Nothing can separate us!
Seventeen
Certain numbers in Scripture seem to quietly rise to the surface.
I noticed something recently in Romans 8:35–39.
Paul names seventeen things that cannot separate us from the love of God:
1. Tribulation
2. Trouble
3. Persecution
4. Famine
5. Nakedness
6. Danger
7. Sword
8. Death
9. Life
10. Angels
11. Principalities
12. Things present
13. Things to come
14. Powers
15. Height
16. Depth
17. Any other created thing
The movement of the passage is remarkable. It begins with immediate human suffering and keeps widening outward until it includes all of creation itself.
Paul moves through suffering, mortality, spiritual powers, time, space, and existence.
I was struck by the first two terms in the list: tribulation and trouble. Both carry the sense of narrowness, pressure, or confinement.
And it brought to mind the Psalms:
“The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; Surely my inheritance is delightful to me.” — Psalm 16:6
“You have not given me into the hand of the enemy; You have set my feet in a broad place.” — Psalm 31:8
“Out of my distress I called on the Lord; The Lord answered me and set me in a spacious place.” — Psalm 118:5
Sometimes the boundary in front of us feels frightening because what lies beyond it feels unformed and unknown.
Like stepping into something we cannot control or fully see. So we remain where things feel defined, measurable, and manageable.
But then we are led through something that takes us past that edge.
And we discover that we are still held, loved, and sustained.
From the beginning, God brings form out of what is formless and void, opening space and then filling it with life and flourishing.
God fills the spaces He creates with flourishing and beauty.
What seems scarce and disordered becomes beautiful and floursihing.
What feels chaotic is already within the reach of His love, holding more goodness, beauty, and life than ever fathomed.
And after naming everything he can think of, the conclusion remains the same:
“Nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Then my mind went to John 21…….. another 17
After the resurrection, Jesus tells the disciples to cast the net again, and they bring in 153 fish.
For centuries, readers have noticed that 153 is the sum of 1 through 17:
1 + 2 + 3 + … + 17 = 153.
A number expressing fullness gathered together.
John also includes an important detail:
“Though there were so many, the net was not torn.”
That detail feels connected to Romans 8.
Romans 8 names the full range of things that cannot separate us from Christ. John 21 pictures a full catch being gathered safely to shore without the net tearing apart.
Different images, but pointing toward the same reality: the love of God in Christ reaches further than suffering, fear, time, power, or even death itself.
