More than Conquerors – Romans 8:35-39

Songs in the New Testament, part 3

“I told you about the walrus and me, man
You know that we’re as close as can be, man
Well, here’s another clue for you all
The walrus was Paul.”

Words from ‘Glass Onion’ ¹ by The Beatles from the 1968 album ‘The Beatles.’ This song quotes from several other Beatles songs, including ‘I Am the Walrus’shown here. But it’s more complicated than that. ‘Glass Onion’ mentions the song ‘Lady Madonna,’ which had itself included a reference to ‘I Am The Walrus,’ which in turn included a reference to ‘Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds.’

Quoting from songs within other songs has a long history. The passage from Paul’s letter to the Romans quotes from another song, Psalm 44. It was not the first song to do this.

³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? ³⁶ As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
    we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:35-39

Before we explore the song from Romans chapter 8, let’s briefly consider Psalm 44. This lament was written when Judah faced difficulties. Some believe it was created either during Sennacherib’s attack on Jerusalem, during the Babylonian Exile, or in the time of the Maccabees. The message is clear: it recalls the times when God granted victory and showed care for His people, highlighting His nature. When facing tough times, remember moments when you experienced God’s presence in your life. God is good and can help you again.

Now to the song in Romans 8. It is written in a classic chiasmus. Chiasmus, meaning crossing over, is a form used in nearly all Psalms and is a repetition of similar ideas in the reverse sequence. It is used here by Paul.

Romans 8 is notable. It begins with “There is no condemnation” and ends with “There is no separation.” Verse 34 states, “Who can condemn? Christ Jesus died and was raised; He is at God’s right hand and intercedes for us.” This wraps up the earlier message of no condemnation in verse 1 and moves into praising the unbreakable love of God.

Romans 8:1-34 is forensic;
it is to do with the law and our legal position there.
The song that follows, this song, is about separation;
it is not about law but love.

The song begins and ends with a rhetorical question: Who can separate us from Christ’s love? Verse 35 asks this, while verse 39 inquires what can separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus. These make up sections A and A’ of the chiasmus. (As an autistic person, I often accidentally answer rhetorical questions, which is not the expected response.)

Sections B and B’ qualify the questions: Tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, or sword? are posed in verse 35, and death, life, angels, rulers, things present, things to come, powers, height, depth, nor anything else in all creation, are added to the list in verses 38 and 39. Quite a list of things that cannot separate us. But after the first list, there is the quote from Psalm 44:22. The psalmists were complaining that people of Judah were being killed. People were dying under persecution. Paul uses this because the early church at the time was being sporadically persecuted, including being killed; their situation was the same as that of the Judeans in the psalm.

The answer in the Psalm was to remember what God had done to them in the past. Paul’s answer was to remember what Jesus Christ had done through his crucifixion and resurrection from the dead. The love of God means that he will bring us through it, even if it means martyrdom.

That’s it. That’s a sermon usually preached if you concentrate on the ‘who can separate us’ sections, which bookend the lists. In itself, this can bring great comfort to those going through pain or with disabilities. But there’s more. The focus of the chiasma is usually the central section. Vers 37 says, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

“No,” says Paul, answering his own rhetorical question. That’s typical of Paul. He goes on to explain that no one and nothing can separate us from the love of God. Not even ourselves. We can say no to God, we can tell him we want nothing to do with him because following him is too hard, and God will honour that. But God’s love will remain; it is a constant that can be relied on. We are more than conquerors, says Paul. We, the ones who are going through the things in this list, persecution, distress and the rest, are conquerors. It’s not an exhaustive list. Whatever you are going through, you are a conqueror, not because of your strength to overcome, but of what Jesus Christ, God’s Son, went through in weakness.

Jesus is a conqueror, though weak, and we, though weak, are also conquerors.

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¹ By Lennon and McCartney. © Sony/ATV Music