The apostle Paul appears to have been sure of many things. If this certainty stands behind his willingness to suffer to the end for his cause, it doubtless also nourishes that softer strength that is evident in his encouragement to others to live in one way and not in another. People who are sure about lots of things make uncomfortable company. It was probably not easy to spend abundant time with Paul of Tarsus.
The man’s inventory of certainties includes none more unshiftable than his confidence in God’s faithfulness to those who belong to him. This apostle, so acquainted with treachery, vanity, and departed companions who must once have seemed like forever friends, is sure that things are not that way with the Father of Jesus Christ. The eighth chapter of his letter to the Romans, where his cadence becomes almost poetic as he reflects on the conquering steadiness of divine love, figures among the most treasured pieces of Christian writing:
What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
If God is for us, who can be against us? The truth that stands, rocklike, beneath this rhetorical invitation to think to logical extremities and then return to solid ground is axiomatic for the Pauline message. God has declared his loyalty to daughters and sons who find in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ the paradigmatic sketch of love’s power and death’s vanity.
Who indeed?
Canter Bridge 
Leave a Reply