ACC ~ Romans 8 v39

ELEMENTS ATTACK US. ORIGEN: “Height” and “depth” attack us, as David said: “Many fight against me from on high,” and “Out of the deep have I called unto thee, O Lord.”COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

CALLING ON THE LORD. ORIGEN: Human nature cannot by itself maintain the struggle against angels and heights and depths and any other creature; but when it has felt the Lord to be present and dwelling within, it will say in the confidence of receiving divine help: “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 3.2.5.

SUFFERING FOR CHRIST’S SAKE. CHRYSOSTOM: Paul suffered everything for Christ’s sake not in order to obtain the kingdom, nor for any honor, but because of his great love for the Master.But we are not drawn away from the things of this life either by Christ or by the things of Christ. Like snakes or like swine we keep dragging the things of this world along with us in the mire. … Yet God even gave up his Son for your sake! HOMILIES ON ROMANS 15.

NOR ANYTHING ELSE. AUGUSTINE: Often vain curiosity about things which are unknowable. . . whether in heaven or in hell separates us from God, unless love triumphs. For love calls us to certain spiritual knowledge not by the vanity of external things but by an inner light.

“Nor anything else in all creation” can be understood in two ways. First, as a visible creature. … By this interpretation Paul means that no other creature, i.e., no love of bodies, separates us from God. Or surely it may also mean that no other creature … stands between us and God, opposing us and keeping us from God’s embrace. For beyond human minds, which are rational, there is no other creature—only God himself. AUGUSTINE ON ROMANS 58.

PELAGIUS: I am sure that even if someone threatens us with death, or promises life, or says he is an angel sent from the Lord, or pretends to be the prince of the angels, or gives us some honor in this present life, or holds out the glory of things to come, or works wonders, or promises heaven and staves off hell, or tries to persuade us with deep learning—I am sure that he will never be able to cut us off from the love of Christ.

Paul loved God in Christ. Love for Christ means keeping his commandments. Christ established that brotherly love is an imitation of his own love when he said: “By this will all men know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”So John also says: “If you do not love a brother whom you see, how can you love God, whom you do not see?” PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

NOTHING SHALL SEPARATE. CAESARIUS OF ARLES: Spiritual souls are not separated from Christ by torments, but carnal souls are sometimes separated by idle gossip. The cruel sword cannot separate the former, but carnal affections remove the latter. Nothing hard breaks down spiritual men, but even flattering words corrupt the carnal. SERMON 82.2.

PSEUDO-DIONYSIUS: Nothing shall separate the one who believes in truth from the ground of true faith, and it is there that he will come into the possession of enduring, unchanging identity. The man in union with truth knows clearly that all is well with him, even if everyone else thinks that he has gone out of his mind.THE DIVINE NAMES 7.4.