When we reign in life, we can overcome in all circumstances (Rom. 8:31-39; cf. 1 Cor. 15:54-57).
We need to be more than conquering in our overcoming with Christ in all circumstances. We do not overcome in ourselves; rather, we are more than conquerors in Christ’s victory.
The love of God (Rom. 8:39) is the source of His salvation. In His salvation this love to us has become the love of Christ (v. 35), which will accomplish God’s complete salvation in us through the grace of Christ. This love of God is in Christ and has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit (5:5). Nothing can separate us from this love of God (8:38-39). In God’s salvation this love has become the love of Christ, which does many marvelous things for us through the grace of Christ until God’s complete salvation is accomplished in us. Ephesians 2:8 says that we are saved by grace. According to our natural understanding, we think that grace is freely given to us by God without any price. Actually, it is not so shallow. What is the grace of Christ? The grace of Christ is Christ becoming the life-giving Spirit through death and resurrection; it is also the Spirit as the consummation of the Triune God who has passed through the various processes.
The marvelous things which God does for us due to His love provoke God’s enemy to attack us with all kinds of sufferings and calamities (Rom. 8:35-36). However, because of our response to the love of God in Christ, these attacks have become benefits to us (v. 28). Hence, we more than conquer in all our calamities (v. 37).
When we reign in life, we are all-transcending in Christ’s victory in all circumstances. How can we be transcendent? According to the book of Ephesians, we are joined with Christ in His resurrection and ascension (2:5-6) so that we have transcended to the heavenlies. This is to be transcendent over all things. Ephesians 1 tells us that since we have resurrected and ascended with Christ, we are transcendent with Him not only above all that is under the earth but also above all that is on the earth, in the air, in the heavens, and even in the heaven that is above the heavens. We are also far above all rule and authority and power and lordship and every name that is named not only in this age but also in that which is to come (vv. 20-21).
It is when we arrive at such a transcendent position that we have truly received grace and are genuinely saved. I hope that all the believers can hear this word. Do not live a befuddled life day by day, imagining that you have been saved and are just waiting to go to heaven. This is a pagan thought. Today we are living an all-transcending life with Christ in His victory.
Christ’s resurrection was His victory, which will accomplish the ultimate and complete victory in resurrection for us who believe in Him and participate in His resurrection (1 Cor. 15:54). Through resurrection Christ was victorious over Satan, God’s enemy, over the world, over sin, and over death. We who believe in Christ will enjoy the consummation of resurrection through the redemption and salvation in Christ. This resurrection begins with the enlivening of our dead spirit and is completed with the transfiguration of our corruptible body. Between these two ends is the process in which our fallen soul is metabolically transformed by Christ Jesus as the life-giving Spirit, who is the reality of resurrection.
Christ’s victory should not only be an accomplished fact for us to receive; it should also become our daily experience in life through the union of the resurrected Christ as the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b) with our spirit as one spirit (6:17) that we may be all-transcending in our overcoming with Christ. Hence, we should live by and walk according to this mingled spirit.