Romans 8.37-The Christian Overwhelming Conquers Every Category Of Undeserved Suffering Through Christ Who Loves Him
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday February 5, 2009
Romans: Romans 8:37-The Christian Overwhelmingly Conquers Every Category Of Undeserved Suffering Through Christ Who Loves Him
Lesson # 288
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 8:31.
This evening we will study 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.
Let’s read this final paragraph and then concentrate on verse 37 for the rest of the morning.
Romans 8:31-39, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, ‘FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.’ But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Let’s now concentrate on verse 37.
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.
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.
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.
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 preposition 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.
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.
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 overwhelmingly victorious.”
It is composed of the preposition huper, which means, “above, beyond” and the verb nikao, “to overcome, conquer.”
The word 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 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.
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.
This union and identification with Christ gives the Christian the victory over sin, Satan and his cosmic system in a positional, experiential and ultimate sense and was accomplished through the baptism of the Spirit the moment the Christian exercised faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior.
The word reminds the Christian reader that he is involved in spiritual warfare with Satan and the kingdom of darkness as well as with his sin nature.
In Romans 8:37, the verb hupernikao means that the Christian is “overwhelmingly victorious” in the midst of the seven different categories of undeserved suffering listed in Romans 8:35.
It also implies that this suffering is used by the Holy Spirit to conform the Christian into the image of Christ in an experiential sense, i.e. “the good” noted in Romans 8:28.
The victory is not the Christian’s but Christ’s since it was His spiritual and physical deaths, His resurrection and session that accomplished the victory over sin, Satan and his cosmic system.
The Holy Spirit appropriated this victory for the Christian when the Christian exercised faith in Jesus Christ as Savior.
The Christian experiences this victory in time by appropriating by faith the teaching of the Spirit in the Word of God and in particular the Spirit’s teaching concerning the Christian’s new position in Christ.
The worst and most difficult circumstance that life can present a Christian is physical death.
However, physical death has been defeated by Christ’s death and resurrection.
Physical death through martyrdom not only brings the Christian immediately into the presence of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:12-21) but it also produces rewards for the Christian, which he will receive at the Bema Seat Evaluation of the church (Romans 14:10; 1 Corinthians 4:11-15; 2 Corinthians 4:17-18; 5:10).
The Christian is overwhelmingly victorious in the midst of the seven different categories of undeserved suffering listed in Romans 8:35 because this suffering serves to strengthen the Christian’s faith.
For those Christians who exercised faith in the Word of God, experiencing undeserved suffering prospers them spiritually and helps them to grow spiritually and gives them confidence in their relationship with God when they pass through these various categories of suffering.
Romans 8:37, “But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.’”
“Through Him who loved us” is composed of the preposition dia (diaV) (dee-ah), “through” and the articular genitive masculine singular aorist active participle form of the verb agapao (a)gapavw) (ag-ap-ah-o), “Him who loved” and the accusative first person plural form of the hemeis (h(mei$) (hay-mice), “us.”
In Romans 8:37, the verb agapao is used with Christ as the subject and the Christian as the object referring to the greatest act of God’s love, which was demonstrated on the cross of Calvary by the Lord Jesus Christ.
The context indicates that this act of love for the Christian is not a reference to the Father’s love for the Christian but rather it is a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ’s substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths on the cross.
First of all, in the immediate context, in Romans 8:35, Paul asks the rhetorical question, “What will separate any of us from Christ’s divine-love? Adversity or anguish or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?”
Also, in Romans 8:30, Paul teaches that nothing can separate the Christian from God the Father’s love, which is in the person of Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Romans 8:38-39, “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Furthermore, in Romans 8:35-36, Paul presents seven categories of undeserved suffering that Christians in the church age are exposed to, with the last being capital punishment, i.e. martyrdom.
This martyrdom that was being experienced by Christians in the first century was for their identification with Jesus Christ and not the Father.
The substantive participle form of the verb agapao also functions as a “genitive of means” and thus, the preposition dia functions as a marker of means indicating that the omnipotence available to the Christian through their union and identification with Christ is “the mean by which” they are overwhelming victorious.
Although, a genitive of means is not conceived as personal but “impersonal” the Person of Christ is not being emphasized here.
Rather, His power available through the Christian’s union and identification with Him is presented as the instrument that enables the Christian to be overwhelmingly victorious in the midst of the seven categories of undeserved suffering listed in Romans 8:35.
In Romans 8:37, Paul uses agapao in the genitive case with the preposition dia rather than in the dative case with the preposition en because the genitive case is closer to a causal idea than the dative case.
He does this because he wants to emphasize that the omnipotence available to the Christian through his union and identification with Christ is not only the means by which the Christian is overwhelmingly victorious in the midst of undeserved suffering but that it also “causes” them to be overwhelmingly victorious as well.
“Us” is the accusative first person plural form of the personal pronoun hemeis (h(mei$), which refers to Paul and his fellow Christian readers in a corporate sense.
The word refers to Paul and his fellow Christian readers, who like himself, are sinners who have been declared justified by God through faith in Jesus Christ.
The word is used in a distributive sense meaning “any of us” emphasizing that there are no exceptions.
The personal pronoun hemeis functions as an “accusative direct object” meaning that it is receiving the action of the verb agapao indicating that the Christian is the object and beneficiary of Jesus Christ divine-love for them, which was demonstrated at the cross.
What Paul teaches in Romans 8:37, he also taught the Philippians in Philippians 4:10-13 but from the perspective of his own personal experience in life.
Philippians 4:10-13, “Now, I rejoiced greatly because of the Lord that now at last all of you have revived your consideration for me. In fact, before all of you were always considerate but all of you were always lacking an opportunity. Not that I ever speak because of want since I myself have learned through the application of doctrine to experience how to be in a habitual state of contentment in whatever present circumstance. I have experienced not only poverty but also I have experienced prosperity. By means of every circumstance and by means of all kinds of situations I am intimately acquainted with not only satiation but also starvation, not only prosperity but also destitution. I possess the power to overcome all kinds of situations by means of the one (Christ) whose doctrine empowers me.”
In Philippians 4:10-13, Paul is offering encouragement to the Philippians who were undergoing adversity and undeserved suffering themselves (cf. Phlp. 1:27-30) by revealing his own application of the Word of God in his own adverse experience.
