No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Romans 8:37
I have been reflecting on this passage and what it means to be more than conquerors. In the verse before this, Paul had just quoted from Psalm 44.2 about being killed and persecuted for God’s sake. Christians are persecuted because people hope to stop people from following Christ. Those who persecute Christians seek to defeat them and crush their spirits. The goal is to defeat them and take away their hope. Paul was more familiar with this than anyone else. In 2 Corinthians 11:24-29, Paul lists out a summary of the things he suffered for the sake of Christ. He despaired for life itself (2 Corinthians 1:8-11). Yet in all of these things Paul was not defeated. He did not stop following Christ. In the face of all of these hardships, he was more than a conqueror. He wrote this passage knowing many fellow Christians would face hardships for Christ. He wrote this to encourage us that not only can we overcome these things, we can be more than conquerors. Not only will we not be defeated, we can have resounding victory.
Paul makes it clear that this victory is not found in our strength or ability. He was very clear that he boasted in his weakness:
But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
Paul states that we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. It is Christ who gave us the example of how to suffer (1 Peter 2:21-25). Jesus gave everything over to God and entrusted the situation to Him. In the same way we can overcome the persecution and opposition in life by entrusting it to God. Paul says we are conquerors through the One who loved us. God loved us while we were sinners and sent His Son to die for our sins. We do not overcome through the power of our will or the strength of our character. We overcome because Jesus won the victory and He invites us into His victory procession. He overcame the world so that we can have victory. Left to our own strength, we will fail. However, when we look to the One who loved us, we are able to walk in victory. We can overcome those who would seek to silence our witness.
Sometimes we have to face difficult things in order to remember that this life is not about us. We need to be reminded that we are dependent upon God for all things. We are conquerors despite our weakness and inability. We are more than conquerors through our association with Christ. Praise the Lord for His love and patience toward us.