“Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.” Romans 8:37.
“Nay,
Separate from the love of Christ? The love of God, which is in Jesus Christ our Lord? A love so deep, so divine, that it sent the Only Begotten Son of the Father to the bottom of hell to atone for our filthy sins? Us ? The elect ? The believers in His name ?
Nay! Never! Impossible!
Incredible you say? Sheer fanaticism, religious madness ? It would seem so, I know. It would be so, if the battle of life were a natural one, a matter of earthly life and possessions. We are so weak, so few in number compared with the hordes of darkness.
However, our battle is a spiritual one, a matter of God’s covenant and salvation, of the survival and glorification of the new man.
It is with a view to that battle that we dare to repeat in all confidence of faith: NAY!
“in all these things
Nothing should be excluded. Also when the foe persecutes us to death? Of course! Also in depression and want, sickness and sorrow ? Certainly! Also when the sword is pointed to our hearts and the fire is kindled under our feet? Without any doubt! Even in death, that separates so ruthlessly from all that is dear to us? Yes, even in death!
Listen again as the apostle here calls the roll of our enemies and the things that may set themselves against us: Tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword, life, death, angels, principalities, powers, height, depth. Finally, to make certain that nothing has been omitted he says, or any other creatures.
What’s left? If those things cannot harm us, what can?
I spite of all these things we are triumphant? No! Some people imagine that they have attained to quite a degree of godliness and confidence when they say: Many things are against me, but in the end I will be victorious. Is that the way it is? Then the enemy has his victories too, even though the final triumph is mine.
No, in all these things; in the very midst of them, when all seems lost; with a very view of them. All must contribute to my glorious salvation.
“we
That refers to the church of Christ, every elect, every believer, however weak and sinful he may still be. Isn’t it wonderful?
We may not always be so conscious of this. Often the eye of faith is so dim and the heart so fearful. There are reasons for this. We may so kick against the pricks as to lose the blessed assurance of His presence. We may be so fascinated by the sweetness and attractions of the world as to lose our vision of the love of God. Carnal pleasures cannot rob the Christian of His God, but they may so darken our lives that for a time we cannot see the sun.
Therefore Paul speaks the way he does: I am persuaded. Whether you are I cannot say. I can speak only for myself.
However, all this does not change the facts. Subjective experience may fluctuate. We may be cold one day; warmer another. But, every believer is more than a conqueror. Nothing can change that.
Speaking of that the apostle says: “I am persuade ….. can separate us from the love of God which is Jesus Christ our Lord.”
“are
We shall be, presently, when we are in heaven? No, we are!
In an earthly war one cannot speak of victory until the battle has been fought and the foe defeated.
The Christian is victorious from the start and all through the battle, even while his blood drenches the arena and the battlefield is littered with corpses of the saints.
“more than conquerors
In an ordinary battle the foe may be defeated, but the victor suffers too, sometimes more than the entire victory is worth. Was it Alexander the Great who said after one of his brilliant victories: One more victory like that and I will have no army left?
We are more than conquerors. Not only is the enemy vanquished. Not only does he fail to separate us from the love of Christ. Our victory is an abundant one. The foe must serve us in all that he does. His aim is to destroy: actually he must help, strengthen, work for our salvation. Until finally death itself, our last enemy, actually carries us into our eternal home.
“through Him that loved us.”
Certainly, the victory is never ours. The more grace we receive the plainer that becomes. What could we hope to accomplish against such a deadly array! We are hopelessly lost in sin. Never say, or even think: I am more than conqueror through my love for Christ.
Our strength and victory are in Christ alone. His was the battle against a foe still undefeated, a sin still unpaid, a Satan and death still unvanquished. His is the victory; therefore, we triumph only in and through Him.
Conquerors through Him that loved us! Whom we love? No! Who loved us! Whom we love? No! Who loved us!
And who are these beloved of the Father, and of our blessed Savior? They are those for whom He died on the cross. They are those whom the Father gave Him, the elect from everlasting.
They are those who love Him! Because salvation, after all depends on us? You should know better than that by now. It is because His love for us, shed abroad in our hearts, returns to Him in our love for Him. That then is our evidence, that we belong to Him; that Christ loved us and gave Himself for us; that the Father loved us and wrote our names, in His eternal Book of Life.
Trust in Him, therefore, with all your hearts; however dark the way, however rugged the road may be! He is your Rock of Ages! Under the wings of His unchanging love you can really say:
“It is well; it is well with my soul.”