Romans 8:38-39

“ For I am persuaded, 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 creation, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. ”

The challenge which the apostle had just thrown out to condemnation, and sin and suffering of every kind, he now extends to all the hostile powers of the universe which could threaten the bond of love whereby Christ, and God Himself, are united to the believer. The for expresses an argument a fortiori: “none of the enemies mentioned is to be feared, for not even throughout the whole universe is there a being to be dreaded.

Paul reverts to the form I, which he had dropped after Romans 8:18; the reason being that here, as well as in Romans 8:38, the matter in question is a personal conviction of a moral rather than a systematic nature. We must not forget the: “ if at least you persevere,” which Paul himself wrote, Colossians 1:23, nor examples such as that of Demas, 2 Timothy 4:10. It is by ὑπομονή (Romans 8:25), perseverance in believing in the love of Christ to us, that this love exercises its irresistible power over us. The conviction here expressed by Paul does not apply to himself only, but to all believers (us, Romans 8:39).

The adversaries who rise before his view seem to advance in pairs. The first pair is death and life. Death is put first, in connection no doubt with Romans 8:35-36. The inverse order which we find 1 Corinthians 3:22, is occasioned there by the difference of the context. Death: the apostle is thinking of martyrdom, the fear of which may lead to apostasy. With death and its agonies, he contrasts life with its distractions, its interests and seductions, which may lead to lukewarmness and unfaithfulness, as in the case of Demas.

The second pair: angels and principalities. Undoubtedly principalities, ἀρχαί, might be regarded as an order of angels superior to common angels archangels. But in the other pairs there is always found a contrast of character: it is therefore natural to apply these two terms to spirits of opposite kinds; the first to good angels (though this sense is not exclusively the meaning of ἄγγελοι, as Meyer alleges; comp. 1 Corinthians 4:9; 1 Corinthians 6:3); the second to malignant angels, as 1 Corinthians 15:24 and Ephesians 6:12 (Hofmann). It will be asked how good angels could labor to separate us from Christ; but this may only be a hypothesis like that of Galatians 1:8. And may not what is of itself good contribute to lead us astray, if our attachment or admiration stops short at the creature, instead of rising to God?

The Byzs. here read a third term almost synonymous: δυνάμεις, powers; and a Mj. (C) with some Mnn. even adds a fourth: ἐξουσίαι, dominations. This last term is evidently an interpolation to form a pair with the third. As to the latter, according to the Mjj. of the other two families, it has its place, if it is really authentic, after the following pair.

Third pair: things present and things to come. The first term embraces all earthly eventualities, death included; the second, all that await us in the future life. The word ἐνεστῶτα, which strictly signifies what is imminent, when contrasted with things to come, takes the meaning: all that is already present.

If the term powers is authentic, it must be taken as embracing in one idea the two terms of the following pair: height and depth. These are all the powers of the invisible world, whether those which exalt us to the third heaven (height), but which in an instant, by reason of pride or even violently excited sensuality, may occasion the most frightful falls to the poor human heart; or those which plunge us into the most mysterious and unspeakable agonies (depth), like that of Jesus at Gethsemane, when He exclaimed: “My soul is sorrowful even unto death;” comp. what He added soon after: “This is your hour and the power of darkness. ” It is scarcely necessary to refute the following interpretations which have been proposed: good fortune and bad; or honor and disgrace; the wisdom of heretics and vulgar prejudices (Mel.); the heights from which martyrs were precipitated, and the depths of the ocean where they were buried (Thomas Aquinas); or finally, the opposite dimensions of space (Meyer).

The last term, κτίσις ἕτερα, is usually translated by the expression: any other creature, and made a sort of et caetera. This meaning would certainly be rather poor after expressions of such ample comprehension as those which precede. But more than that, it hardly suits the word ἕτερα, which signifies different, and not merely other, as the word ἄλλη would do (for the distinction between these two adjectives, comp. 1 Corinthians 15:37-41). It seems, then, that the word κτίσις signifies here, not creature, as if the reference were to a particular being, to be put side by side with several others, but creation. Paul sees in thought this whole creation disappear, on the theatre of which there has been wrought the greatest wonder of divine love; and he asks whether, if a new creation arise, and more magnificent marvels are displayed before the eyes of man, the cross in those new ages will not run the risk of being eclipsed, and the love of God in Jesus Christ of being relegated to the oblivion of the past. And he boldly affirms that whatever new creations may succeed one another, the first place in the heart of believers will ever remain for the redeeming love of which they have been the object here below.

Paul here speaks of the love of Jesus as being the love of God Himself; for it is in the former that the latter is incarnated for us, and becomes the eternal anchor of which our faith lays hold for eternity; comp. Romans 5:15 and Luke 15, where the compassion of God is completely identified with the work of Jesus on the earth.

Nowhere has the feeling of St. Paul been displayed in such overflowing measure, and yet the thread of logical deduction is not broken for an instant. This passage sums up, as we have seen, all that Paul has hitherto expounded in this Epistle. He leaves us at the end of this chapter face to face with this divinely wrought salvation, which is complete, and assured, and founded on faith alone, to be apprehended, and ever apprehended anew by the same means. Then, after a moment of contemplation and rest, he takes us again by the hand to guide us to the theatre of history, and show us this divine work unfolding itself on a great scale in the human race.