Showcase: Assorted Treats

  • Paradigm Questions +

    Paradigm Questions To which of the following commands of Christ’s do you only pay only lip service? Love your enemies Read More
  • July 27 Devotional: FB Meyer +

    He suffered thee to hunger. Deuteronomy 8:3 Read More
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Don  Carson

http://www.biblestudytools.com/rsv/1-samuel/10.html

http://www.biblestudytools.com/rsv/romans/8.html

http://www.biblestudytools.com/rsv/jeremiah/47.html

http://www.biblestudytools.com/rsv/psalms/passage.aspx?q=psalm+23;psalm+24

WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR Christians to be "more than conquerors" (Rom. 8:37)?

A considerable body of thought pictures a special group of illustrious Christians who "live above it all," powerful in confronting temptation, victorious in their prayer lives, fruitful in their witness, mature and faithful in their relationships. And none of that is what the text says.

First, the "us" to whom the apostle refers includes all Christians. All Christians are the ones whom God has foreknown, "predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son," called, justified, glorified (Rom. 8:29–30). The people referred to are not the elite of the elect; they are ordinary Christians, all genuine Christians.

Second, the actual evidence that they are "more than conquerors" is that they persevere regardless of all opposition. That opposition may take the form of horrible persecution, of the kind that Scripture describes (Rom. 8:35–38). It may be some other hardship, all the way to famine. The glories of life will not finally seduce them; the terrors of death will not finally sway them; neither the pressures of the present nor the frustrations of the future will destroy them (Rom. 8:38). Neither human powers nor anything else in all creation, not even all the powers of hell unleashed, can "separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 8:39).

Third, as the last sentence already makes clear, that from which Christians cannot be finally separated is the "love of Christ" (Rom. 8:35) or the love of God in Christ (Rom. 8:39). At one level, of course, that is simply saying that no power can stop Christians from being Christians. That is why we are "more than conquerors." But that point could have been made a lot of different ways.

To make it this way, with an emphasis on the love of Christ as that from which we cannot be separated, reminds us of the sheer glory and pleasure that is ours, both now and in eternity, to be in such a relationship. We are not simply acquitted; we are loved. We are loved not simply by a peer, but by God himself. Nor is this a reference to the general love that God has for his entire creation. What is at stake here is that special love that attaches to "all who have been called according to his purpose" (Rom. 8:28).

Fourth, the guarantee that we shall prevail and persevere, and prove to be "more than conquerors" in this sense, is nothing other than the sovereign purposes of God (Rom. 8:29–30), manifest in the death of his Son on our behalf (Rom. 8:31–35). "If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Rom. 8:32).

No greater security is imaginable.

1 Samuel 10; Romans 8; Jeremiah 47; Psalms 23–24

Reflections to Consider

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Publications

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Music

  • Jesus be the centre

    Center is a song that speaks of the essence of our life in Christ, and echoes the words the Christ Read More
  • I Lift My Hands

    A powerful hymn of adoration and praise Arkansas Gospel Mass Choir. This succinctly captures the joy of knowing our savior. Read More
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Audio & Video

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Favorites

  • Transforming this World: The Hope of Glory by NT Wright +

    Wright confronts the perspective that this world doesn’t matter, and that we live only to be in heaven. He shows Read More
  • What is Good in a World that Defies Hope: a talk by NT Wright +

    This is the second part of three talks by NT Wright at Harvard University in November, 2008 on the topic Read More
  • The Stream, the Lake and the River: NT Wright +

      Acts 2.1-21; John 7.37-39; a sermon at the Eucharist on the Feast of Pentecost, 11 May 2008, by the Read More
  • Jesus in the Perfect Storm by NT Wright +

    Zechariah 9.9-17; Luke 19.28-48; A sermon for Palm Sunday, April 17, 2011, In the University Chapel of St Salvator, St Read More
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Hidden Blessings

  • Christ is a Great Savior: a review of the movie Amazing Grace +

    Amazing Grace is a historical drama about William Wilberforce who was elected to British Parliament at the age of 21 Read More
  • Wilberforce, Hollywood's Amazing Grace, Charlotte Allen +

    William Wilberforce's relentless campaign eventually led the British Parliament to ban the slave trade, in 1807, and to pass a Read More
  • Making Beauty out of Ugly Things: Grace by U2 +

    Grace, she takes the blame She covers the shame Removes the stain It could be her name Grace, she carries Read More
  • The True Nature of Grace and Love: a movie review of the Soloist +

    The 2009 movie The Soloist is based on a book by the same name, written by Los Angeles Times columnist Read More
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