Romans 8:17-18

8:17 And if children, then heirs (namely, heirs of God and also fellow heirs with Christ) ¹  – if indeed we suffer with him so we may also be glorified with him.

8:18 For I consider that our present sufferings cannot even be compared ²  to the glory that will be revealed to us.

Romans 8:35-37

8:35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will trouble, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? ³  8:36 As it is written, “For your sake we encounter death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” ⁴  8:37 No, in all these things we have complete victory ⁵  through him ⁶  who loved us!

[8:17]  ¹ tn Grk “on the one hand, heirs of God; on the other hand, fellow heirs with Christ.” Some prefer to render v. 17 as follows: “And if children, then heirs – that is, heirs of God. Also fellow heirs with Christ if indeed we suffer with him so we may also be glorified with him.” Such a translation suggests two distinct inheritances, one coming to all of God’s children, the other coming only to those who suffer with Christ. The difficulty of this view, however, is that it ignores the correlative conjunctions μέν…δέ (men…de, “on the one hand…on the other hand”): The construction strongly suggests that the inheritances cannot be separated since both explain “then heirs.” For this reason, the preferred translation puts this explanation in parentheses.

[8:18]  ² tn Grk “are not worthy [to be compared].”

[8:35]  ³ tn Here “sword” is a metonymy that includes both threats of violence and acts of violence, even including death (although death is not necessarily the only thing in view here).

[8:36]  ⁴ sn A quotation from Ps 44:22.

[8:37]  ⁵ tn BDAG 1034 s.v. ὑπερνικάω states, “as a heightened form of νικᾶν prevail completely ὑπερνικῶμεν we are winning a most glorious victory Ro 8:37.”

[8:37]  ⁶ tn Here the referent could be either God or Christ, but in v. 39 it is God’s love that is mentioned.