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Romans 8:37-39

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Romans 8:37-39 Romans 8:37-39 Romans 8:37-The Christian Overwhelmingly Conquers Every Category Of Undeserved Suffering Through Christ Who Loves Him Now, we come to Romans 8:37 and in this passage, Paul teaches that the Christian is overwhelmingly victorious in the midst of every category of undeserved suffering in life through Christ who loved him. Romans 8:37, “But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.’” “But ” is the adversative use of the conjunction alla ( a)llav) (al-lah), which introduces a conclusion that is in total contrast or is totally antithetical to what might be expected as a conclusion from Paul’s statements in Romans 8:35-36. In Romans 8:35, Paul assures his Christian readers in Rome that no category of suffering in life, whether its tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or sword could ever separate them from Christ’s love for them. In this passage, he uses a rhetorical question that demands a negative response from his readers, namely no suffering can ever separate the Christian from Christ’s love for them. He lists seven categories of undeserved suffering and none of them can ever separate the Christian from Christ’s love for them. Romans 8:35, “What will separate any of us from Christ’s divine-love? Adversity or anguish or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?” In Romans 8:36, Paul cites Psalm 44:22 to remind his readers that they should not be surprised if they suffer martyrdom. Romans 8:36, “As it stands written for all of eternity, ‘For Your sake we are, as an eternal spiritual truth, put to death for the entire extent of this period, regarded as slaughtered sheep.’” Based upon these statements in these two verses, it could be concluded that the Christian is overcome by these seven categories of undeserved suffering listed in verse 35. In Romans 8:37, the conjunction alla presents a statement that is a strong contrast to what might be expected as a conclusion from the statements in verses 35-36. So Paul is saying that it could be concluded from the statements in verses 35-36 that the Christian is overcome and separated from Christ’s love by these seven categories of undeserved suffering. Alla says, “But on the contrary” the Christian overcomes this suffering through Christ who loved them. In verse 37, Paul teaches that it is the omnipotence available to the Christian through his union and identification with Christ that gives the Christian the capacity to endure these various categories of undeserved suffering and in fact prosper spiritually because of them. 2009 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 1 The Christian must always remember that even though Satan might seek to destroy them for various categories of suffering that are mentioned in verse 35, the Lord Jesus Christ permits this suffering to advance the believer spiritually, to test their faith, prosper them spiritually and conform them into His image. Therefore, the Lord uses Satan against himself by permitting Christians to undergo undeserved suffering at the request of Satan. Job was individual who underwent such suffering because the Lord permitted Satan to test him through suffering. We will translate the word, “ but on the contrary .” Romans 8:37, “But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.’” “In all these things ” is composed of the preposition en ( e)n ), “ in ” and the dative neuter plural form of the immediate demonstrative pronoun houtos ( ou!!to$ ) (hoo- tos), “these things ” and the dative neuter plural form of the adjective pas ( pa~$ ), “all .” The immediate demonstrative pronoun houtos means, “ these things ” and refers to the seven categories of undeserved suffering that are listed in Romans 8:35. Romans 8:35, “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” “Tribulation ” is the noun thlipsis ( qli~yi$ ) (thlip-sis), which means, “adversity” and is used in a general and figurative sense in relation to the intense outward pressure or extreme adversity caused by people or circumstances that the Christian will at times experience in life. “Distress ” is the noun stenochoria ( stenoxwriva ) (sten-okh-o-ree-ah), which means, “anguish” and is used in a general and figurative sense in relation to the intense mental pressure or extreme anguish caused by people or circumstances that the Christian will at times experience in life. “Persecution ” is the noun diogmos ( diwgmov$ ) (dee-ogue-mos), which is the suffering or pressure, mental, moral, or physical, which authorities, individuals, or crowds inflict on others, especially for opinions or beliefs, with a view to their subjection by recantation, silencing, or, as a last resort, execution. “Famine ” is the noun limos ( livmov$ ) (lee-mos), which refers to the widespread lack of food over a considerable period of