More than Conquerors: A Meditation on Romans 8

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 thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are

accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that

loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor

life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things

present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth,

nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the

love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord  (KJV)

Victory in the Christian life is something often talked about in our day.  From televangelists to the local Bible study group, folks are often looking for victory over the struggles in their lives.  They are suffering with work, unemployment, poverty, unfulfilled desires and aspirations.  They lack contentment in any number of spheres of life, from possessions to people and relationships.  Perhaps they are suffering from the abuse of others, or the abuse they bring upon themselves.  People are suffering throughout the world and throughout the Church, and often do they gather, seeking victory over their pain.

Pagan religion and human philosophies often pursue such things.  They appeal to the gods to help them in their distress, make them strong, and bring them success.  They look for patterns of life that avoid pain and bring pleasure.  They build societies and fellowships around the mutual protection of each other, and their own pursuit of happiness.  Pagan religion is often a search for a path out of the sufferings of this world, while human philosophies are often a search for the least painful path while in this world.  They reflect the best and worst of human thinking from our limited resources, and do what they can to make life as pleasant as they can imagine it.  But of course, every pagan religion and philosophy eventually shows its failure in face of death—the ultimate pain and suffering which cannot be avoided by anyone, no matter how pious or clever.

Christ offers us something completely different.  Rather than removing the pain of the world, or providing a path to avoid it, He enters it of His own free will.  Beholding the suffering of His people, He elects to take our flesh upon Himself, that He might walk among us, suffer among us, and die among us.  He fulfills in every way the prophecy that our God and Savior would be Immanuel—God with us.  Rather than avoiding our pain, He takes it head on, and conquers it through His death and resurrection.  No short cuts, no drugs, no therapy.  Just Jesus crucified and risen for the sins of the whole world.  This is the Victory Jesus executes upon sin, death, hell and the devil.

And this teaches us something about the victory we should be seeking.  God has not called us to avoid the suffering and pain of this world, but to fellowship in His Son who has conquered this world through His Cross.  As Christ picked up His Cross and carried it all the way to Calvary, so we are called to pick our cross and follow Him.  Our victory is not in avoiding the pain and suffering of the world, but it is Christ’s Victory over and through the pain and suffering of the world.  In this way, the devil is utterly defeated, the power of death is destroyed, and the gates of hell are closed to us forever.  In Christ’s Victory is the forgiveness of our sins, and the giving to us of a new life in Him that has already proved it cannot be contained by the grave.  In Christ’s Victory, there is no running from the devil, or anything he wants to throw at us.  The devil is trampled under the pierced feet of Jesus, and nothing he can do can separate us from our Savior.

So if the devil throws pain your way, you can laugh him to scorn, ensconced in the love of Christ.  In the words of the great Reformation hymn, were he to take our house—goods, honor, child, or spouse—though life be wrenched away, he cannot win the day.  The Kingdom is ours forever, because Jesus is Victorious, and it is His good will to give us His Kingdom by His grace.  Be we persecuted, slandered, tortured or murdered, the love of God in Jesus Christ bears it all, and emerges victorious in a life that continues blessed forever.  All glory, laud, and honor be to our Lord Jesus Christ, our Victory and our Salvation!  Amen.