We're now in the final verses of Romans 8, and to understand the closing verses, we need to understand and recap the previous verses to understand what Paul has been trying to establish and build towards.
(A) Love displayed: we are blessed in Christ (Rom 8:1-34)
Let's read the previous 34 verses for the evidence of God's love. What has God done to love us, the saints? God shows his love by sending His son, and has set us free from the law and death, such that we are now God's sons. He gives us new life in the Spirit, and has given us a future hope. He gives us the Spirit who helps us, and is also working out his loving and good will.
God's love is not an empty claim, but He has demonstrated it in objective, theological, personal and practical terms. God has displayed His love for us in Christ.
(B) Love invulnerable: in Christ we cannot be hurt (Rom 8:35)
Verse 35 begins with Paul stating a "worst-case" scenario -- if we are separated from the love of Christ. Paul proceeds to list out a series of 7 causes for this scenario. Each one of these happened to Paul! Read the verses, and note the description of each scenario:
| Cause | Scripture reference |
Tribulation [Thillipsi] Literally ‘hems someone in’. Like an external situation of hardship | For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come…Do your best to come to me soon. For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica…Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds. Beware of him yourself, for he strongly opposed our message. At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them! (2 Tim 4:6, 9-10, 14-16 ESV c.f. Acts 15:36-40) Paul writes this at the end of his life, an old man and a bit less like the vigorous young man, and he clearly suffered a lot. |
Distress [Stenoxoria] Literally a ‘narrow, confined place’ with a deep emotional sense of anxiety and fear (internal) | So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. (2 Corinthians 12:7-8 ESV) Whatever this thorn is, it was something that would cause him to plead with God for it to be removed. Remember who this Paul is. It must have been something serious. Paul is not a stranger to tribulation and distress. |
Persecution [Diogmos] Literally the ‘chase/hunt’ like to bring someone down like an animal | But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city, and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe. (Acts 14:19-20 ESV) |
| Famine [Limos] | To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; (1 Corinthians 4:11-12 ESV) This is a picture of first century ministry! |
| Nakedness [Gumnotes] | But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city. They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice.” The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. (Acts 16:19-22 ESV) Paul experienced all that he wrote about in Romans 8. Romans 8 was not just theoretical, but were but real experiences of conflict. Things happened to him that made him feel like he is separated from Christ, and Paul is writing Romans 8. |
| Danger [Kindunos] | Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. (2 Corinthians 11:24-28 ESV) |
Sword [Maxaira] Slaughter-knife/short sword or dagger used for stabbing | When it was day, the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. There were more than forty who made this conspiracy. They went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have strictly bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food till we have killed Paul. Now therefore you, along with the council, give notice to the tribune to bring him down to you, as though you were going to determine his case more exactly. And we are ready to kill him before he comes near.” (Acts 23:12-15 ESV) The word for sword here was commonly used for revenge plots. Here, we see not a generic threat but actual attempts on Paul's life. |
What is Paul saying to us? Paul has experienced all these in his ministry and life, and therefore argues that through all these things, he cannot be separated and removed from the love of Christ. None of these things can do real damage and cause him to lose the love of Christ. This is how secure the love we have in Christ is.
(C) Love invincible: in Christ we are more than conquerors (Rom 8:36-37)
Not only do we have a love that protects us to this extent, Paul goes on to quote Psalm 44:22 in Rom 8:36. Based on Psalm 44:17-26, we read of the situation the psalmist faces. The psalmist speaks honestly of how, though they remain faithful,they feel like they are suffering at the hands of others. The psalmist feels like they are dying again and again, being treated like sheep to be slaughtered. Yet at the end of the psalm, the psalmist prays that God will act, and redeem for His steadfast love.
What is Paul trying to say by quoting this verse? Paul is claiming this whole verse to describe his, and our experience. We may feel like we are separated from God, but He will not be separated from us! God's love for us is not determined by circumstances but by His promises that will ultimately come to past. Paul is showing us what it means to pull together all these claims and bring them into our hearts.
Paul goes one step further and says that we are "more than conquerors" in all the circumstances above ("these things", Rom 8:37). This is who we are, and he also says that we achieve this through Christ who loved us. What does it mean? It does not mean that these things don't happen to Christians, but even when it does, it doesn't bother him, and it shouldn't bother us. Pastor John Piper has helpfully explained this verse as such:
I would say that a conqueror defeats his enemy, but a "more than conqueror" subjugates his enemy. A conqueror nullifies the purpose of his enemy; a "more than conqueror" turns his enemy to his own purposes. A conqueror strikes down his foe; a "more than conqueror" makes his foe his slave." (Taken from here)
Through these things, Paul is enhanced and strengthened. That which his enemy meant to destroy and harm him can be used for his good! This is one of the most amazing things about Christianity. It does not say that we will not have suffering, because it is more realistic about life here. Neither does it merely say that we will get through suffering for that is too small a view of suffering. It says that God knows how to take the bad things and make them infinitely good. The prime example was really displayed in Christ. God took the darkness of Good Friday, the death of His Son, the perfect man and used it to give us light. This love is not just invulnerable, but it is also invincible.
If we really believed the headings thus far -- that this love has been displayed for us in Christ on the cross and is invincible and invulnerable -- how would we be changed? How would it be different if we realise that God's love is not just a theory but real? It would make us selfless, generous and kind, because we know we have nothing to lose and nothing to prove. We can take risks for Him because we know that no one can do any real harm to us! This is the kind of love that can motivate us to give our lives to Him. We would not be affected by criticisms, our insecurities and identity. We would be free to live for God and not for ourselves. It is the Christian experience to struggle with this everyday. We will look to fill our empty jars by working for the affections and recognition of others, to work away our past regrets and guilt. But we need to pray daily that the brightness of Romans 8 will shine into the dark anxious, needy, bitter hearts that we all have. Today, why not pause to take a look at the table above and ask God what it means to be more than a conqueror in each of the situations.
(D) Love inseparable: in Christ we are utterly secure (Rom 8:38-39)
In closing, Paul lists another set of 6 categories of things that cannot separate us from the love of Christ.
"Death nor life" (existence)
"Angels nor rulers" (spiritual powers)
"Things present nor things to come" (time)
"Powers" (forces, law, operating structures of reality, philosophical ontologies)
"Height nor depth" (physical space and distance)
"Anything else in all creation" (everything, which also includes personal disobedience and unfaithfulness, feelings)
Paul takes great pain to show us that there is nothing that can change what God feels for us. When God's love is on display, his love is invulnerable, invincible, and inseparable. We struggle to believe that God loves us this much. But if we really did, it will transform us entirely. Nothing at all can separate us from this love. This should make us the most rested and calm people on this earth. What confidence and freedom it gives us!
We have spent the past 13 weeks plumbing the depths of Romans 8. As we end this study, why not pause and consider what God has been saying to you through these verses? We have seen that God's love is is invulnerable, invincible and inseparable. What does this mean for you today? How does this change the way you live?
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
when fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My Comforter, my All in All,
here in the love of Christ I stand.