the proud boast? He is writing his letter to the people of Rome. And it
is in this letter to Rome that the apostle claims to be a conqueror. If
he had been writing to a little company of people living in some quiet
and remote district in Asia Minor, far away from the movement and
pageantry of imperial life, his boast of being a conqueror might have
been received without surprise. But think of the daring of making his
claim in a letter to the Romans, who were accustomed to gaze upon their
conquerors as they returned in glory from triumphant wars of conquest,
dragging their distinguished captives at their chariot wheels! When the
apostle claims to be a conqueror he is using a word which to the Romans
is weighted with pomp and glory, suggesting cities ablaze with emblems
of festivity, and streets thronged with cheering multitudes, and a hero
upon whom favours are being showered thick as the flowers which are
flung upon his triumphal car. When Paul dares to call himself a
conqueror in a letter to the Romans he is using a word significant of
all this wealth and effulgence, and he is using it to describe the
passage of his own life down the ways of time. "We are more than
conquerors." Such a claim would surely strike the Roman reader with
amazement.
What was there in the apostle's life to correspond to the claim? What
was there about it which in any way recalled the radiant entry of an
acclaimed warrior into the festive city of Rome? Let us glance at the
external circumstances of his Christian life. Is there anything in these
circumstances of pomp, and flowers, and favour, and acclamation? Run
your eye over the apostle's road. What are its features? What is it like
as it stretches from Damascus to Rome? In peril of his life in Damascus,
his enemies watching the gates day and night to kill him; coldly
suspected by his fellow-believers in Jerusalem; persecuted at Antioch;
assaulted in Iconium; stoned in Lystra; beaten with many stripes in
Philippi; attacked by a lewd and envious crowd in Thessalonica; pursued
by callous enmity in Berea; despised in Athens; blasphemed in Corinth
and dragged before the judgment-seat; exposed to the fierce wrath of the
Ephesians; bound with chains in Jerusalem, and finally imprisoned at
Rome! Such is the character of his cold, storm-swept, painful road. And
yet he dares to call himself a conqueror, and to so style himself to the
men of imperial Rome! When I turn away from the gay and rapturous
streets, through which the Roman conqueror made his tumultuous entry,
and then gaze on the long, dark, cruel road on which this man trudged
throughout all his public days, his life seems to be broken up in
successive tragedies, and to sink at last in the black defeat of utter
and complete eclipse. And yet he sings aloud in joyful pride: "We are
more than conquerors"! Where, then, shall we look for the signs of
conquest, and for the waving banners, and the rapturous shouts?
There are two ways of estimating a triumphant life. We may trace the
line of external circumstances, and we make an inventory of the material
treasures, and the flattering diplomas, and the public honours that have
been gained along the way. That road winds by the bank, and the Stock
Exchange, through Wall Street, or Threadneedle Street, and thence it
stretches away through fair suburbs of material comforts, and through
gardens of enticing ease, ascending even to lofty eminences of public
favour and regard. We may walk along this road in our desire to estimate
a man's standing, and to reckon the degree and quality of his conquests.
And judged by that standard Paul's circumstances were disastrous, and
his life was just a dismal succession of appalling defeats. Indeed the
apostle himself has given his own verdict upon his life when it is
judged by the standard of Wall Street, and he has done it in two words
of pregnant and sweeping brevity--"having nothing"! And yet he claimed
to be "more than conqueror"!
But there is another way of judging the failure or triumph of a life. We
may follow the line of character. We may register the success of the
soul in its mastery of circumstances, in its refusal to be submerged by
evil antagonisms, in its preservation of a diamond-like translucency
amid engulfing floods of defilement, in its buoyancy in the days of
prolonged disappointment, in its quiet and firm ascendency over the
beast, in its inevitable emergence from every kind of hostility in
increasing majesty and strength. These are the two lines of
investigation. These are the possible criteria of judgment. On the one
hand we may measure the success of a life by the progressive enrichment
of circumstances; on the other hand we may estimate its conquests by the
progressive growth of the soul. We may make our valuation in the
material world or in the spiritual world; that is to say, we may value
the man or we may value his possessions.
