12
Life and Hope through the Spirit
Romans 8:1–39
Outline
- The Spirit of Life (8:1–13)
- The Spirit of Adoption (8:14–17)
- The Spirit of Glory (8:18–30)
- Response: Celebration of Our Security in Christ (8:31–39)
Objectives
After reading this chapter, you should be able to
- Explain the contribution that Romans 8 makes to Paul’s presentation of the gospel in Romans.
- Appreciate the benefits conferred on the believer by the ministry of the Spirit.
- Identify and explain three key sources of support given to us by God in our time of anticipation.
- Rejoice in the security provided for the believer by God in Christ.
Conspicuous by absence so far in Romans has been the Spirit of God. Paul mentions the Spirit only four times before chapter 8 (1:4; 2:29; 5:5; 7:6), but he now makes up for that absence. He uses the word “spirit” (pneuma) twenty-one times in Romans 8, and all but one (v. 16b) refer to the Holy Spirit. However, the Spirit, although the constant motif in Romans 8, is not really Paul’s topic. That is, Paul does not actually tell us much about the Spirit as such; he tells us about what the Spirit does. And what the Spirit does is mediate to Christians the life and hope that have been the key themes since Romans 5. The Spirit applies the work of God in Christ to us so that we can enjoy life, both new spiritual life in the present and resurrection life in the future (vv. 1–13). The Spirit makes us aware that we are God’s own children and that as his children we can expect a wonderful inheritance someday (vv. 14–17). And the Spirit causes us to groan at the present time, manifesting our frustration at not yet experiencing the glory to which we are infallibly destined (vv. 18–30). This work of the Spirit is an elaboration of 7:6, where Paul briefly introduced the life of the Spirit before launching into his excursus about the law. As 7:7–25 elaborates the situation that Paul has described in 7:5—controlled by the sinful nature, with the law arousing sinful passions—so 8:1–30 depicts the status of the believer as one who serves “in the new way of the Spirit” (7:6).
The Spirit of Life (8:1–13)
Paul refers to the “Spirit of life” in verse 2 (NIV: “Spirit who gives life”), and this title points to the theme of these verses. Through the Spirit we enjoy new spiritual life, having been rescued from the condemnation due our sin in Adam (vv. 1–4); through the Spirit we learn to live in ways pleasing to the Spirit and to God (vv. 5–8); through the Spirit God will raise our bodies from the dead (vv. 9–11); and through the Spirit we are to kill off the lifestyle of sin so that we can enjoy the life of God forever (vv. 12–13). In contrast to the divisions found in some Bibles and commentaries, then, verses 12–13 should be kept with verses 1–11. Verses 12–13 bring the section on the Spirit of life to a fitting conclusion by reminding us that God’s gift of the Spirit must be appropriated and used if we truly are to enjoy the life brought by the Spirit.
Verses 1–4 restate and elaborate the central truth of Romans 5:12–21 in light of chapter 7. In Romans 5:12–21, Paul has taught that believers belong to Jesus Christ and therefore are rescued from the condemnation that all people suffer in Adam. So, in 8:1, Paul proclaims that “those who are in Christ Jesus” need not fear condemnation.1 Paul explains why this is so by referring to the believer’s freedom from “the law of sin and death” (v. 2)—an unmistakable reference to the situation that Paul has delineated in 7:7–25. As is the case in 7:22–23, Paul’s use of “law” language in 8:2 has stimulated vigorous debate. “The law of sin and death” at the end of the verse could well refer to the law of Moses, for it is precisely in these terms that Paul has described the law in Romans 7. Sin has used the law to bring death (cf. 7:5). But in 7:23, the phrase “law of sin” refers to a power or authority exercised by sin. That probably is what Paul means here as well. “The law of sin and death” is the immutable divine “rule” that those who sin must die. We are set free from that law by “the law of the Spirit who gives life.” Again, this could refer to the Mosaic law, as it functions in the realm of the Spirit.2 But Paul does not present the law as a liberating force, and the contrast between Spirit and law in texts such as 2:28–29 and 7:6 also makes it difficult to think that he associates them here. Probably, then, this first “law” also means “rule” or “principle.”
