Romans 8:31-39

Twentieth Passage (8:31-39). Hymn of the Assurance of Salvation.

This passage is a conclusion. The then of Romans 8:31 indicates this. This conclusion is directly connected with the previous teaching on predestination (Romans 8:28-30); but as this passage only sums up all that the apostle had expounded before: 1st, on justification by faith (chaps. 1-5), 2d, on sanctification by the Spirit of Christ (chaps. 6-8), it follows that it is the conclusion of the entire portion of the Epistle now completed. It is presented in the form of questions which are, as it were, a challenge thrown out to all the adversaries of that salvation, the certainty of which Paul would here proclaim. This form has in it something of the nature of a triumph; it gives us the idea of what was meant by him when he used the expression in the previous context: ἐν Θεῷ καυχασθαι, to glory in God.