time and resulting in hunger for many people. “Nakedness ” is the noun gumnotes ( gumnovth$ ) (goom-not-ace), which is used in a literal sense and means to be destitute of convenient or decent clothing because of having no means to purchase or make any. 2009 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 2 “Peril ” is the noun kindunos ( kivnduno$ ) (kin-doo-nos), which means, “danger” and refers to the dangerous and life threatening circumstances that a Christian might experience during the course of his life as a Christian. “Sword ” is the noun machaira ( mavxaira ) (makh-a-rah), which means, “sword” and is used in a figurative sense for capital punishment. In Romans 8:36, Paul uses a comparative clause that indicates a comparison with the last category of undeserved suffering listed in Romans 8:35, namely, the “sword ,” which refers to capital punishment. In this passage, he cites Psalm 44:22, which supports his assertion in Romans 8:35 that martyrdom is a category of undeserved suffering that some Christians will be exposed to. In Romans 8:37, the anarthrous adjective pas is modifying this immediate demonstrative pronoun houtos , “ these things ” and is used in a “distributive” sense and means, “each and every one.” The immediate demonstrative pronoun houtos , “ these things ” functions as a “dative locative of sphere” meaning it indicates the sphere in which the word to which it is related takes place or exist. In our present context, it is related to the verb hupernikao ( u(pernikavw ) (hoop-er-nik-ah-o), “ we overwhelmingly conquer .” Therefore, houtos , “ these things ” as a “dative locative of sphere” indicates the sphere in which the Christian overwhelmingly conquers through Christ. The word also functions as the object of the preposition en , which means, “in the midst of” since it functions as a marker of location within an area determined by other objects and distributed among such objects. In our present context, the various objects that the Christian finds himself among are the various categories of suffering listed in verse 35. Therefore, the preposition en denotes that through Christ who loves him, the Christian overwhelmingly conquers “in the midst” of these various categories of suffering listed in verse 35. We will translate the prepositional phrase en toutois pasin , “ in the midst of each and every one of these things .” Corrected translation thus far of Romans 8:37: “But on the contrary, in the midst of each and every one of these things…” Romans 8:37, “But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.’” “We overwhelmingly conquer” is the first person plural present active indicative form of the verb hupernikao ( u(pernikavw ) (hoop-er-nik-ah-o), which is an emphatic compound word meaning “to be completely and overwhelmingly victorious.” It is composed of the preposition huper , which means, “above, beyond” and the verb nikao , “to overcome, conquer.” In classical Greek, hupernikao is very rare but goes back to the Hippocrates in the fifth century B.C. Liddell and Scott cite only four references for the word’s 2009 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 3 usage, namely Hippocrates, the New Testament usage and two post-New Testament writers (Page 1866). It suggests “prevail completely over” as the meaning in Hippocrates and in a passage in Galen, who like Hippocrates was a medical writer but unlike the latter, lived in the second century A.D. The word appears only once in the Greek New Testament, in Romans 8:37. It describes the Christian as “super-victorious,” who wins more than an ordinary victory and who is overpowering in achieving overwhelming victory. It describes a “lopsided victory” in which the enemy is completely routed. The word expresses confidence in Christ rather than arrogance. The Christian achieves a lopsided victory over the seven categories of undeserved suffering listed in Romans 8:35 because of Christ’s love, which conquered sin, spiritual and physical death and which love gives the Christian the capacity to endure and prosper spiritually in the midst of any category of suffering in life. Bauer contends that the verb hupernikao is a heightened form of nikao and suggests the translation “we are winning a most glorious victory.” (Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature page 841) The Analytical Greek Lexicon Revised defines the word, “to overpower in victory; to be abundantly victorious; prevail mightily” (page 416). In Romans 8:37, the verb hupernikao means, “to be overwhelmingly victorious” and is used with the Christian as the subject. The Christian is also victorious in the midst of the seven categories of undeserved suffering listed in Romans 8:35 because of the omnipotence available to him through his union with Christ and identification with Christ in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session.
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