To what do the “powers” refer?

Explanation:

Paul explains that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ (Romans 8:39), including death, life, angels, rulers, or powers (δυνάμεις). So what does it mean that powers cannot separate us from the love of God in Christ? The term ἡ δύναμις was often used in Greek and Judeo-Christian sources to refer to supernatural beings.³ For example, in 2 Kings 17:16 we read that the Israelites abandoned the commands of the Lord and worshipped all the power of heaven. Likewise in Matthew 24:29 we read that when the Son of Man comes, the powers of the heavens will be shaken. We find the same term used for supernatural forces in 4 Maccabees 5:13, Philo, and elsewhere.⁴ Thus, when Paul says no powers can separate believers from the love of God, he has in mind supernatural forces in the heavens.

Counterargument:

There is a problem with this view, namely, that supernatural forces in the heavens are angels, but Paul includes angels in his list. To be more specific, to illustrate the strength of God’s love in Christ, Paul presents a list of items that cannot separate us from God’s love. One of the items is angels. Paul goes on to list rulers, things present and things to come, and powers as other items that cannot separate us from God’s love. Of course, that Paul mentions both angels and powers separately suggests that powers means something other than supernatural forces.

Response to counterargument:

The problem with this counterargument is that it assumes all supernatural forces are angels. Of course, this assumption is not warranted because supernatural forces might be a separate category from angels. For Greek and Roman writers sometimes use the term ἡ δύναμις to refer to the gods. It is also used elsewhere by Paul to refer to transcendent evil forces (Ephesians 1:20–21) (see interpretation 1, argument 1).⁵ Of course, transcendent evil forces may be some mysterious force not associated with angels, which is why Paul mentions both angels and powers. So given that the Greeks and Paul sometimes use powers to refer to transcendent forces, we should not assume that powers is equivalent to angels.

Explanation:

Although it is not immediately clear to modern readers what powers might denote, we can detect from how Paul uses the same term elsewhere that powers refers to mysterious transcendent forces.⁶ For example, in Ephesians 1:1–23 Paul explains that God raised Jesus from the dead so that he is now seated at the right hand of the Father in the heavenly places, above all rule, authority, and power (Ephesians 1:20–21). There the context suggests that Christ is above all transcendent forces. Likewise, in 1 Corinthians 15:24 we read that Christ will deliver the kingdom to God the Father after defeating every authority and power, again suggesting there is a transcendent force that Christ will defeat. Similarly, when Paul says no powers can separate us from the love of God in Christ, he likely has in mind transcendent forces.

Counterargument:

The problem with this argument is that it is not clear that the term power used in both Ephesians 1:20–21 and 1 Corinthians 15:24 refers to transcendent forces. Rather, in both cases it may simply refer to earthly powers such as government institutions. For the fact that God raised Christ to the heavenly places above all power plausibly refers to raising Christ above all earthly authorities. Likewise, that Christ will deliver the kingdom after defeating every power may mean that after Christ defeats every earthly power, he will deliver the kingdom to his Father. Of course, this implies that when Paul says no powers can separate us from the love of God in Christ, he has in mind earthly powers.

Response to counterargument:

There is reason from the immediate context of Romans 8:38 to think that when Paul uses the term powers it does not refer to earthly powers. When he lists the items that cannot separate us from the love of God in Christ, he includes rulers, which implies earthly authorities. It is unlikely that Paul would refer to earthly authorities twice, so given that he mentions powers as distinct from rulers, powers likely refers to something other than earthly authorities. We know that the term power can sometimes be used to refer to transcendent forces.⁷ So even if it is not clear that this is how Paul uses the term in Ephesians 1:20–21 and 1 Corinthians 15:24, given that he separates rulers from powers in Romans 8:38, the term powers likely refers to transcendent forces in Romans 8:38.

One weakness of this view is that the term ἡ δύναμις is broad enough to include earthly powers that are separate from rulers. For there are many earthly powers aside from rulers, including institutions, governing bodies, philosophical schools, associations and more. Thus, given the variety and number of powers in the world, it would make sense for Paul to refer to rulers and powers as distinct categories.

Explanation:

Paul writes that no angels, rulers, or powers can separate us from the love of God in Christ. To understand what he means, it is important to notice that the term ἡ δύναμις (power) is often used in the New Testament in relation to Jesus’ miracles.¹¹ For example, in Mark 5:30, after a woman touches Jesus’ cloak and is healed, he notices that power had gone from him. Relatedly, in Luke 5:17 we learn that the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal. Also, in Luke 6:19 we learn that power came from Jesus that healed the people. Finally, we read in Matthew 11:20 that Jesus’ miracles are referred to as mighty powers. Given the association between the term power and miracles, likely when Paul says no powers can separate them from the love of God, he has in mind miracles.¹²

Counterargument:

While the term ἡ δύναμις (power) is sometimes used to denote miracles in the New Testament, the term has other meanings, and miracle does not seem to fit with the context of Romans 8:38. For what miracles might Paul have in mind when he says that nothing can separate us from the love of God? Obviously, he does not have Jesus’ miracles in mind because Jesus’ miracles could only draw us closer to God, and Jesus has ascended into heaven. Thus, while powers could refer to miracles, this argument gives us no reason to think that this is Paul’s usage in Romans 8:38.

Response to counterargument:

The argument here is not that because the term powers is used in the New Testament to refer to Jesus’ miracles that Paul uses it to refer to Jesus’ miracles in Romans 8:38. Rather, the argument is that Paul uses it to refer to something like miracles, where miracles could be magic acts performed by magicians.¹³ For magicians were considered miracle workers, even if their miracles were mere illusions or empowered by satanic forces. So the claim here is that Paul is saying no miracle performed by a magician can separate us from the love of God.

The weakness of this view is that when we examine the other items in the list of things that cannot separate us from God’s love, we notice that Paul has broad categories in mind. These include angels, rulers, things present, and anything in creation. Given the breadth of the items in this list it is unlikely that he would mention something specific like magicians.