If you are in a place where you cannot realize this, it’s time to get on your knees and do a faith-check. Maybe in your pain you have torn yourself from His arms. But let me tell you this: Even then, the rope holds. God’s love remains intact in spite of your anger. Spiritual maturity is arriving at the point of unwavering certainty that God will never fail us in this life or the next. It is a certainty for all seasons—one that stands firm regardless of the circumstances.

Paul had that certainty. Martin Lloyd Jones, in his study of Romans, says that when Paul makes these assertions about God’s love, he is not persuading himself, guessing, or engaging in gut feelings or hunches. He is speaking from cool, hardened certainty. He says, “I am persuaded,” which carries the meaning “I have worked through a process of persuasion to a settled conclusion.” He is saying that beyond any shadow of a doubt, he knows that there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God.6

More Than Conquerors

Paul goes on to say one more thing about God’s love that should help us to rest in His love and also to love Him even in the worst of traumas. He tells us that not only is God’s love constant and unfailing, it is also triumphant. Not only will it endure all circumstances, it will overcome all circumstances: “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37). We are not merely conquerors; we are more than conquerors. What can this mean?

The Greek word for “conquer” is hypernikao, a compound word made up of hyper (“more, above, beyond”) and nikao (“to conquer or prevail”). The term is a unique one, occurring nowhere in the Bible but this particular verse. It has no single-word counterpart in English, so we must cobble together two or three words to get the sense of what it means. Scholars have tried such phrases as “overwhelmingly conquerors” and “beyond conquering,” but the favorite by far is “more than conquerors.” Many of our contemporary translations contain that familiar phrase.

But let’s try another one: “hyper-conquerors.” It has a modern ring to it and suggests the idea of a new league of superheroes—“The Hyper-Conquerors”! I think I like it. Let’s try it out on what Paul is telling us:

In the midst of all these things that try to bring us down (tribulation, distress, persecution, you name it), we are hyper-conquerors.

When facing any problem that life can dish out—you are a hyper-conqueror.

In struggling with that problem you’re worrying about this very day, which is ______________ (fill in the blank), you are a hyper-conqueror.