| Hebrews 12:1 1 Having such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us,1 let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that does so easily entangle us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, | 2 Timothy 4:7 7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. | 1 John 5:4-5 4 For whoever is born of God overcomes [has conquered] the world; and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. [John tells us what it means to overcome the world in 1 John 2:17: the world passes away and disappears, and with it the forbidden cravings (the passionate desires, the lust) of it. Paul confirms: they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world have (past tense) come; the world has been crucified to me, and me to it, Gal 6:14. To overcome the world is to be crucified from the lusts of the world: to have mortified the lusts and desires for things, wealth, bodies, sex; that is the victory that overcomes. But the only victory the believers of Christendom have experienced, is victory over their conscience and guilt for committing sin .] 5 Who is he who overcomes [has conquered] the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? [Unless you believe Jesus, you will never be able to overcome the world; but the converse is not true. Just because you believe Jesus is the Son of God, does not mean you have automatically conquered the world; to conquer the world you must crucify your sinful nature on the inward cross of self-denial.] | |||||||