Now the circumstantial happenings in a life had little or no interest
for the apostle Paul. All his concern followed the inward line of the
spirit. He kept his eyes on spiritual processes and never on material
results. He did not busy himself with a man's happenings; he busied
himself with the effect of the happenings on the man. Always and
everywhere he pressed through condition to character; his thought always
took the short cut to the soul. If in the streets of Rome or of Ephesus
you had pointed out to him some rich man, Paul would have immediately
leaped the adjective and inquired about the noun. He would have had no
interest whatever in the man's riches; riches are no criterion of
triumph; but he would have been devouringly interested in what the
riches had done with the man. While the man has been making riches, what
have riches made of the man? Measure the man! Is the man who is within
the riches a victor or a victim, a noble master or a poor ignoble slave.
And so also do I believe that if you had pointed out to the apostle
some poor man, he would have left the adjective and fixed upon the noun.
What about the man inside the poverty? What about the soul so ill-housed
in indigence? Is the soul royal or servile? Is it crouching or has it a
noble and stately rectitude? That would be the concern of the apostle
Paul. He would get behind the riches to the man. He would get behind the
poverty to the man. For every external happening or every material
possession is only a house, and within the happening there is the man or
the woman, the tenant of the house. What about them? What about the
quality of their manliness or womanliness? That was the apostle's line
of investigation. The apostle Paul was not much concerned about the
character of the road, whether it was bare or flowery, but he was
vitally concerned with the spiritual condition of the traveller. How is
it with the pilgrim soul? What spiritual conquests has the soul made
along the road? That is the apostle's standard of measurement, and by
its records he registers life's conquests or defeats.
Well, then, what was the quality of his own life when it is measured by
these interior standards? For, after all, these are the only standards
worth naming, as in our sober and thoughtful moments we all very well
know. We are not here to make fortunes, we are here to grow souls. How
then does the apostle bear the supreme test of his own spiritual
standards? Is he master or slave? Are the streets of his soul festive
with triumph, or are they dull and cheerless in defeat? Is he more than
conqueror?
Let us begin the test with a day when his external circumstances were
brilliant. Brilliant days came but rarely to the apostle Paul; they were
as infrequent as oases in Sahara's thirsty waste. Test him then on one
of his rare, brilliant days, for the dazzling circumstance is often our
severest test. Some souls shrivel in the bright sunshine. They grow less
in their enlarging circumstances as some nut-kernels contract in the
expanding shell. Here is Paul on a great day, when by the mighty grace
of God he has made an impotent man to walk. How is the deed regarded?
What does the crowd think about him? Listen to the records: "And when
the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying
in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness
of men. And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because
he was the chief speaker. Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before
their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have
done sacrifice with the people." How now? The public favour is dazzling!
What about the man inside the dazzling happenings? Is the man
contracting in pride or is his soul expanding in humility? "Which, when
the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and
ran in among the people, crying out, and saying, Sirs, why do ye these
things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you
that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made
heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein." Do you
mark that? This man shines in the sunshine. Popular favour made him
kneel before his God, and God's gentleness made him great. The
circumstances did not lessen him. His soul did not shrivel and wither in
the popular blaze. His soul grew larger, and the man mastered his
circumstances; he was bigger than his blazing fate, he was "more than
conqueror."
But I have said that brilliant days were rare with the apostle Paul:
Let us test him, then, when his days were frowning, when the clouds were
lowering, and when his circumstances nipped him like the winter frosts.
Does his soul expand in the winter, or does it shrink like frostbitten
fruit? Take this little glimpse of one of his days: "And there came to
Lystra certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people,
and, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been
dead." Having stoned Paul, they dragged him out of the city. How swift
and red is the record! Did he grow hard in the stoning? Did he become
small and petty and peevish and revengeful? Let me read to you: "And
when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many,
they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch, confirming
the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith,
and that we must through much tribulation enter into the Kingdom of
God." This man's fruit grew sweeter at the touch of the frost. This soul
grew larger in the season of apparent defeat. He was "more than
conqueror."
Look again through this window. Here is a very dark and bitter
happening: "And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast
them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely: who, having
received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made
their feet fast in the stocks." How now? Will this man Paul scowl in the
darkness? Will his magnanimity sour into the bitter mood of revenge?