In verse 3, however, “what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh” certainly refers to the law of Moses. The phrase is a tidy summary of the basic message of Romans 7. Despite its divine origin and innate goodness, the law of Moses could not rescue human beings from the nexus of sin and death, because human beings are helpless captives to the power of this world. So another way to redeem human beings must be found, and God has found that way through his Son. He sent him “in the likeness of sinful flesh.” This phrase neatly balances two important facets of the incarnate Son. First, Jesus became fully human. He did not just appear to be a man (the docetic heresy); he truly was a man. Paul therefore emphasizes that Jesus took on the likeness of sinful flesh. Second, Jesus never sinned. Paul therefore says that Jesus took on the likeness of sinful flesh. But not only did God send Jesus to earth as a man; he also sent him as a “sin offering.”3 Jesus was given over to death as a sacrifice to take care of our sin problem. To paraphrase an ancient theological truth: Jesus became what we are so that we might become what he is. God condemned sin in Jesus (v. 3) so that we would not have to be condemned (v. 1).
The upshot of God’s work in Christ is that the “righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us” (v. 4). Paul chooses the singular “requirement” to stress that the totality of the law’s demands is fulfilled in us when we come to Christ. Probably lying behind his statement is again the idea of Christ as our substitute. He fulfilled the law perfectly. When we are in him, therefore, God views us also as having fulfilled the law perfectly. No longer can we be condemned for failing to do the law; in Christ, we have done it. This passage is not only a wonderful summary of the work of God on our behalf but also one of those many New Testament passages that hint at the doctrine of the Trinity. Note how each of the persons of the Godhead is involved in securing our redemption from sin: God the Father sends the Son, whose work is applied to our lives by the Holy Spirit.
At the end of verse 4, Paul introduces a contrast that dominates verses 5–9: the Holy Spirit versus the flesh. When I first read these verses many years ago in another version of the Bible, I thought that Paul was contrasting my own flesh, my material side, with my spirit, that part of me open to the spiritual realm. This idea of a division between two parts of the human being (anthropological dualism) has a long history in Western culture. But certainly this text is not talking about any kind of division within human beings. As all modern English versions recognize by capitalizing “Spirit,” Paul is referring not to some part of the human being but to God’s Holy Spirit. And even the “flesh” is not so much a part of us as an influence or force. Hence, Paul can describe Christians as people who are no longer “in the realm of the flesh” (v. 9a; the NIV adds “realm of” to capture this idea). So the contrast in these verses is between two different influences. People apart from Christ, Paul claims, are dominated by the flesh, while believers are dominated by the Spirit. He expresses this point in three contrasts, which move from the sphere of “position” to “mind-set” to “lifestyle”:
position: being in the flesh versus being in the Spirit (vv. 8–9a)
mind-set: the mind of the flesh versus the mind of the Spirit (vv. 5b–7)
lifestyle: living according to the flesh versus living according to the Spirit (vv. 4b–5a)
A logical progression is obvious. All believers are “in the realm of the Spirit” (v. 9). Anyone who belongs to Christ has the Spirit of God dwelling in him or her. And the person in whom the Spirit dwells—in a startling shift of the metaphor—is “in the realm of the Spirit.” These are two ways of saying the same thing: the Christian is one who is now dominated by God’s Spirit. To use the salvation-historical imagery that is so basic to Romans 5–8: we have been transferred from the realm of the flesh and put into the realm of the Spirit. As people who now belong to that realm, we need to mold our thinking in accordance with our identity. We need to cultivate the mind or, better, mind-set of the Spirit. And once we do that, Paul suggests, our behavior will follow as a matter of course. A mind focused on the Spirit’s values will inevitably produce a lifestyle that pleases the Spirit. As he does so often (see, e.g., Rom. 12:1–2), Paul highlights the cultivation of a Christ-centered, Spirit-filled mind as the critical step in holy living.
