Bible Verses That Freak Me Out #17 - "We overwhelmingly conquer" - Romans 8:35,37

Some thoughts from the Best Chapter in the Bible.

For my money, the best chapter in the Bible is Romans 8. It starts with “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ,” ends with “nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord,” and in between there are fun little nuggets about God’s Spirit dwelling in us, how the Holy Spirit and Jesus intercede for us, how we are adopted as children of God, and more good stuff like that.

The part that has always freaked me out a bit is verses 35 and 37:

“Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or the sword? – But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.”

For all you Greek fans out there, the word “upernikao” only appears here in the Bible. It’s the word for conquer with the prefix “hyper” attached to the front. “To overpower in victory. To be abundantly victorious. Prevail mightily.” (Thanks Lexicon!) Hyper-conquer. A blow-out victory.

And what are the circumstances of this blow-out victory?

Tribulation – troubled, beset on all sides, suffering
Distress – stressed, on the brink, anxious, miserable
Persecution – attacked, harassed, discriminated against
Famine – hungry to the point of desperation
Naked – exposed, embarrassed, humiliated, vulnerable
The sword – mortally wounded, and, uh, dead

So – for the Christian, when you are troubled, suffering, stressed, miserable, attacked, hungry, humiliated, and either mostly or completely dead – you win!!!

And not just a win – a blow-out, crushing, run-up-the-score, their team didn’t even show up today, their fans put paper bags over their heads, my grandma could play better than their team, kind of victory.

That makes no kind of sense, unless you believe verse 18.

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to compared to with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

Not worthy to be compared. Blow-out victory. Overwhelmingly conquer. Paul and Jesus like to speak in superlatives, especially when it comes to God. “In all these things we conquer,” “nothing shall separate us,” "I can so all things through Christ." “I have come that they might have life, and have it more abundantly.” God, grant us that we might live superlative Christian lives.