What a triumphal conclusion this passage is, not just to this chapter, but really to everything Paul has said up to this point. We are saved by God’s grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Christ has set all who trust in Him free from bondage to sin and death. The Lord has filled us with His Spirit so that we might live holy lives. And God has adopted us as His children and called us not just to salvation but to be conformed to the image of Christ.

And in today’s passage, Paul reminds us that becoming like Jesus entails quite a bit of suffering, living as we do in a sinful, broken world. Verse 36 is a sobering reminder that since Christ suffered at the hands of sinners, His followers should expect nothing less. For after all, Jesus Himself said, “A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20).

But this passage puts all our suffering into the proper perspective. For no matter what happens to us in this world, no matter what powers are ranged against us, we can hold on to the undeniable truth of the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Because Jesus died on the cross for us, we know He will give us everything else that we need. Because Jesus rose from the dead, destroying the power of sin and death, we are also more than conquerors, having the same power to resist sin and live according to the Spirit of God. And because Jesus ascended into Heaven, we know He is praying for us, no matter what we’re going through. Praise God for His providence, His power, and His presence with us!

Romans 8:31-39 (ESV)

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.
34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died– more than that, who was raised– who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
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.