And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.
Parallel translations
- WEB For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
- KJV For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
- BSB For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
- NKJV For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,
- NASB For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Paul is convinced that no power in any realm, whether death, life, angels, or rulers, can separate believers from God. He begins listing every conceivable threat to drive home our security.
Overview
Paul moves from outward hardships to cosmic powers, declaring his settled persuasion that nothing can sever us from God's love. He surveys the whole range of created and spiritual forces, death and life, angels and principalities, present and future, every power, to leave no possible exception. His confidence rests not in himself but in God's unbreakable commitment in Christ, completed in the next verse.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- John 10:28I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
- Rom 14:8For if we live, we live to the Lord. Or if we die, we die to the Lord. If therefore we live or die, we are the Lord’s.
- 2 Tim 1:12For this cause I also suffer these things. Yet I am not ashamed, for I know him whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to guard that which I have committed to him against that day.
- 1 Pet 5:8–10Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
- 1 Pet 3:22who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, angels and authorities and powers being made subject to him.
- Col 1:16For by him all things were created, in the heavens and on the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him, and for him.
- 1 Cor 3:22–23whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come. All are yours,
- Col 2:15having stripped the principalities and the powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
- Eph 6:11–12Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
- Eph 1:21far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come.
- 2 Cor 4:13But having the same spirit of faith, according to that which is written, “I believed, and therefore I spoke.” We also believe, and therefore also we speak;
- 1 Cor 15:54–58But when this perishable body will have become imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then what is written will happen: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
- Rom 4:21and being fully assured that what he had promised, he was also able to perform.
- 2 Cor 5:4–8For indeed we who are in this tent do groan, being burdened; not that we desire to be unclothed, but that we desire to be clothed, that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
- Phil 1:20–23according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will in no way be disappointed, but with all boldness, as always, now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life, or by death.
- Heb 11:13These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and embraced them from afar, and having confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
- 2 Cor 11:14And no wonder, for even Satan masquerades as an angel of light.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Paul unfolds the gospel in full: Christ our righteousness received by faith, the second Adam in whom many are made righteous, in whose death and resurrection we are buried and raised.
How Romans 8:38 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.