“Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savor of His knowledge by us in every place.” 2 Corinthians 2:14
One of the greatest characteristics of the life of Christ while on this earth, and now in heaven, is that He was a conqueror over every enemy of God. Concerning the effect of His victorious life upon us, we need to see and grasp that He conquered specifically sin and death, Satan and the powers of darkness. That which He accomplished on Calvary was a total victory. As Paul wrote to the Colossians with respect to the sin revealed, and held against, sinful man, “…Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to the cross.” (2:14) He goes on to write concerning Christ’s enemy, and ours, Satan: “And having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” (v.15) The victory consisted of living a perfect life of righteousness on this earth, doing the will of His Father perfectly according to all that was right and holy in the sight of God. This He did, identifying Himself with us in our weaknesses, helplessness, and hopelessness, tasting death for every man. Christ, our Great and Mighty substitute, as the hymnwriter so clearly wrote: “Bore ALL ill for me,” by taking upon Himself, not only the sin of the world, but also the judgement of God for that sin. It is for this reason in part, that McCheyne wrote: “When I stand before the throne, Dress’d in beauty not my own, When I see Thee as Thou art, Love Thee with unsinning heart; Then, Lord, shall I fully know, Not till then how much I owe.” The debt of love of which McCheyne speaks, has its application to the believer in a very tangible manner. It is that of living this victorious Life of Christ, not by the power of the flesh which would be impossible, but by the Spirit of God, accomplishing the will of God on this earth, for the glory of God. Christ did not die on Calvary, finish His monumental work, then take His seat at the right hand of the Father, so that we should live in defeat, submitting ourselves to sin and to Satan. No, He accomplished a perfect work, a perfect and complete victory, so that the believer should realize and know something of His victory, His victorious life and power.
We get a glimpse of the effect of Christ’s victory, and how it applies to us, when we read in Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, “Now, thanks be to God, which ALWAYS causeth us to triumph in Christ.” (2:14) The first thing we see in this verse is that this victory, and victorious life, is a gift of God, to be received and lived by faith. The intent of the revelation is for the believer to consistently be a partaker of Christ’s victory over sin and Satan. The source of the victory is God, and the implementation and realization of that victory is also of God. He “causeth” us to triumph. This victory is manifested by the very intervention of God in the heart and soul of the believer. Not only does God give us the “Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge” of this victory in Christ, but He “…strengthens us in the inner man, that Christ, the Victor, dwells in our hearts by faith. Paul would write of the practical application of these truths in his letter to the Galatians: “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” (2:20) He speaks of an exchanged life, the old life in Adam, where the soul lives in defeat, the prisoner of sin, as opposed to the new life IN CHRIST, where all things are new, the believer being complete in Christ. Though the victory of Christ is perfect, our measure of our experience of it will depend upon our appropriation of Christ by faith.
Dear Father, Give us to be more than conquerors through Christ, in love, today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.