Romans 8:37 - Printer Friendly

ESV: No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

NIV: No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

NASB: But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.

CSB: No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

NLT: No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

KJV: Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

NKJV: Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

In verse 35, Paul listed several terrible things that might happen to a person in this life. His point was that none of them could separate those of us who are in Christ from His love for us. Nothing so terrible could ever happen to us that would keep us from being in Christ, or to keep Christ from loving us, or to prove that Christ no longer loves us.

Now he writes that in all those things—hardship, trouble, famine, exposure, threats, or violence—we are "more than conquerors through [Christ] who loved us." This description comes from the Greek word hypernikōmen, which carries the idea of extraordinary, exceeding victory, in a continual state: to perpetually increase in triumph. Does this mean none of these troubles will ever happen to us, or that we can eliminate them in this life? No, clearly not, based on the context of this passage. Even more, it's important to note that many of them happened to Paul himself (2 Corinthians 11:23–29).

Rather, those who are saved by faith in Christ (Romans 3:23–26; John 3:16–18) conquer those terrible things in the sense that Christ has already won the most important victory for us. That victory, our place in God's family, our share in the inheritance of His glory, cannot be taken from us by any means. We conquer in the sense that none of these things can overcome what God's love has gained for us.

Romans 8:31-39 is one of the most encouraging and affirming passages in all of God's Word. Paul has established that God is for all of us who are in Christ; for those who have been saved by their faith. No charge or accusation made against us can stand, because God has provided for our justification and Christ is interceding for us. Paul makes two lists of all of the things in the universe that cannot separate us from God's love for us in Christ. Hard things will happen, indeed. Yet, none of them will cause our Father to stop loving us, nor are any of them signs that He has abandoned us. Our salvation is entirely, absolutely secure on account of His great love.

Romans 8 begins and ends with declarations of the Christian's absolute security before God. There is no condemnation for those in Christ, and nothing will ever be able to separate us from His love. Having believed the gospel, we now live in the Spirit of God. That allows us to call God Abba Father. We suffer with Christ, and we suffer along with all creation while we wait for God to reveal us as His sons. With the help of the Spirit, we are confident that God is for us and loves us in Christ.

In Romans 7, Paul revealed his frustration of trying to do good only to be thwarted by his sin. He begins Romans 8, though, with the triumphant statement that there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. We live in the Spirit, and we relate to God as a child does to a father. The Spirit helps us in this season of suffering along with all of creation while we wait for our adoption to be complete with the redemption of our bodies. We are confident, though, that God is for us and nothing can separate us from His love.

The book of Romans is the New Testament's longest, most structured, and most detailed description of Christian theology. Paul lays out the core of the gospel message: salvation by grace alone through faith alone. His intent is to explain the good news of Jesus Christ in accurate and clear terms. As part of this effort, Paul addresses the conflicts between law and grace, between Jews and Gentiles, and between sin and righteousness. As is common in his writing, Paul closes out his letter with a series of practical applications.