More Than Conquerors

(Romans 8:37-39)

We are more than conquerors through Chris Jesus our Lord. That is what this scripture says and is telling us. We have the victory in and through Jesus Christ and we have conquered all things in Him.

So I can understand what it is to be a conqueror in Jesus Christ, but what does it mean to be MORE than conquerors? Isn't it enough just to be a conqueror? Isn't it enough just to be victorious? What does it mean then to be MORE than a conqueror and what are the implications of this statement to us?

There are three aspects of this that come to mind as I consider these things. First, how it is we have conquered in Jesus Christ. Second, what it is we have conquered in Jesus Christ. And finally what it means to be MORE than conquerors including the implications of this description for our life as we walk forward. So let us look at these things and consider what the mean.

How have we conquered?

This is probably the easiest of these aspects to consider for the scripture tells us how we have conquered.

It is through Jesus Christ that we have conquered. It is by His sacrifice at Calvary, His death and the shedding of His blood that we initially conquered all things. These things became the means of our victory when we took them on by faith and it is faith in Jesus Christ that gives us the victory.

But there is more to this conquering and victory than just those things. The victory we have been given is not a static victory but needs to be an ongoing victory so that we not only ARE conquerors, but we REMAIN conquerors as we continue through our life.

In worldly wars we see times where the conquerors later become the conquered for they do not have the power to hold fast the victory.

It is the same for us as Christians. If we cannot hold onto the victory we suffer the possibility of becoming conquered by those same things that we conquered. As an example consider this section of scripture in Luke 11:24-26.

24 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' 25 And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. 26 Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first.”

What the lord is describing here was a person from whom evil spirits had been cast out. They were provided with the victory over the evil spirits when they were cast out, but did not do anything to hold onto the victory. We then see the evil spirit that was cast out seeking some place where it could possess but finding none decided to try and return to the person from which it had come out.

The person had done nothing to sustain the state of victory that Jesus Christ had given them and so the evil spirit brough seven more evil spirits to increase their power and hold over this person and repossessed them and so the conqueror became the conquered and they lost their victory in Jesus Christ.

How should they have sustained the victory and not allowed the evil spirit to return with its despicable companions?

Well we see the person described as a clean and swept empty house. And because it was empty there was no one to protect the house from the evil invaders. So what the person should have done is to invite in a friendly and powerful ally to ensure they could hold onto the victory and repel the evil spirits when they returned. The person needed to invite the in-dwelling Holy Spirit into their life and heart who can secure the ongoing victory and help that person as their walk continues with Jesus. But as they did not do this, they lost the victory and were again conquered by evil.

What have we conquered

So understanding a little about how we conquer and then how we ensure we can sustain the victory in Jesus Christ, we need to understand what we have conquered.

First, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ we have been given the victory over sin in our lives. We have been set free from sin in order to live new lives in Christ Jesus as new creations being built into the kingdom of God.

And when we take the next step as discussed briefly above, and we receive the Holy Spirit, we receive the ability to hold onto and sustain the victory we already have been given through Jesus so that we can continue to be conquerors. The Holy Spirit gives us power to be able to repel the advances of the evil one and to overcome devilish attacks.

More than that the Holy Spirit gives us the ability to overcome the weaknesses, passions, lusts and desires of human flesh so that we continue to be victorious and we are transformed as mature Christians into the image of Jesus Christ. It is the Holy Spirit who does this work of transformation and so gives us further victories over the flesh until we are truly more than conquerors.

Man cannot overcome all of the weaknesses and problems of his own life by himself. A strong willed person may be able to overcome some of the more obvious failings of humanity such as drinking, smoking, gambling and various forms of addiction, but no person can overcome ALL the weaknesses of human lust and desires. Even those who do overcome the physical passions recognize they are in a constant battle and a place of weakness that if broken will throw them right back into the oblivion of their own particular hell.

It is only by the working of the Holy Spirit through the victory and freedom that Jesus Christ gives us that we can truly conquer all things. A strong willed person does not really achieve victory for they cannot vanquish their particular weakness as it always lies just beneath the surface ready to bite them if they let their guard down. In essence they reach a place of detente or a truce ather than a true victory for only Christ can enable the real and lasting victory everyone seeks.

More than conquerors

Which brings us to this aspect of being more than conquerors. As we see in this section of scripture, our victory is so great in Jesus Christ that we have received the victory over all things. Look at what Paul writes we are victorious over.

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. (Romans 8:37-39)

Verses 38 & 39 show us the vast array of things that we have been given the victory over which includes all things in both the physical and spiritual realms. There is nothing that might come against us over which we cannot be the victors through Jesus Christ, including life and death.

And the reason we have this victory is that we are loved by God the Father through our faith and acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. That is the victory we have in Him.

But to be more than conquerors suggests something even more. If you think about earthly conquerors, often they come into the land, city or town they have conquered and then just take everything out or raze it to the ground.

But to be MORE than a conqueror implies that there is a responsibility associated with being the victor. We saw after WW2 that the conquerors of Japan and Germany took on the responsibility for rebuilding those nations. And today those rebuilt nations are once again powerful economic forces in the world and have had their national pride restored.

And this is true in Jesus Christ also. As conquerors we have a responsibility to not just conquer but to build and grow and mature and walk and spread the word and all of those things.

Our victory is not a static victory but it is intended to be dynamic. That is why we “walk” with Jesus because walking suggests onward and forward movement towards a destination.

In Jesus Christ that destination includes several things. We are seeking entry into the kingdom of God and to stand with God after the final judgement. We are seeking to be perfected in Jesus Christ and thus sustain and maintain the victory we have been given through Jesus Christ. We are seeking maturity, wisdom and understanding so that we can grow and then pass these things onto other who are not as far along the journey as ourselves. We are seeking to be servants of Jesus Christ and to live, work and walk in the love of God.

All of these things indicate that as conquerors we have responsibilities that exceed the mere fact of being a conqueror. Our responsibility ultimately is to seek God and to consider how to live a life pleasing to Him. When we have achieved that, not that it is our work but His work in us, we will truly be more than conquerors in and through Jesus Christ.

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