What does Romans 8:37 mean? (2024)

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In verse 35, Paul listed several terrible things that might happen to a person in this life. His point was that none of them could separate those of us who are in Christ from His love for us. Nothing so terrible could ever happen to us that would keep us from being in Christ, or to keep Christ from loving us, or to prove that Christ no longer loves us.

Now he writes that in all those things—hardship, trouble, famine, exposure, threats, or violence—we are "more than conquerors through [Christ] who loved us." This description comes from the Greek word hypernikōmen, which carries the idea of extraordinary, exceeding victory, in a continual state: to perpetually increase in triumph. Does this mean none of these troubles will ever happen to us, or that we can eliminate them in this life? No, clearly not, based on the context of this passage. Even more, it's important to note that many of them happened to Paul himself (2 Corinthians 11:23–29).

Rather, those who are saved by faith in Christ (Romans 3:23–26; John 3:16–18) conquer those terrible things in the sense that Christ has already won the most important victory for us. That victory, our place in God's family, our share in the inheritance of His glory, cannot be taken from us by any means. We conquer in the sense that none of these things can overcome what God's love has gained for us.