First-century tomb with the stone rolled away (Jim Yancey)
The Spirit creates in us new spiritual existence (vv. 1–4a), leads us into a new lifestyle (vv. 4b–9), and ultimately will raise our bodies from the dead (vv. 10–11). Paul acknowledges a reality at the beginning of verse 10 that he never ignores for long in his discussion of the Christian life: the incomplete nature of God’s work in history and in us. With Christ’s death and resurrection and the coming of the Spirit, the new age of salvation has begun. However, since the old age of sin and death has not yet ended, we believers live in the overlap of the ages. We belong to the new age, and our futures now are determined by that fact, but we are still influenced by the old age, and we still must face physical death. Nevertheless, though the body still is dead because of sin (see NIV footnote), “the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.” It is the Holy Spirit, according to verse 11, through whom God will raise our bodies from the dead. It would be quite natural, then, for Paul to refer to this same Spirit in verse 10 as the animating power that now resides within us. Our bodies must die, but the power of that Spirit within us will not let the body remain dead.
As we noted, many Bibles and commentaries do not include verses 12–13 with verses 1–11. This is a mistake, because these verses strike an appropriate balance with the focus of verses 1–11. These first eleven verses have stressed what God through the Spirit has done for us. Now Paul will conclude by reminding us that we still have to respond through that same Spirit. We find here again, in other words, the balance between “indicative” and “imperative” that we noticed in Romans 6. Certainly Paul wants to encourage us by reminding us of all that God has done for us and all that God will do for us. We are secure in him and have a certain hope for the future. Yet Paul never wants that security to breed complacency. He does not want believers to sit back and rest, thinking that God has taken care of it all. Response on our part is still necessary. And so, while he can proclaim the life that the Spirit has won for us, Paul now reminds us that we will never experience that life unless we are growing in holiness. We are to use the Spirit to “put to death” the continuing sinful patterns of behavior from the old life. Only as we do so will we find life.
The Spirit of Adoption (8:14–17)
These four brief verses provide an effective transition from the believer’s present (vv. 1–13) to his or her future (vv. 18–30). Following a pattern that he uses elsewhere (cf. esp. Gal. 4:3–7), Paul connects the Christian’s past redemption from the penalty of the law to the future joy in heaven by means of status as a child of God. Being a child of God, Paul argues, also means being God’s heir. God adopts people from the world and puts them in a new relationship to himself. God has not yet, however, given us everything he is planning to give us. A wonderful inheritance has been promised us. Again, then, Paul highlights the tension in which we Christians live: redeemed, justified, adopted, but not yet glorified.
Coin depicting the emperor Augustus, who was adopted by Julius Caesar (Siren-Com/Wikimedia Commons)
Verse 14 can be connected quite directly to verse 13, but the shift of focus from “life” (the dominant motif in vv. 1–13) to “adoption to sonship”/“children of God” (vv. 14–17) suggests, rather, a paragraph break between verses 13 and 14. The idea of adoption is taken from the Greco-Roman world. Greeks and especially Romans made adoption an important legal institution. A person could adopt a child, and that child would become the legal heir to everything that the adopting person owned. The Roman emperor Julius Caesar, for instance, adopted a young man named Octavian, who became by that act the heir to the Roman Empire. Eventually he became emperor, changing his name to Augustus. In a similar manner, Paul suggests, God, the ruler of this universe, has adopted us as his heirs. But we should not miss another set of background echoes in this passage. The Old Testament frequently describes Israel, God’s chosen people, as his “son(s),” or children (Exod. 4:22; Deut. 14:1; Isa. 43:6; Jer. 3:19; Hosea 1:10; 11:1). So, when Paul says that believers who are led by God’s Spirit are God’s children, he is also saying that believers are now God’s people. They become what Israel used to be. One begins to see why Paul has to clarify the situation of Israel, as he does in Romans 9–11.
