Philip Comfort has translated this passage, which was a poem in the original Greek, into modern English verse. Watch the video below then read silently through the poem. After taking time on the video to familiarise yourself with the poem, take time on the second reading, to ponder and notice.
Encomium for Christ’s Love
Romans 8:28-39
28 God turns everything to good for those who love him and are called by him to know his designs. God has planned 29 the destiny of those he’s always known— they’ll become like his Son, the first perfect man. 30 Their horizons have been determined by God who makes all things right for those he loves and promises to bring them into his glory! 31 What, then, can we say about the pains of this life? If God is our advocate, who can be our enemy? 32 This is the God who did not spare his own Son but for our sake sacrificed him. This is the God who lavishes us with all goodness, the God who has given us his Son. 33 Who can level any accusation against God’s chosen ones, when God is the one who stands by us? 34 Who can posit any condemnation against us when Christ Jesus experienced crucifixion on our behalf, then rose again to appear before God, pleading our cause day and night. 35 Who can rip us away from Christ’s love? Can the sword of affliction or distress? Can persecution or famine? Nakedness or peril? As it is written in the scriptures, 36 For your sake, we are killed all day long. We are nothing more than sheep for slaughter. 37 But in all these things we are super-conquerors through Christ who loves us. 38 for I am persuaded there’s nothing in death or life that can rip us away from God’s love 39 because we are held firm by Jesus Christ our Lord. No angel, ruler, power, or creature can separate us! No matter how high or low we go, we are held by our Lord.
(Philip Comfort, The Poems and Hymns of the New Testament. Used by permission of Wipf and Stock Publishers. www.wipfandstock.com)
“God turns everything to good for those who love him.”
This opening statement paints the picture for the rest of the poem. God doesn’t promise bliss and happiness but that trials and triumphs alike work for good: for God’s good purposes, not our personal goals. There is this larger eternal perspective that we can’t see, and that is the endurance and power of the love of God. The poem moves from the goodness and justice of God to his great love for us.
The pivot point in the poem is the three questions that appear in verses 31 to 35, after discussing the question of the sufferings (pains) of this life. Those questions are Who can accuse? Who can condemn? Who can rip us from Christ’s love? For those facing persecution and injustice in the times of the Roman super-conquerors, these were pertinent questions.
There were not a great many instances of intentional persecution by the Roman authorities but the implementation of the worship of Caesar and general prejudice by the populace meant that anyone who held a grudge or was prejudiced against Christians could dob them in to the local governor. They would accuse them of magic or causing sedition against Caesar, and the governor, to keep the peace, would order Christians to be killed by rather terrifying means. So for most Christians, it meant living in fear and suspicion by neighbours and friends. It also meant that having nothing to lose, Christians became known for sticking around and helping during plagues and famines.
This helps us read the poem with greater understanding, especially the focus on the fear of being accused. The questions posed in verses 31 to 35 are answered immediately as they appear. God stands by us when accused, the condemned criminal Christ, pleads our cause when we are condemned. The poem then culminates in the much loved promise that nothing, no matter how powerful, can tear us away from Christ’s love and we are held firmly by him when we might be tempted to think we are no longer loved by God.
The poem reminds us of the love and goodness of God at work for us despite all the forces at work against us. It is triumphant in character yet deeply understands the immediate pain and difficulty.
I have tried to convey this by using a fragment of the Love motif (from the piano piece Love) as the main melody, which constantly moves through different chord changes, some major (happy) and some minor (sad). These chords move by fifths through all twelve notes of the Western music system, thus also signifying completeness.
It also has five beats in the bar instead of the usual four, which although it creates an uneven pulse, results in a dance-like march. There is a relentless quality to it that, for me, signifies the persistent love of God. (As a side note, the theme for Mission Impossible is in 5/4.)
(Encomium means a piece of writing in praise of something or someone, so the title of the poem could be restated as Praise for Christ’s Love.)
I really like the way the music, text and visuals work together