Victory cannot be achieved unless the following three essentials are

The conviction that the conflict is right.

The possession and use of weapons that are right.

The employment of methods that are right.

Under these three headings must come many subdivisions, but these will be

better discussed as we advance.

Here we only introduce the subject.  The word translated 'victory' in

the New Testament, is either nike or nikos.  The student of Art or Archæology

will call to mind the Greek statue named 'The wingless victory' or Nike

Apteros.  The Roman name for this mythical deity was 'Victoria' from which is

derived our own word 'victory'.  The verb is nikao 'to conquer' and compounds

are frequent.  It occurs in such names as Nicodemus and Nicolaitans; and is

found in three other compound forms, hupernikao 'more than conqueror',

philoneikia and philoneikos, 'strife' and 'contentious'.  In the course of

this study we shall have to touch upon the Old Testament equivalents, but we

will reserve all reference to the Hebrew words until we reach their place.

Here are the passages where the words under consideration occur.

'This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith' (1 John

'Till He send forth judgment unto victory' (Matt. 12:20).

'Death is swallowed up in victory' (1 Cor. 15:54).

'O grave, where is thy victory?' (1 Cor. 15:55).

'Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory' (1 Cor. 15:57).

'We are more than conquerors through Him that loved us' (Rom. 8:37).

We will not give a list of the occurrences of nikao 'to conquer', but

point out that there are twenty -eight occurrences of the word in the New

Testament, of which one of these is found in Luke's Gospel, three in Romans,

and all the rest, namely twenty -four references are found in the writings of

Having seen the words that are translated 'victory', let us now pass to

the consideration of the campaign itself, and particularly the enemies that

are indicated.  For want of a better method, let us take the occurrences of

the verb nikao as they come in the New Testament and see with whom the war is

'When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace:

but when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he