The Spirit, of course, continues to be a dominant element in Paul’s argument. Those who belong to the Spirit are God’s children (v. 14). And the Spirit also makes us actively aware of the status as God’s children that we believers enjoy (vv. 15–16). The Spirit we have received is not one who leads to slavery or fear. The Spirit of God witnesses to us that we are indeed the children of God. Thus, we can follow Jesus in crying out spontaneously to God, “Abba, Father” (see Mark 14:36). “Abba” is the Aramaic word for “father,” or “dad.” Contrary to the claim of some scholars, Jews occasionally did use this title to refer to God. But it was not common. The title had enough intimate family associations (some paraphrase it as “daddy”) that it was the perfect way to convey the believer’s new intimate relationship to God. But Paul ends the paragraph by reminding us again that this relationship has not yet been consummated. As heirs of God, we are destined for the glory that is particularly his (v. 17; cf. 3:23; 5:2). In order to attain this glory, however, we must walk the same road that our forerunner, Christ, walked. He did not attain the glory of resurrection until he had suffered. So also is it for us who belong to him. We cannot expect to share in his glory if we do not share in his suffering. As participants in the new age, we look forward confidently to the glory that awaits us, but still we live out our lives in the old age of sin, sickness, and death. Suffering of various kinds is therefore bound to come our way. Only by carrying the cross will we win the crown.
The Spirit of Glory (8:18–30)
Verse 17 has introduced the topic of verses 18–30: the glory that one day will be ours. Paul begins the passage by drawing our gaze to the “glory that will be revealed in us” (v. 18); he ends it with a similar emphasis: “those he justified, he also glorified” (v. 30). These statements form an inclusio. That is, Paul implies that the material “included” between these assertions is all oriented to the glory destined for believers. Paul makes two basic points about this glory. First, it is the climax of God’s plan for the world and for his people (vv. 18–25). Second, God provides the means for us to attain this glory (vv. 26–30).
Paul begins by picking up the theme of verse 17. Believers must suffer with Christ if they are to share his glory. But now Paul brings these two into perspective with each other. However severe and prolonged the suffering might be, it cannot compare with the glory that is to come. As I noted in the introduction to chapters 5–8 (see chap. 9 above), the beginning and ending of these chapters have a lot in common. Both 5:1–11 and 8:18–39 focus on the believer’s hope for glory, and they both indicate that our hope for glory springs from God’s work in Christ, his love for us, and the power of the Holy Spirit. However, both passages are also realistic about the difficulties that believers will have to face before they reach that glory. In 5:3–4, Paul reminded us that God has a purpose in the suffering he allows into our lives. Here Paul simply puts that suffering into perspective. And we gain even more perspective on the overwhelming prospect of glory when we realize that the entire created world will be caught up in the glory that God one day will give us. To be sure, some interpreters doubt that Paul refers to the created world in verses 19–21. They note that Paul uses language about “creation” that does not apply very well to the nonhuman creation: it “waits,” “was subjected to frustration,” and “has been groaning.” So, it is argued, Paul must be referring to willful creatures—either angels or human beings or both.4 But “creation” (ktisis) is not a normal way of referring to human beings, and there is good precedent for such language being applied to the subhuman creation in the Old Testament.5 The psalms, for instance, speak of hills, meadows, and valleys shouting and singing together for joy (Ps. 65:12–13). Paul effectively uses this literary device to portray the fall and anticipated redemption of what we would call “nature.” As Paul reminds us (v. 20), the earth itself was subject to a curse when Adam and Eve fell into sin (Gen. 3:17–18)—a curse that has been exacerbated by human sin over the years (see the allusion to Isa. 24:1–6 in these verses).6 It was “subjected to frustration”: it did not reach its original created goal of being a place where people could dwell securely and with minimal labor. This frustration, however, was not its own fault but caused by “the one who subjected it”—almost certainly God, who uttered the sentence of the curse.7 Because of this frustration, therefore, nature eagerly awaits the day when the children of God will be glorified, for on that day, it will share in that glory (vv. 19, 21). What Paul says in these verses is important for our theology of nature (see the sidebar “How ‘Green’ Was Paul?” below). But his overall purpose in this context is to show how wonderful is the grace that believers one day will enjoy.
