Who is familiar with the song “More Than Conquerors”? This song comes from Romans 8:37-39. It focuses on the power we have been given through Jesus. The passage reads “No, in all things we are more than conquerors through him who has loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 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.” That’s pretty encouraging, right? Sometimes all of the things Paul mentioned there can seem intimidating or threatening, and if that’s not the case, such as with angels, maybe it’s simply a lack of understanding that makes us anxious. Paul’s point here is that it doesn’t matter what try to take us away from God. He lists life, death, things present, things to come, height, depth, and “anything else in creation”, just too cover all of the bases. According to Paul, nothing at all can separate us from the love God has for us. As we go through this article, the lyrics of the song mentioned earlier, More Than Conquerors, will be inserted as they fit with the passage being discussed. 

When my hope and strength is gone

You’re the one who calls me on

You are the life

You are the fight

That’s in my soul

Oh, Your resurrection power

Burns like fire in my heart

When waters rise

I lift my eyes

Up to Your throne

The world right now is facing something that none of the people currently living on it have lived through before. We don’t know what’s going to happen. Half of us don’t know what’s already happened, and the other half don’t know what’s happening now, but verse 37 tells us that we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us, this being Jesus. That being said, we need to think about the original audience. What were they conquering? Let’s look a little bit earlier in Romans 8. In verse 35 Paul gives a list of many things that seem bad. He mentions tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, and sword. What do these things mean? Nakedness, that’s a problem. Does it separate us from God’s love? No. Next is famine which is also not great. Does God still love his people? He definitely does. Distress is something most of us are familiar with, especially right now, but does that change the way God cares for us? Nope, not in the slightest. Danger is listed next. Some could argue that we’re in danger right now, and in one sense, with COVID-19, we are, but here I want to talk about a different kind of danger. Spiritual danger. In 1 Peter 5:8 we are told that the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. That sounds pretty dangerous. We can see that Paul is not necessarily talking about physical danger here because the next one on his list is “sword”. We are still loved even while in danger, whether spiritual or physical.

The last one on Paul’s list here is tribulation. This one is a little bit more challenging to understand than the others because we don’t use the word very much in today’s society. So what does tribulation mean? The literal definition is “trouble that inflicts distress, oppression, affliction, tribulation”. Basically it is a summation of the others. 

Oh, Your resurrection power

Burns like fire in my heart

When waters rise

I lift my eyes

Up to Your throne

We are more than conquerors, through Christ

You have overcome this world, this life

We will not bow to sin or to shame

We are defiant in Your name

You are the fire that cannot be tamed

You are the power in our veins

Our Lord, our God, our Conqueror

Now let’s talk about the end of verse 39. As we talked about earlier, Paul lists a bunch of things that cannot separate us from the love of God. Death, life, angels, rulers, things present, things to come, powers, height, depth, nor anything else in all creation. He lists those things, and then he says, “..will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” So none of the previously mentioned things can separate us from God’s love. However, in order to not be separated from God’s love we have to be a part of God’s love. This is not something that our passage directly deals with so I won’t spend too much time addressing it, but I do think it is important to mention. 

I will sing into the night

Christ is risen and on high

Greater is He

Living in me

Than in the world

No surrender, no retreat

We are free and we’re redeemed

We will declare

Over despair

You are the hope

So what does it mean to be more than conquerors? One thing I found when researching this was “to gain control of a problem or difficulty through great effort”. I liked this definition a lot and it fits best within the context of our passage. Even though the other definitions don’t fit as well with what we’re talking about, they all discuss great difficulty and/or effort. Being a conqueror is no easy thing. Now think about what our passage says. “We are more than conquerors.” We are more than something that requires great effort and much difficulty. You may be thinking, “But I’m me. I’m really not that great.” I’m here to tell you that, while I’m sure that you as an individual are pretty fantastic, or that you at least have one admirable trait, you don’t have to be great. You don’t have to be great because Jesus is great. Let me say it this way, if you are in Jesus you are great by association with Him. So you’re great because of that, on top of your individual greatness. I’d be willing to bet you’re pretty fantastic, even if you can’t see it. 

As we finish up here, there are a few things I want you to keep in mind. First off, we are more than conquerors in all things. Keep in mind the list in 8:35. Next, remember that nothing can separate us from the love of God. Look at 8:38-39. And thirdly, Paul says that noting will be able to separate us from the love of God “in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  The word “in” is a small word. Small but mighty. If you are not in the love of Christ Jesus our Lord, you’re already separated. 

We are more than conquerors, through Christ

You have overcome this world, this life

We will not bow to sin or to shame

We are defiant in Your name

You are the fire that cannot be tamed

You are the power in our veins

Our Lord, our God, our Conqueror

More Than Conquerors

 

By Ariana Crowell

 

Ariana Crowell is a fifteen year old Okie through and through. She enjoys soccer, martial arts, and time with friends and family. She has attended Future Teacher Training Camp for many years and wants to learn and grow in the Lord. She will be starting school at Freed-Hardeman University in the Fall 2020 semester. She is hoping to become a physical therapist and to do mission work as well. Her favorite Bible verse is 1 Corinthians 10:13 and her favorite Bible book is Hebrews.