This unusual Greek word appears in Romans 8:37. The infinitive form, hypernikan (or hupernikan), could be rendered "to completely conquer, to be more than conquerors."
Many words in Koine Greek (the common Greek of N.T. times) begin with the prefix hyper-. The (prefix and) preposition hyper, when taking the accusative, means "over and above; beyond; more than." This corresponds to the Latin preposition super. Most visitors to this website will be familiar with Paul's sentence: "But in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us."
Perhaps in our lingo -- in these days of inflated vocabulary -- we might say that Christians are "super-conquerors." Here, as in many places in the New Testament, Paul seems to have run out of words to describe the awesome realities of the faith! In a low moment, perhaps we should pronounce this mantra: HYOO-per-ni-KO-men!