Paul has another purpose as well, and this purpose, hinted at in verse 19, emerges clearly in verses 22–23. In verse 19, Paul claims that nature “waits in eager expectation.” Here the NIV tries to capture some of the power of Paul’s Greek, in which he speaks of nature “craning its neck” to see what might be coming next. Verse 22 returns to this theme in light of nature’s “frustration” and “bondage” (vv. 20, 21). Creation, because of its longing for liberation, “has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth.” The pain of an expectant mother is a natural and common biblical metaphor for hope (see Mark 13:8; John 16:20–22), for the pain of childbirth has a joyful outcome. “Groaning” captures this dual notion. It expresses both the pain of suffering and the longing for deliverance. In verse 23, then, we reach the main point: Christians also “groan.” For they are in a situation just like the one that the whole created world is in: suffering at the present time and longing for the deliverance yet to come. Significantly, here Paul also brings the Spirit back into the picture. Paul often depicts the Spirit as the bridge between the believer’s present and future, between initial salvation and final salvation. As Paul has made clear, Christians have already been made children of God (vv. 14–17). Yet now he can claim that we “wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship.” No better expression of the typical New Testament tension between the already and the not yet could be found. We are already God’s children, adopted into his family, but we are not yet his children in the full sense. We do not yet perfectly manifest our Father’s character or share in all the blessings he bestows on his family. This means that we have to wait. The blessings that we already enjoy make the wait, in one sense at least, even more difficult. Here Paul calls the Spirit the “firstfruits,” implying that the Spirit is the pledge of many more blessings to come. Experiencing some of those blessings makes us eager for more of them. Paul reminds us that as Christians, we never should be feeling at home here on earth. We are pilgrims here, passing through on the way to our true homeland, heaven (see Phil. 3:20–21). While God in his common grace gives us many delightful experiences here on earth, our lives always will be marred by the many remaining effects of the fall: ruptured relationships, difficult work, disease, death. Furthermore, for believers, our time here also will be marred by a sense of futility at not living up to the goals that God has set for us.
In brief, Paul has been saying, “We live in hope,” and it is on this note that he concludes this paragraph (vv. 24–25). We were saved “in this hope.” By this Paul apparently means that hope has been a part of what our salvation involves from the beginning. Salvation is always a two-part experience: coming to Christ is the first and decisive stage, but ultimate deliverance from sin and death is the second stage (see 5:9–10), and that, of course, does not come until the return of Christ in glory. Thus, hope is not merely an option for the believer; it is a necessary part of what it means to be a Christian. We are people who are always looking forward to what is yet to come. But, Paul concludes, we are to “wait for it patiently.” The Greek underlying the word “patiently” (di’ hypomonēs) contains the idea of endurance. We need to learn to bear up under the suffering that will be ours in this life.
In verses 26–30, Paul tells us three things that God is doing to support us in our time of patient waiting. We might summarize these (somewhat homiletically) as (1) prayer (vv. 26–27), (2) providence (v. 28), and (3) predestination (vv. 29–30).
“In the same way” might suggest that we should connect verses 26–27 with verses 22–23: as creation has been “groaning” (v. 22) and Christians “groan” (v. 23), so also the Spirit “groans” (v. 26).8 There is, however, no real parallel between the groaning of the Spirit and that of creation and believers. So it is better to draw a connection between verses 24–25 and verses 26–27: as hope sustains Christians in their waiting, so also does the Spirit. How does the Spirit help us? By interceding for us in prayer when we do not know how to pray. One of our limitations in this life is our inability always to know what the will of God might be. We are not sure what major to pursue, or what job to take, or whom to marry. How can we pray? What should we pray for? In such situations, Paul teaches, the Spirit comes to our aid. The Spirit intercedes for us with “wordless groans.” The NIV nicely preserves the ambiguity of the original. Are the “groans” of the Holy Spirit inaudible, or are they simply incapable of being put into normal human words? In the former case, Paul might be teaching that the intercession of the Spirit goes on in our hearts, without our even knowing it. In the latter case, the Spirit’s intercession might take the form of utterances as we pray. Some have thought of speaking in tongues,9 but Paul’s implication that all believers experience this intercessory ministry of the Spirit weighs against that idea. More likely, if the groans are audible, Paul thinks of the way in which we sometimes will moan as we pray, uncertain of what words to use as we try to formulate our prayers out loud. Whatever the exact mechanism, the Spirit’s intercession is an extremely valuable resource. While we should always seek to know God’s will and pray accordingly, we do not have to be worried that we always do so perfectly. As we pray, not knowing just what to ask for, God’s Spirit is there, praying for us. And even when we pray for the wrong thing, we are assured that the Spirit is praying for us and that the Spirit’s prayer is in perfect accord with the will of God (v. 27).
