A Song for the Saints to Sing

A Song for the Saints to Sing

In case you missed the central points of the many-sided issues about which the apostle Paul wrote in the first part of his letter to the Romans, he provided a CliffsNotes summary in the last nine verses of Chapter 8. And he did it with what many biblical scholars believe became a hymn of the early church.

The writer of the International Critical Commentary observed, “It is clear that the whole subsection (Rom. 8:31–39) has been carefully constructed with an eye to rhetorical considerations.”

Other scholars describe the passage as a “cap” of all that has come before. Most note the passage’s rhythmic quality in its original language and point to the repeated literary patterns and other features as marks of a “liturgical tradition.”

The familiar verses about the power of God’s love that produces assurance for every believer are broken down into four stanzas, much like a free-verse poem. The first three stanzas each begin with a rhetorical question: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (v. 31); “Who is he that condemns?” (v. 34); and “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” (v. 35). Each of the stanzas uses the first-person plural pronoun.

Each stanza also repeats a major theme found earlier in the letter, such as the love of God in Christ for us, the assurance that is based on that love, the final vindication because of God’s love in Christ and how all tribulations of life become unimportant in comparison to God’s love.

Verse 31 begins this hymn of celebration with the declaration that God is for us. The “if” is not a question. The word is used more like a statement of fact — “since God is for us.” God is our advocate. God took the initiative when He did not spare His Son. One can hear the echoes of Romans 3:21ff about all that God did to create a new righteousness through Christ Jesus.

God did this “for us all” (v. 32).

Since God has already given believers the greatest gift — His Son — He also will give them “all things.” This is not a reference to material possessions but points to the gifts of forgiveness, the presence of the Holy Spirit, eternal life and more.

The love that characterizes the relationship between the Father and the Son also characterizes the relationship between the Son and the saints.

Not only is God for us, He is with us against the Adversary. That is the message of stanza two (v. 33–34). The rhetorical question “who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen” (v. 33) reflects Isaiah 50:8–9. This is the “Sovereign Lord” who helps. In this passage Paul declares, “It is God who justifies,” and He declares us not guilty through the work of Christ Jesus.

Verse 34 outlines the four-fold work of Christ — He died (became obedient unto death); He was raised by the power of God; He sits at the right hand of the Father; and He makes intercession for believers. As the apostle John wrote, “We have an advocate with the Father” (1 John 2:1).

Because God is for us and because God is our advocate, stanza three assures us there is no separation from the love of Christ (v. 35–37). Again the stanza begins with a rhetorical question and is followed by seven perils representing the worst of the human, visible world.

The first two possibilities are general in nature — trouble or hardship. The next five are specific perils Paul faced in his own experience. That is why some believe the use of Psalm 44:22 is a description of how the apostle viewed his own life situation.

Verse 37 begins with a powerful “no.” It is the negative answer assumed to the question that begins the stanza. Not only can the worst of the physical world not separate the believer from the love of God, in the midst of it all, the believer is “more than a conqueror.”

One can almost anticipate the words written to the church at Philippi, “I can do everything through Him who gives me strength” (Phil. 4:13). It is not physical power on which Paul relies. It is the power of “Him who loves us.”

Here, at stanza four (v. 38–39), the tenor of the hymn changes. It is as if Paul’s personal affirmation overflows. His confidence in the ultimate victory explodes on the page. Behind the fortress of God being for us, of God being our advocate, of there being no separation from God’s love, he can rest safe and secure. Nothing in this world or the world to come, nothing now or in the future “will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (v. 39).

Whose heart would not break out in praise for what God has done? God is for us. He has demonstrated it in Christ Jesus. God is our advocate against the Adversary. And nothing can separate us from His love.

What a song for the saints to sing!