Listen to the record: "And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang
praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them." Do you mark that? This
man was a victim but he was also a victor. We almost forget his
sufferings in the sound of his praise. Adversity did not rob him of his
crown. He was "more than conqueror."
And so I might go on introducing instance after instance, in every
record of his turbulent life, showing how he attained to magnificent
mastery in the spirit. When Paul speaks of being a "conqueror" he means
that he is on the top of his circumstances and not beneath them. To be
more than conqueror is to be on the top of your wealth and not beneath
it; to be on the top of your poverty and not beneath it; to be on the
top of your joy and not beneath it; to be on the top of your sorrow and
not beneath it; to be on the top of your disappointment and not beneath
it. To be more than conqueror is to be on the top of the old serpent,
and, as Browning says, to stand upon him and to feel him wriggle beneath
your feet! The real conqueror, the only one worthy of that royal name,
is he who makes every circumstance his subject, permitting no
circumstance to be the lord and master of his soul. He is "more than
conqueror."
And what is the secret of such conquest? Here is the secret: "We are
more than conquerors _through Christ that loved us_." It is conquest
through the energy of an imparted love. Nay, it is much more than that.
It is conquest through humble yet intimate communion with the eternal
Lover. You remember what conquests the knights of the olden time could
achieve when they were conscious that love-eyes were fixed upon them in
the jousts. And if this were so with knights of ancient chivalry, when
love inspired them in the fray, how infinitely more must it be so with
the knights of King Jesus' Order when they know that the love-eyes of
the Lord are always fixed upon them in the field! "He loved me" sings
the greatest of the apostolic knights. "He loved me and gave Himself for
me." What tremendous exploits of patience and of service lie latent in
that supreme assurance!
For, mark you, all love conveys the lover to the beloved. The very
secret of love is self-impartation to the beloved. Love can never
content herself with the gifts of things. Charity gives things. Love
always gives herself. Yes, the lover gives herself! And if love is thus
self-giving tell me, then, what inconceivable giving is wrapped up in
the love of Christ for Paul, and in the love of Christ for thee and me?
In an infinitely deeper and richer sense than ever a loving bridegroom
gives himself to his loving bride, our great and gracious Lover, the
Christ, gives Himself to all who will receive Him. The Saviour's love is
the giving of Himself.
Shall I now dare to put that vast and awe-inspiring content into my
text? Listen again to the text: "We are more than conquerors through
Christ who loved us." Now hear it: "We are more than conquerors through
Him who has given himself to us." That word expresses the very gospel of
His grace. The Christian believer faces all his circumstances, not
merely with a love but with a Lover, and with a Lover who Himself
mastered every circumstance, and was the conqueror of sin and death. So
this is how the Gospel music rings: "We are more than conquerors through
Him the Conqueror"! By reverent faith we share His very love, we drink
His very blood, and all our circumstances are made to pay tribute to the
health and welfare of our souls. We are more than conquerors through Him
Who is ever riding forth, conquering, and to conquer.
Now I think I can go back to those streets of Rome where we began, and
where we watched the triumphant conqueror returning home with his
spoils. And now I am not surprised at Paul's daring to use the glowing
word "Conqueror" to portray the glorious victories of the soul. When I
go into the realm of his soul the roadway is lined with a cheering
multitude; he is "compassed about with a great cloud of witnesses." A
blood-red banner is waving triumphantly in all his goings; "His banner
over me is love!" A garland of victory awaits the victor's brow;
"henceforth there is laid up for me a crown." And as for his spirits,
they are festive in the love of the Lord, and they dance in the joy of
blessed assurance. "I know in whom I have believed!" "I can do all
things through Christ who strengtheneth me!" We are more than conquerors
in the conquering fellowship of our holy and gracious Lord. And this
song of the conqueror is intended to be sung by thee and me. O, let us
believe it!
"Shall this divinely-urged heart
Half toward its glory move?
What! shall I love in part--in part
Yield to the Lord of love?
O sweetest freedom, Lord, to be
Thy love's full prisoner!
Take me all captive; make of me
A more than conqueror!"
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