More Than Conquerors
Romans 8:35, 38–39 (Pauline Epistles)
- First attested
- 57 CEAttested in Papyrus 46 (c. 200 CE) and early New Testament uncial manuscripts.
King James Version (Romans 8:35, 38–39)“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Faith anchors the spirit in an eternal security that no temporal crisis or cosmic power can undermine.
Romans 8:35, 38–39; C. K. Barrett, The Epistle to the Romans (1957).
Paul's ecstatic proclamation of indestructible divine love overcoming all tribulations.
In the climactic conclusion of Romans 8, the Apostle Paul issues a soaring theological hymn of assurance to early Christians enduring persecution and suffering in imperial Rome. Paul poses a series of rhetorical questions, affirming that neither tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, peril, nor sword can defeat those who abide in God's grace. In a panoramic cosmological survey spanning death, life, angelic hierarchies, cosmic rulers, and dimensions of space, Paul asserts that nothing in all creation can separate humanity from divine love.
Light
Indestructible hope, cosmic security, courage under persecution, and unconditional divine love.
Shadow
Triumphalist complacency, or despair when suffering feels unendurable.
