a charmed life—we could rightly question the veracity of their words.  But, Paul had lived it.  In 2 Corinthians, he lists some of what he has endured in life.  “I have…been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again.  Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.  Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move.  I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers.  I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.  Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches,” (2 Cor. 11:23b-28).  Anyone want to trade experiences with Paul?  Paul doesn’t just write a theory, he writes the truth of his experience.  Can anything separate us from God?  Can the hardships of prison, flogging, or shipwrecks separate us from the love of God?  No.  Can the desperate situation of famine or nakedness separate us from God?  No.  Can persecution and danger from countrymen or foreigners?  No.  Is there anything we can experience, anything we can identify, anything we can imagine in all of creation that could separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus?  No!  Emphatically, no!

That is the power of grace come down to us.  Let us remember in this Advent season as we move toward Christmas what that baby born in Bethlehem has brought to us.  Because of him, there is now no condemnation for those who trust in him.  Because of him, whenever doubts enter into our minds, we are reassured of our connection to God.  Whenever oppressive forces seem against us, we are reminded that God is for us.  If anyone tries to bring a charge against us, that baby in Bethlehem reminds us that we are justified in God’s sight.  If someone tries to condemn us, we are reminded that only Christ can do that, and Christ died for us, Christ rose for us, more than that Christ intercedes on our behalf.  Rather than condemning us, he defends us.  If anyone, or anything, should cause us to question if it’s possible to remain in relationship with Almighty God, we hear with clarity Paul’s words from his experience, that nothing in all of creation is able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus…a love made evident in that baby born in Bethlehem.