to himself, there is no doubt but that we are all encouraged to examine our calling, so that we may
become assured that we are the children of God.
34.Who is he that condemns?etc. As no one by accusing can prevail, when the judge absolves;
so there remains no condemnation, when satisfaction is given to the laws, and the penalty is already
paid. Now Christ is he, who, having once for all suffered the punishment due to us, thereby declared
that he undertook our cause, in order to deliver us: he then who seeks hereafter to condemn us,
must bring back Christ himself to death again. But he has not only died, but also came forth, by a
resurrection, as the conqueror of death and triumphed over all its power.
He adds still more, — that he now sits at the right hand of the Father; by which is meant, that
he possesses dominion over heaven and earth, and full power and rule over all things, according
to what is said in Ephesians 1:20. He teaches us also, that he thus sits, that he may be a perpetual
advocate and intercessor in securing our salvation. It hence follows, that when any one seeks to
condemn us, he not only seeks to render void the death of Christ, but also contends with that
unequalled power with which the Father has honored him, and who with that power conferred on
him supreme authority. This so great an assurance; which dares to triumph over the devil, death,
sin, and the gates of hell, ought to lodge deep in the hearts of all the godly; for our faith is nothing,
except we feel assured that Christ is ours, and that the Father is in him propitious to us. Nothing
then can be devised more pestilent and ruinous, than the scholastic dogma respecting the uncertainty
of salvation.
Who intercedes, etc. It was necessary expressly to add this, lest the Divine majesty of Christ
should terrify us. Though, then, from his elevated throne he holds all things in subjection under his
feet, yet Paul represents him as a Mediator; whose presence it would be strange for us to dread,
since he not only kindly invites us to himself, but also appears an intercessor for us before the
Father. But we must not measure this intercession by our carnal judgment; for we must not suppose
that he humbly supplicates the Father with bended knees and expanded hands; but as he appears
continually, as one who died and rose again, and as his death and resurrection stand in the place of
eternal intercession, and have the efficacy of a powerful prayer for reconciling and rendering the
Father propitious to us, he is justly said to intercede for us.
Romans 8:35-37
- Quis nos dirimet^274 a dilectione Christi?
tribulatio, an angustia, an persequutio, an fames,
an nuditas, an periculum, an gladius? - Who shall separate us from the love of
Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or
persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or
sword?
(^274) “Dirimet — break us off,” divide or part us; — set apart, sever, separate: , “who,” may be rendered, “what,” as in
Hebrew. It is not put, it may be, in the neuter gender, because of the gender of the nouns which follow. As the Hebrews use often
the future for the potential mood, so the case may be here — “What can separate us from the love of Christ? tribulation, or
distress?” etc. It ought also to be added, that the verb “separate,” is used to designate divorce or separation between man and his
wife. See Matthew 19:6; 1 Corinthians 7:10, 11, 15. — Ed.