What does Paul mean by “nor height nor depth”?

Explanation:

Paul articulates a list of items that cannot separate believers from God’s love in Christ. Two items on the list include height and depth. So what does it mean that neither height nor depth can separate us from God’s love? When we look at other passages, we notice that authors sometimes use similar terms metaphorically to emphasize the richness of God. For example, the author of Psalm 139:8 writes that whether he ascends to heaven, or descends to Sheol, God is there.³ Of course, the author does not actually go up to heaven or descend into Sheol, but his point is that no extent can separate him from God’s presence. Similarly, in Ephesians 3:18 Paul writes that he wishes the Ephesians would know the height and depth of Christ’s love for them; in other words, the infinite extent of Christ’s love. Likewise, in Romans 8:39 when Paul writes that neither height nor depth can separate us from God’s love, he has in mind that the extent of God’s love for us is boundless.⁴

Counterargument:

There are two problems with this argument. First, it is not clear that Psalm 139:1–24, which was written hundreds of years before Romans, is relevant to understanding Paul’s use of height and depth. For the author never uses either term, and he is chronologically distant from Paul. Thus, to determine his meaning, we ought to look to more contemporary sources who use the terms. Second, it is important to notice that Paul in Romans 8:39 uses the term τό ὕψωμα, but in Ephesians 3:18 he uses τό ὕψος. Unfortunately for this argument, there is a notable distinction between the meanings of the two words. In particular, τό ὕψος means something like extent, or distance upward,⁵ and τό ὕψωμα means the space above the horizon, or the domain of many transcendent forces.⁶ Thus, neither Psalm 139:8 nor Ephesians 3:18 is relevant to Paul’s meaning in Romans 8:39.

Response to counterargument:

It is better to notice that Paul uses a common Jewish literature device, known as a merism, rather than try to understand Romans 8:39 in light of how contemporaries use the term τό ὕψωμα (height). The fact is, when other authors use the term in the sense of transcendent forces, they do not combine it with the term depth but depression. Further, the closest recorded contemporary who uses the term this way was writing about a century after Paul.⁷ Added to this, it was common for Jewish writers to deploy the rhetorical device of merism, which pairs two contrasting words to denote completeness Psalm 139:8;Isaiah 7:11; Ephesians 3:18).⁸ Given Paul’s Jewish background, it is likely that he would use terms this way, so it is likely that he is using a merism to denote completeness rather than referring to transcendent forces above the heavens.

Explanation:

To understand what it means that neither height nor depth can separate us from the love of God, it is important to determine how Paul’s contemporaries use the term height. When we do, we notice that at least three of Paul’s contemporaries use height to refer to something that is high or exalted. In fact, Paul himself also uses the term this way in 2 Corinthians 10:5 when he says that he destroys every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God. Likely, Paul has a similar idea in mind in Romans 8:39. That is, he likely uses the term height in a metaphorical sense to denote that nothing high and exalted or low can separate us from the love of God.⁹ In other words, the love of God is boundless.

Counterargument:

While it could be that some of Paul’s contemporaries use height to denote something that is exalted, it is important to notice how Paul uses the term in the context of Romans 8:39. In particular, we notice that Paul pairs height with depth. Now according to this argument, Paul’s contemporaries use τό ὕψωμα to denote something exalted, so if this is how Paul uses it in Romans 8:39, what does this imply about his use of the word for depth (το βάθος)? Is he saying that nothing exalted nor humble can separate us from the love of God in Christ? It is hard to see why he would say that nothing humble can separate us from the love of God in Christ.

Response to counterargument:

The argument here is that Paul uses the term height not in the sense of exalted but in the sense of high, denoting the heights of space. The point is that God’s love for us is boundless, stretching from the furthest to the nearest reaches of space.

One weakness of this view is that the term τό ὕψωμα (height) could be used in an astrological sense to denote the transcendent forces in the heavens. Given that Paul writes to a mixed Jew and Gentile audience in Rome, it is plausible that he would allude to the notion that no superstitious belief regarding the position of the stars or transcendent forces in the heavens can separate us from God’s love.

Explanation:

We have evidence from some ancient writers that τό ὕψωμα (height) was a technical term used for astrology. In particular, the term was used to denote the highest point of the stars in the sky, which played some role in determining the events of earth.^12,13 Likely, Paul has a similar usage in mind, denoting the fact that nothing, including the formation of the stars in the sky, can separate us from the love of God.

Counterargument:

It is important to notice the immediate context in which Paul uses height to determine his meaning. He uses two impersonal terms, namely, things present and things to come. That Paul uses these impersonal terms suggests that his reference to height and depth is also impersonal. Of course, this undercuts the notion that Paul uses height to refer to the transcendent forces at work in the stars to determine the fate of earth, for such entities are conceived as personal forces.¹⁴ More likely, given the impersonal character of present and to come, Paul also refers to height and depth in impersonal terms, implying that they simply refer to the extent of space.

Response to counterargument:

That present and to come are impersonal terms does not undercut the notion that height and depth refer to the stars that determine the fate of earth. For it is not clear that writers use the term height to refer to transcendent forces. Rather, they use the term in an impersonal sense to refer to the domain of transcendent forces.¹⁵ So, Paul could have in mind the impersonal heavens without losing the connotation that the transcendent heavens were thought to contain beings who were involved in the fate of the earth.

Explanation:

Astrologers believed that the stars determined the fate of the earth in some sense, and they referred to the height of the stars with the term height. Paul leans on this astrological belief to highlight the strength of God’s love for us. In other words, Paul in this section explains that there is nothing that can separate us from God’s love in Christ. That not even the stars in the sky, which were thought to determine the fate of the earth, can separate us from God’s love, affirms this point.

Counterargument:

Given the nature of astrology, it is highly unlikely that Paul would reference it in order to highlight the strength of God’s love. For astrologers falsely believed that the position of the stars in the sky determined the fate of humans, which is counter to the biblical notion that God is providentially in control of the universe. Given God’s providential control, it is highly unlikely that Paul promotes astrological notions to make a theological point about the strength of God’s love.

One weakness of this view is that if Paul were to suggest the transcendent forces in the heavens cannot separate us from God’s love, we would expect him to add a caveat that in reality, there are no such forces. For Paul knows that God is providentially in control of all things, so even if he used pagan notions to make a point about God’s love, we expect him to clarify his position that the reason these cannot separate us from God’s love is that there are no transcendent forces in the heavens.