Romans 8:38-39
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 created thing will be able to separate us from God’s love which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Context and meaning
Paul ends chapter 8 with a list that reads like an inventory of everything that can go wrong: death, life, angels, principalities, powers, the present, the future, height, depth. The structure is deliberate — he covers the axis of time, the axis of space and the axis of power.
The conclusion is always the same: none of these separates. Notice he does not say these things do not happen. The whole chapter speaks of suffering, groaning and creation in labor pains. The promise is not the absence of trouble, it is the absence of separation.
It is also worth noticing that the list includes "nor any other created thing" — a clause that closes the loopholes, including the one people usually think of first: themselves.
That is why this is one of the texts most read at funerals and in crises of faith. It does not argue that everything will be fine; it argues that, whatever happens, the bond does not break.
Related verses
We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only born Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
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