The promise of verse 28 is one of the most well known in the Bible, and rightly so. The verse beautifully expresses the providential care of God for his children. But we need to look carefully at the verse to determine precisely what this promise is, and what it is not. Four issues need to be tackled. First, who is it that “works for the good”? The NIV makes God the subject, but the word “God” is absent in many good manuscripts, and so other options are possible. The REB makes the Spirit the subject—a good option in light of the emphasis on the Spirit throughout this chapter. The ESV translates, “all things work together for good.” While a decision is not easy, this last rendering probably is best. But, of course, “all things work together for good” only because God, by his Spirit, so directs them.
A second issue is the exact meaning of the word translated “works” in the NIV. As the ESV rendering reveals, the verb can also be translated “work together.” In this case, some suggest, the promise in this verse relates to the way God brings various circumstances together in our lives to produce good. But this nuance is doubtful, and so we probably should go with the NIV rendering.
Third, what is the “good” toward which all things are working? Given the context, Paul undoubtedly thinks of our final salvation (see vv. 18, 30). However, we should probably not limit the good to our final glory only; it will also include the many blessings that God wants to give us in this life. Having said that, we must be very careful not to interpret “good” in a selfish or even material fashion. Although all things that touch the life of a Christian are used by God for our good, that good will often be an ultimate spiritual good. So God might allow us to lose a good job in order to create the “good” of a deeper commitment to him. He might allow us to suffer a physical disability in a car accident so that we learn to depend on him more than ever. The verse does not promise a better job or restored health.
Fourth, for whom is this promise valid? For “those who love God . . . for those who are called according to his purpose” (ESV). This is a way of describing Christians from both the divine vantage point (God calls us) and the human vantage point (we love God). The call here is God’s own irresistible summons to enter into the salvation won for us by Christ.
The final support Paul mentions in our period of patient waiting is predestination. While the notion is quite controversial, the word “predestination” in its general sense simply means that God has destined us beforehand for a certain end. That end, as the climax of verses 29–30 reveals, is glory. All the other things that God does for us that Paul mentions in these verses lead up to this final stage of glory. A certain sequence is obvious. God’s activity on our behalf begins with his foreknowing. As is usually the case with this kind of language in Scripture, the reference is to God’s decision to enter into intimate fellowship with someone (see Acts 2:23; Rom. 11:2; 1 Pet. 1:2, 20). When God “knows” a person, he does not learn some information about that person; rather, he comes into relationship with that person. Note, for instance, Amos 3:2: “You only have I chosen [“known” in the Hebrew and the Greek] of all the families of the earth.” “Foreknowing” is another way, then, of speaking of God’s choosing, or election. Paul therefore is elaborating the notion of God’s call that he mentioned at the end of verse 28. Foreknowing leads to “predestining.” This word, as I suggested, emphasizes the purpose or result of God’s choosing. In this case, that end is that we should be “conformed to the image of his [God’s] Son.” In this context, it refers to our being glorified with Christ (see vv. 17, 30). God’s predestining leads to his calling (see v. 28), his calling to his justifying, and his justifying to his glorifying. These verses are justly famous for their theological teaching. Calvinists especially use them to buttress two of their key doctrines: God’s unconditional election and eternal security. Although these verses do imply those two doctrines, the key point, as I have emphasized, comes at the end: God is determined to bring all those who belong to him to glory. He has decided it; we can depend on it. What stronger support for our confident hope could we ever find?
