This verse looks back to and answers the question asked in verse 35. Paul actually begins this verse with a conjunction (literally “but”), which must be given the force of no (so Revised Standard Version, King James Version, Phillips, Moffatt). The word translated we have complete victory (New English Bible “overwhelming victory is ours”; Phillips “we win an overwhelming victory”) is used only here in the New Testament.

If verse 37 is understood clearly as an answer to the question in verse 35, there is no difficulty involved in the introduction of the initial particle No. It is too easy, however, in some languages for people to understand “no” as a negation of the immediate preceding statement about being treated as sheep which are about to be slaughtered. For this reason, in some languages verse 37 must begin with an adversative particle such as “but.” This is particularly true if the question in verse 35 is made into a statement.

In all these things means “in every experience of life” or, as in some languages, “in everything that happens to us.”

Him who loved us is perhaps best understood as a reference to the love of Christ in verse 35, and the aorist tense may be taken as a specific reference to the act of his death. On the other hand if him is taken to be a reference to God, then the force of the aorist would refer back to the time that God offered his only Son.

Through him who loved us, an expression of agency, may be expressed as “the one who loved us helps us be victorious” or “the one who loved us makes this so.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Romans. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1973. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .