I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. John 16:33
Recently in church, my friend and pastor Jim Barringer challenged me with his thought that he for one couldn’t wholly comprehend the phrase “we are more than conquerors.” He asked the congregation if any of us really understood it. I decided I would come to understand it as much as possible, not with Christianese sayings like “victorious life” but with truth from the Scriptures and God’s Holy Spirit. Understanding that God’s Word is a treasure more precious than the most beautiful and perfect diamond, multifaceted, and offering something deeper each time we peer into it, I can only offer a small peek. The Word of God is alive, it is active, and it breathes life through the Holy Spirit as He helps us understand it (Hebrews 4:12). So let’s get ready to bring this phrase alive and live as more than conquerors.
I know I don’t spend most of my time living as a conqueror. The times I am not living as a conqueror, I live either fighting tooth and nail or wallowing in defeat. But Believer, that is not what our Lord means for us!
First, I needed to look at the phrase in context. Romans 8:31-39 reads,
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
According to this passage we are more than conquerors, in tribulation, that is troubles and suffering, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, and sword.
Let’s now take a moment to define the word conqueror. Other words for conqueror are defeater, vanquisher, subjugator, captor or victor. To conquer means to gain or acquire by force of arms : subjugate to overcome by force of arms : vanquish > to gain mastery over or win by overcoming obstacles or opposition : to overcome by mental or moral power : surmount and: to be victorious
There is one Greek word, used only this once for the entire phrase “more than conquerors.” That word is hupernikaó the first part of that word huper means beyond or exceedingly, the second part of the word nikáō is conqueror, or outstanding best conqueror. The phrase is then to be someone who conquers exceedingly and completely. Strong’s Greek Lexicon puts it this way:
being "more than a conqueror," i.e. "super-conqueror" who is "completely and overwhelmingly victorious" 5245 (hypernikáō) is used only in Romans 8:37.
[The intensive prefix (hyper) adds the idea, "surpassing victory" (i.e. of a pre-eminent conqueror).
But how are we more than conquerors? First let’s look a little further back in Romans 8. The chapter begins with this beautiful and awe-inspiring truth about believers. Romans 8:1-4 reads,
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Because of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, in fulfilling the law (what we cannot do), forgiving and taking away sin, and overcoming death to give us life, we cannot be accused of sin or condemned by it. Our sin is gone and we have become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 says it like this,
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
When we face the tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, and sword spoken about in Romans 8:35 we as believers do not face it alone or in the same way the world does. We have a different outlook on those sufferings. First, we are indwelled with God’s Holy Spirit, God in us! We have God’s nature living within us and He makes a difference. 1 John 4:1-7 reads,
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. 4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
Read verse 4 again,
Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
We have overcome the lying spirits, the false prophets, the slaves of the enemy who want to bring us down and make us ineffectual and otherwise defeat us. He (God) is in us and He is greater than Satan.
We understand that all the bad stuff, the suffering, and the evil in this world is here because of sin. We understand that God is sovereign and though He will not take away people’s free will to stop them from sinning, He does use it all for our benefit. Romans 8:28-30 says,
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
You and I, Believer love God and we are called according to His purpose! He works it all out for our benefit. Yes, we will suffer, we will be hated and persecuted, and tragedy will happen but God uses it for our good, to make us more like Jesus, to conform us to His image. Earlier in Romans, Paul described the way believers endure suffering. He said that we can rejoice or celebrate our suffering! That is insane and foolish to the world. But for us, it makes sense because we have the truth, we know the good result even in the depth of agony. Romans 5:1-5 reads,
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
We are perfected in God’s profound everlasting and steadfast love. 1 John 4:7-12 reads,
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
One day, in the twinkling of an eye, we will be transformed completely, glorified perfectly to spend eternity in perfect communion with the LORD. That future glory is as good as done. Holding onto that hope through faith is one way we endure suffering differently than the world. Paul said it like this in Romans 8:18-21,
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
We can consider it finished, we are justified, we are glorified, and we are perfected. These words are all past tense even though the glory and perfection will happen in the future. They are present tense for us because as we go through suffering they are being done. They are past tense for us because we have faith that God’s Word is true and He described our victory already. It is done even though for us, it has not yet manifested. The Bible tells us a great deal about The Day of the Lord. Revelation 21 is a chapter we can read and read again when we are feeling defeated, tired of fighting, or overcome by circumstances. It is an emboldening truth and it is where our hope and faith rest, the future glory Paul speaks about in Romans. Revelation 21:1-7 reads,
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people] and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.
Isn’t that beautiful? Believer, will you conquer? Yes! Remember you are more than a conqueror! But not everyone will conquer, the world is filled with people who reject Christ, who will not believe, or have never heard the truth. The end of their story is not victory and life but defeat and death. It is described in detail throughout the Bible. The Day of the Lord has two sides, the conquering side and the defeated side. Revelation 21:8 reads,
But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.
In Mark 9:48 Jesus described Hell “where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.”
It is not only the lost who will be thrown into the lake of fire, it is Satan and His minions. He will not be happily ruling, he’ll be tortured and burning, and gnashing his teeth right along with all the rest. He will be completely conquered. Revelation 20:7-10 describes it this way,
And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison8 and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. 9 And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, 10 and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
So Brothers and Sisters, what does it mean to live as more than a conqueror? It means to go through this life believing the truth, Satan is captured, Sin and Death are destroyed, Suffering is ended, and we are completed and living eternally in perfect communion with Jesus Christ. It means walking in faith. Jim Barringer defines faith as the persistent refusal to accept what appears to be reality. In other words trusting God instead of the our own work, circumstances of our lives, and the appearance that we are losing to Satan. The Bible defines faith in Hebrews 11:1-3.
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the people of old received their commendation. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
I know I don’t spend most of my time living as a conqueror. The times I am not living as a conqueror, I live either fighting tooth and nail or wallowing in defeat. But Believer, that is not what our Lord means for us!
First, I needed to look at the phrase in context. Romans 8:31-39 reads,
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
According to this passage we are more than conquerors, in tribulation, that is troubles and suffering, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, and sword.
Let’s now take a moment to define the word conqueror. Other words for conqueror are defeater, vanquisher, subjugator, captor or victor. To conquer means to gain or acquire by force of arms : subjugate to overcome by force of arms : vanquish > to gain mastery over or win by overcoming obstacles or opposition : to overcome by mental or moral power : surmount and: to be victorious
There is one Greek word, used only this once for the entire phrase “more than conquerors.” That word is hupernikaó the first part of that word huper means beyond or exceedingly, the second part of the word nikáō is conqueror, or outstanding best conqueror. The phrase is then to be someone who conquers exceedingly and completely. Strong’s Greek Lexicon puts it this way:
being "more than a conqueror," i.e. "super-conqueror" who is "completely and overwhelmingly victorious" 5245 (hypernikáō) is used only in Romans 8:37.
[The intensive prefix (hyper) adds the idea, "surpassing victory" (i.e. of a pre-eminent conqueror).
But how are we more than conquerors? First let’s look a little further back in Romans 8. The chapter begins with this beautiful and awe-inspiring truth about believers. Romans 8:1-4 reads,
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Because of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, in fulfilling the law (what we cannot do), forgiving and taking away sin, and overcoming death to give us life, we cannot be accused of sin or condemned by it. Our sin is gone and we have become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 says it like this,
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
When we face the tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, and sword spoken about in Romans 8:35 we as believers do not face it alone or in the same way the world does. We have a different outlook on those sufferings. First, we are indwelled with God’s Holy Spirit, God in us! We have God’s nature living within us and He makes a difference. 1 John 4:1-7 reads,
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. 4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
Read verse 4 again,
Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
We have overcome the lying spirits, the false prophets, the slaves of the enemy who want to bring us down and make us ineffectual and otherwise defeat us. He (God) is in us and He is greater than Satan.
We understand that all the bad stuff, the suffering, and the evil in this world is here because of sin. We understand that God is sovereign and though He will not take away people’s free will to stop them from sinning, He does use it all for our benefit. Romans 8:28-30 says,
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
You and I, Believer love God and we are called according to His purpose! He works it all out for our benefit. Yes, we will suffer, we will be hated and persecuted, and tragedy will happen but God uses it for our good, to make us more like Jesus, to conform us to His image. Earlier in Romans, Paul described the way believers endure suffering. He said that we can rejoice or celebrate our suffering! That is insane and foolish to the world. But for us, it makes sense because we have the truth, we know the good result even in the depth of agony. Romans 5:1-5 reads,
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
We are perfected in God’s profound everlasting and steadfast love. 1 John 4:7-12 reads,
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
One day, in the twinkling of an eye, we will be transformed completely, glorified perfectly to spend eternity in perfect communion with the LORD. That future glory is as good as done. Holding onto that hope through faith is one way we endure suffering differently than the world. Paul said it like this in Romans 8:18-21,
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
We can consider it finished, we are justified, we are glorified, and we are perfected. These words are all past tense even though the glory and perfection will happen in the future. They are present tense for us because as we go through suffering they are being done. They are past tense for us because we have faith that God’s Word is true and He described our victory already. It is done even though for us, it has not yet manifested. The Bible tells us a great deal about The Day of the Lord. Revelation 21 is a chapter we can read and read again when we are feeling defeated, tired of fighting, or overcome by circumstances. It is an emboldening truth and it is where our hope and faith rest, the future glory Paul speaks about in Romans. Revelation 21:1-7 reads,
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people] and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.
Isn’t that beautiful? Believer, will you conquer? Yes! Remember you are more than a conqueror! But not everyone will conquer, the world is filled with people who reject Christ, who will not believe, or have never heard the truth. The end of their story is not victory and life but defeat and death. It is described in detail throughout the Bible. The Day of the Lord has two sides, the conquering side and the defeated side. Revelation 21:8 reads,
But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.
In Mark 9:48 Jesus described Hell “where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.”
It is not only the lost who will be thrown into the lake of fire, it is Satan and His minions. He will not be happily ruling, he’ll be tortured and burning, and gnashing his teeth right along with all the rest. He will be completely conquered. Revelation 20:7-10 describes it this way,
And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison8 and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. 9 And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, 10 and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
So Brothers and Sisters, what does it mean to live as more than a conqueror? It means to go through this life believing the truth, Satan is captured, Sin and Death are destroyed, Suffering is ended, and we are completed and living eternally in perfect communion with Jesus Christ. It means walking in faith. Jim Barringer defines faith as the persistent refusal to accept what appears to be reality. In other words trusting God instead of the our own work, circumstances of our lives, and the appearance that we are losing to Satan. The Bible defines faith in Hebrews 11:1-3.
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the people of old received their commendation. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
RSS Feed