Response: Celebration of Our Security in Christ (8:31–39)
This renowned reminder of God’s enduring love and faithfulness is a fitting conclusion to Romans 5–8. In these chapters Paul hammers home the truth that believers have absolute assurance for the future. God has transferred us from the realm of Adam, sin, and death into the realm of Christ, righteousness, and life. Although the old realm has not been eradicated and still has the power to attract us away from the path to righteousness and life, nothing can stand in the way of our ultimate salvation. We have a hope of glory (5:2) that can withstand any challenge. Most of us associate the language of 8:31–39 with funerals. While the reminder that nothing can separate us from God’s love for us in Christ is certainly appropriate when we are dealing with the death of a loved one or friend, this same reminder is equally important at every juncture of life. Facing the doubts, uncertainties, and difficulties of a world hostile to God and his values, we constantly need the reassurance that “God is for us.”
The question that opens this paragraph—“What, then, shall we say in response to these things?”—relates to the whole of Romans 5–8. Paul now invites us to sit back and contemplate the spiritual implications of the theology he has taught in these chapters. He divides his response into two parts: verses 31–34 focus on God’s work for us in Christ; verses 35–39 focus on God’s love for us in Christ. Judicial language dominates verses 31–34, as Paul brings before us a law court scene. Accusations are being brought against us. The prosecuting attorney is bringing charges against us (v. 33), seeking to condemn us (v. 34). But standing in defense is God himself. He has chosen us; he has justified us (v. 33; cf. v. 30). Nobody can overcome such a defense. Paul builds this teaching on a passage from Isaiah:
He who vindicates me is near.
Who then will bring charges against me?
Let us face each other!
Who is my accuser?
Let him confront me!
It is the Sovereign LORD who helps me.
Who will condemn me? (Isa. 50:8–9a)
Paul, of course, knows that both Satan and some human beings will be “against us.” His point is that no one can stand against us successfully. As John Chrysostom, one of the greatest preachers in the early church, comments, “Yet these that be against us, so far are they from thwarting us at all, that even without their will they become to us the causes of crowns, and procurers of countless blessings, in that God’s wisdom turneth their plots unto our salvation and glory. See how really no one is against us!”10
And not only do we have God to defend us; we also have Jesus Christ to intercede on our behalf (v. 34). God demonstrates his commitment to us in sending his own Son to die for us (v. 32). If he has done that, surely we can depend on him to provide all that is necessary to bring us to glory (note the parallel here with 5:9–10). Christ has died as a sacrifice for our sins and been raised to enter a new and powerful mode of existence. He stands ever ready to intercede for God’s people.
In verses 35–39, the focus turns to God’s love for us in Christ. At the beginning of this paragraph Paul asks, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” At the end of the paragraph he answers the question: nothing “will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” As he has done throughout Romans 5–8, Paul takes a very realistic view of the difficulties that believers will have to face in this life. He specifically refers to “trouble,” “hardship,” “persecution,” “famine,” “nakedness,” “danger,” and the “sword” (v. 35). This list is somewhat similar to lists of difficulties that Paul himself faced during his apostolic ministry (see 2 Cor. 11:23–27; 12:10). Paul speaks from experience. He has suffered many of the hardships he mentions here, and he can confidently claim that they will be unable to take the believer away from God’s love in Christ. Indeed, through Christ, the one “who loved us,” we can be “more than conquerors” (v. 37). Just to make sure that we get the point, Paul concludes by listing a wide variety of possible challenges to our love relationship with God. The two states of existence, death and life, cannot interfere with that relationship. Nor can any spiritual power disrupt the union of the believer with Christ. “Angels” and “rulers” (see ESV; “demons” in NIV) summarize the whole spiritual realm. “Rulers” refers to evil spiritual beings (cf. Eph. 6:12; Col. 2:15). But why mention angels as a possible threat to God’s love for us? Perhaps because Paul knows that Christians can be distracted from their allegiance and worship of God by a preoccupation with other spiritual beings (such a situation seems to have existed in Colossae [see Col. 2:6–23]). “Powers” (dynameis) later in verse 38 also refers to spiritual beings. “The present” and “the future” cover, of course, the temporal realm. “Height” and “depth” in verse 39 also might refer to various spiritual beings, considered by ancient people to inhabit the regions above and below the horizon. But Paul’s usage elsewhere (Eph. 3:18) suggests that he uses the terms with a simple spatial reference. Paul mentions every possible sphere of existence in order to make absolutely clear that nothing in all creation can interfere with God’s love for us in Christ.