An Eternal Weight of Glory
Romans 8:37
“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” -Romans 8:37
The answer to the question in vs. 35—Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword separate us from the love of Christ?—is an emphatic, No!
Those of us who are in Christ will still face tribulation and will still be possessed of the infirmities of the flesh even though we are now the justified, adopted sons of God, filled with his Holy Spirit. In God’s providence, he will use all these things for our good—for our deification (i.e., being conformed to the image of Christ).
Suffering tribulations and persecutions do not mean we are abandoned or unloved by God. It may seem as though we are “being killed all the day long” and “regarded as sheep to be slaughtered,” but this is not the final word. In all these things, because of the paternal love of the father toward us, we are more than conquerors. We are victors, we are occupiers of a better station. Remember Jesus’s passion and crucifixion? That wasn’t the end. The end was resurrection and a throne at the right hand of the Father.
For the believer, tribulations, distress, and persecution are sanctifying opportunities that demonstrate the power and lovingkindness of God toward us. In all these things we are being conformed more and more into the image of Christ. Through our suffering, he is making us worthy of our inheritance with him.
This is virtually the same message Paul gives to the Corinthian believers, but in more eloquent terms:
“But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” -2 Corinthians 4:7–18
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