previous verse of course implied that believers should be exposed to many afflictions, to famine, nakedness, and the sword ; this, Paul would Bay, is in accordance with the experience of the pious in all ages. We suffer, as it is recorded of the Old Testament saints that they suffered.
(37) Nay^ in all these things we are more than conquerors, &c. This verse is connected with the 35th. ' So far from these afflictions sepa- rating us from the love of Christ, they are more than conquered.' That is, they are not only deprived of all power to do us harm, they minister to our good. They swell the glory of our victory. Through him that loved us. The triumph which the apostle looked for was not to be effected by his own strength or perseverance, but by the grace and power of the Redeemer. 1 Cor. 15 : 10. Gal. 3 : 20. Phil. 4: 13, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."
(38, 39) In these verses the confidence of the apostle is expressed in the strongest language. He heaps words together in the effort to set forth fully the absolute inability of all created things, separately or united, to frustrate the purpose of God, or to turn away his love from those whom he has determined to save.
For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, &c. &c. It is some- what doubtful how far the apostle intended to express distinct ideas by the several words here used. The enumeration is by some considered as expressing the general idea that nothing in the universe can injure be- lievers, the detail being designed merely as amplification. This, how- ever, is not very probable. The former view is to be preferred. Neither death. That is, though cut off in this world, their connexion with Christ is not thereby destroyed. " They shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand," John 10 : 28. Nor life, neither its bland- ishments, nor its trials. "Whether we live, we live unto the Lord, or whether we die, we die unto the Lord. So that, living or dying, we are the Lord's," Rom. 14 : 8.
Nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers. Principalities and powers are by many understood here to refer to the authorities of this world as distinguished from angels. But to this it may be objected that Paul fre- quently uses these terms in connexion to designate the different orders of spiritual beings, Eph. 1: 21. Col. 1 : 16 ; and, secondly, that cor- responding terms were in common use among the Jews in this sense. It is probable, from the nature of the passage, that this clause is to be taken generally, without any specific reference to either good or bad an- gels as such. * No superhuman power, no angel, however mighty, shall ever be able to separate us from the love of God.' Neither things pre- sent, nor things to come. Nothing in this life, nor in the future; no present or future event, &c.
(39) Nor height, nor depth. These w^ords have been very variously explained. That interpretation which seems on the whole most consist- ent with scriptural usage and the context, is that which makes the terms equivalent to heaven and earth. ' Nothing in heaven or earth ;' see Eph.