Readings from Romans: More Than Conquerors

The Ninth Sunday after Pentecost
July 26, 2026
Romans 8:28-39

“Readings from Romans: More Than Conquerors”

In the midst of our summer travels and vacations, there is unrest and strife in our world. Hostilities in Iran have begun again, igniting fears of a wider, regional conflict. It may well be that the world has always been this way with wars and rumors of wars (Matthew 24:6). With round-the-clock, 24/7 newsfeeds, it’s just that we are now immediately and acutely aware of these things. Increasingly, the world feels unsafe. Fellow believers in areas of the world where there is unrest and strife often face real-life challenges because of their faith in Christ: displacement and job loss, arrest and imprisonment, even death. One group that tracks this is The Voice of the Martyrs, calling us all to awareness and action for the persecuted Church. I think of this in light of today’s Epistle lesson: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered” (Romans 8:35-36). In a world that seems to be spinning out of control, where do they – where do we – find our security and hope? That same Word of God reminds us: “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who 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” (Romans 8:37-39). Our summer preaching series, “Readings from Romans,” continues today under the theme, “More Than Conquerors.” May the Lord’s rich and abundant blessing rest upon the preaching, the hearing, and the living of his Word for Jesus’ sake.

We may not face the threat of persecution here for our faith as our brothers and sisters do in other parts of the world. But there are other challenges we do face. There are other trials, tribulations and distresses which seek to put a strangle-hold on faith and choke the life out of it. In the culture of abundance that we live in, maybe it’s the lure of materialism; acquiring more and more but never being satisfied because it’s never enough. Maybe it’s fear that holds us captive – fear of failure, fear of change, fear of the future, fear of dying. Maybe it’s complacency that plagues us – being so smugly self-satisfied with the way things are that we become stuck and immovable; stubborn and stiff-necked. Maybe it’s the heated politics of this present moment that have pitted us one against the other, making us suspicious of “those people.” Maybe it’s the hectic and distracted pace of life that leaves little, if any, room to breathe or time for God. Paul’s list here of “tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword” connects with the perils and hardships of his own life as an apostle (see 1 Corinthians 4:10-13; 2 Corinthians 4:7-12, 6:4-10, 11:23-27, 12:10).  Left to our own, we can easily come to the conclusion that all of these things separate us not only from God but from others as well. So, where is our security?

Today’s Epistle lesson begins with that beautiful verse of promise and hope: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). All of those things which we often view with frustration, discouragement and anger are actually vehicles for blessing from the hand of the Lord. We may not see how all of this works out this side of heaven, but the promise of the Lord is sure and certain. That promise has been ratified in Jesus, as we are told: “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32). If God’s great love would not withhold even the life of his only Son, but freely give him as the atoning sacrifice for our sins upon the cross, won’t God also take care of all these other things for the sake of his elect, his beloved sons and daughters? And the answer is a resounding “Yes!” Who or what would dare to bring any charge or accusation against God’s chosen ones when the presiding Judge himself has already acquitted them, declaring them not guilty for Jesus’ sake? My friends, this is the confidence we have in Christ, who laid down his life for us. Far from being our prosecutor, Christ Jesus is our defender and even now intercedes for us! The Lord Jesus has taken upon himself the judgment that stood against us, bearing in his own body the crushing burden of our sins. Through faith in Jesus’ saving work – his life and ministry, his death and resurrection – we have already been judged and declared not guilty. The cleansing blood of Jesus has set us free from the condemnation of sin and death. The debt against us has been marked: “Paid in full,” signed in the blood of Jesus. That final day of Judgment will, for the believer in Christ, be the public announcement of this divine verdict. And this is something no power on earth or in heaven can possibly challenge. This, my friends, is the treasure hidden in the field. This is the pearl of great price, for which we will gladly sell all that we have in order to possess it. This is our security – now and for all time!

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?” (Romans 8:35). We could add many other things to that list: chronic pain and illness, cancer, natural or manmade disaster, unemployment and under-employment, financial loss, grief and sorrow, and many others. Even in the midst of these things, in Christ Jesus we confidently affirm that “… in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37). The original word here is better translated as “super conquerors” (ύπερνικϖµεν): ύπερ, where we get our word “hyper,” and νική, where we get our word “Nike,” meaning “victory.” You know, like the shoes. In Jesus, we are super conquerors! Through the One who conquered sin, death and hell itself, we are super conquerors! In him who loves us, no matter what the world throws at us – “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” (Romans 38-39). Thanks be to God! Amen.