Common sense says that if we want to be a conqueror, we must have something to conquer—something like tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or sword. At least that is what I read in Romans 8:35-37.
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: ‘For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’ Yet, in all these things we are MORE THAN CONQUERORS through Him who loved us.” [NKJV emphasis mine]
More than conquerors is a compound word using one Greek word meaning to vanquish and adding “huper” which means exceedingly abundantly above or beyond. We could say we are “Super-Conquerors,” not just your average “run-of-the-mill-ordinary’ conquerors.
That compound word also gives the image of a victory so complete that the enemy is not merely subdued but rendered powerless to threaten the believer’s standing in Christ.
Paul doesn’t ignore or deny there is a bitter reality in the battles we face. He uses a quote from Psalm 44:22. That psalm was a communal lament during a time of national despair. The psalmist begins by recounting all God had done for Israel in the past but moves quickly into her feelings of being abandoned by God despite their faithfulness.
We, too, can probably remember and be thankful for all God has done for us in the past while still feeling alone or abandoned in the present. Our feelings, however, do not negate the fact that God has promised that we are “Super-Conquerors” in Christ!
(Tomorrow the means of being a Super Conqueror.)