Once God loves us, He loves us forever with an eternal love. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. We are His beloved, and sooner or later we all will be sanctified, transformed, conformed, and glorified. Hence, Paul said, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or anguish or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword?...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 creature will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (vv. 35, 38-39). Paul wrote in Christ Jesus our Lord because he knew that there would be a problem if the love of God was separated from Christ Jesus. Apart from Christ Jesus, even a little sin would separate us from the love of God. However, because the love of God is in Christ Jesus, everything is insured; we are assured that nothing can separate us from the love of God.
God’s love is the fountain, the root, and the source. God’s love is the source of His eternal salvation, which includes redemption, justification, reconciliation, sanctification, transformation, conformation, and glorification. Love is the source of all that God does for us. Moreover, the love of God is also the security of our salvation. Our security is not only God’s righteousness, holiness, and glory. Our security is His love. Righteousness is the way of God, holiness is the nature of God, glory is the expression of God, and love is the heart of God and the issue of His heart. Before God exercised His righteousness, holiness, and glory, He loved us. Therefore, in Romans, after speaking of God’s righteousness, holiness, and glory, Paul brings us into God’s heart of love. Today like Paul, we can be persuaded that nothing can separate us from the love of God, for this love is not derived from us nor does it depend on us; this love depends on God and was initiated by God in eternity.
Instead of being defeated by the environment, the believers more than conquer in all things because God loves them (v. 37). Our conquering is altogether a matter of God’s love. Through our loving One we can be conquerors, conquering all negative things, even death.
Paul expected that in nothing he would be put to shame; that is, he would not be defeated by his environment, whether through life or through death, but rather that Christ would be magnified in him (Phil. 1:20). No matter what he faced—to continue living or to be martyred—Paul expected to magnify Christ. Paul magnified Christ in his living; this is to magnify Christ through life. He also magnified Christ as he was expecting to be martyred; this is to magnify Christ through death. Thus, whether through life or through death, Christ was magnified in Paul’s body.
For Christ to be magnified is for Him to be shown or declared great without limitation, for Him to be exalted, and extolled. Therefore, to magnify Christ is to express Christ without limitation, to make known to others that the Christ who lives in us is unlimited. As we express, exhibit, exalt, and extol Christ, we become a living witness of Christ, testifying of His immeasurable ability, power, patience, love, and wisdom. We should all be a magnifying glass of Christ so that others may see Christ magnified through us. Our ability to magnify Christ depends on the experience of the dispensing of the processed Triune God. The dispensing of the Divine Trinity always causes Christ to be magnified in our body.
As believers we are persecuted for the sake of righteousness. Matthew 5:10 says, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.” The whole world lies in the evil one and is filled with unrighteousness (1 John 5:19). Every aspect of the world is unrighteous, but the kingdom is absolutely a matter of righteousness. If we do not remain in righteousness, we are outside the kingdom of the heavens; but if we stay in righteousness, we are in the kingdom of the heavens. When we are righteous, we will be condemned, opposed, and persecuted. If we hunger and thirst after righteousness, we need to pay a price, for the righteousness that we seek is the kingdom of the heavens. Suffering for the sake of righteousness is a condition for participating in the kingdom of the heavens. If we seek righteousness at a cost, the kingdom of the heavens becomes ours. We are in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens now, and we will be rewarded with its manifestation in the coming age. In order to be in the kingdom of the heavens, we need surpassing righteousness, the righteousness on the highest plane (Matt. 5:20). Therefore, we need to hunger and thirst after righteousness and to suffer persecution for the sake of righteousness.