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Romans 8:1
Notice how Paul teaches this to us. He first shows us that, in Christ, ...
1. WE'RE IN A NON-CONDEMNING RELATIONSHIP TO THE LAW (v. 1) ...
Paul makes this wonderful assertion when he writes, "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus ..." (By the way; you may be reading from a translation in which the verse stops at that point. This is because many ancient manuscripts of the New Testament do not contain the words in verse one that are translated "... who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." The best New Testament textual scholarship suggests that those closing words were placed at the end of verse one by some ancient copiest who took them from verse four. Verse one actually ends as it does, for example, in the New International Version: "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus ...")
Paul is wonderfully precise in his words; and I believe we can take some comfort from that precision. You'll notice that he didn't say, "There is therefore now no further sin in the life of those who are in Christ ..." He didn't say, "There is therefore now no further disobedience to the law from those who are in Christ ..." He didn't say, "There is therefore now nothing but perfect obedience to the law from those who are in Christ ..." Sadly, we still sin against the law; we still disobey the commands of the law; we still fall short of the standards of the law. But what Paul says is that, for us who are in Christ, there is therefore now "no condemnation" from the law. We now stand in a non-condemning relationship to the law. The law cannot condemn us any longer in the sight of God for our failures.
Look at the details. First, notice the word "therefore" - "Therefore, there is now no condemnation ..." The word "therefore" is one that indicates a logical inference from what had proceeded it. And so, what follows after the "therefore" - that is, that there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus - is the logical inference of the things that Paul has said in his letter to the Romans prior to this point.
I believe this "therefore" takes into consideration the things Paul has said from the middle of chapter three of his letter, all the way to the end of chapter seven. In Chapter three, Paul wrote those wonderful words;
But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation [that is, as that which satisfies God's wrath for sin] by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus (Rom. 3:21-26).
In chapter four, Paul wrote;
Now to him who works [that is, who seeks to be righteous before God on the basis of obedience to His law], the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness (4:4-5).
In chapter five, Paul writes; "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God" (5:1-2). He says that "the law entered that the offenses might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (5:20-21).
And so taking these statements together and believing them firmly, we can see why Paul says, "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus ..."
* * * * * * * * * *
I can't help but think of what good news this is to those of us in Christ who struggle and wage war with sin in our lives. Some believers mistakenly think that, because they struggle with sin in their lives so much, then they must not really be saved. But personally, I believe that this very struggle is a strong indication that they truly are children of God. Unsaved people don't struggle with sin in their lives because they don't mind its presence; but someone in whom God is working hates the sin in their lives, and struggles with and wars against it.
That makes me think of the most immediate context of Paul's words. In fact, I don't think we can fully appreciate this affirmation from Paul unless we see it in the context of what he says immediately before it. Who among us doesn't know all too well the struggle Paul expresses in these words? -
What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, "You shall not covet." But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. I was once alive without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.
Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God - through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus ... (Rom. 7:7-8:1)
If you don't find yourself rejoicing at those closing words, then you obviously haven't much felt the struggle Paul describes in the verses that proceed them!! That word "therefore" is the word which indicates that the despair of condemnation from the law has given way to victory in Christ!!
Notice that word "no" in the phrase "no condemnation". In the original language of Paul's letter, it is the first thing you see - being placed in the emphatic position. Literally, Paul is saying, "NO CONDEMNATION therefore now ..." No matter how intensely you now feel that struggle against sin within; no matter how you may have failed in that struggle in the past; and no matter how you may fail in the future; if you are in Christ, there is therefore now - emphatically - "no condemnation" for you from the law.
And notice also the word "now". There is, therefore "now" no condemnation. It's not just that there will be no condemnation when you finally stand before God's throne in heavenly glory. It's not as though there has been a declaration of "no condemnation" in the past, but no guarantee that such a declaration will always last because you might blow it. Rather, for the believer, "no condemnation" is a fact that exists in an eternal, unending "now" - because it's based, not on the believers performance in the law, but on the reality of the believer being "in Christ Jesus".
* * * * * * * * * *
This is great news. But how did it come about? How can it be that we now stand in such a wonderfully non-condemning relationship to the law? What did God do to make this happen? Paul goes on to tell us that we now stand in this new, non-condemning relationship to God's law ...
Notice how Paul teaches this to us. He first shows us that, in Christ, ...
1. WE'RE IN A NON-CONDEMNING RELATIONSHIP TO THE LAW (v. 1) ...
Paul makes this wonderful assertion when he writes, "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus ..." (By the way; you may be reading from a translation in which the verse stops at that point. This is because many ancient manuscripts of the New Testament do not contain the words in verse one that are translated "... who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." The best New Testament textual scholarship suggests that those closing words were placed at the end of verse one by some ancient copiest who took them from verse four. Verse one actually ends as it does, for example, in the New International Version: "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus ...")
Paul is wonderfully precise in his words; and I believe we can take some comfort from that precision. You'll notice that he didn't say, "There is therefore now no further sin in the life of those who are in Christ ..." He didn't say, "There is therefore now no further disobedience to the law from those who are in Christ ..." He didn't say, "There is therefore now nothing but perfect obedience to the law from those who are in Christ ..." Sadly, we still sin against the law; we still disobey the commands of the law; we still fall short of the standards of the law. But what Paul says is that, for us who are in Christ, there is therefore now "no condemnation" from the law. We now stand in a non-condemning relationship to the law. The law cannot condemn us any longer in the sight of God for our failures.
Look at the details. First, notice the word "therefore" - "Therefore, there is now no condemnation ..." The word "therefore" is one that indicates a logical inference from what had proceeded it. And so, what follows after the "therefore" - that is, that there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus - is the logical inference of the things that Paul has said in his letter to the Romans prior to this point.
I believe this "therefore" takes into consideration the things Paul has said from the middle of chapter three of his letter, all the way to the end of chapter seven. In Chapter three, Paul wrote those wonderful words;
But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation [that is, as that which satisfies God's wrath for sin] by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus (Rom. 3:21-26).
In chapter four, Paul wrote;
Now to him who works [that is, who seeks to be righteous before God on the basis of obedience to His law], the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness (4:4-5).
In chapter five, Paul writes; "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God" (5:1-2). He says that "the law entered that the offenses might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (5:20-21).
And so taking these statements together and believing them firmly, we can see why Paul says, "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus ..."
* * * * * * * * * *
I can't help but think of what good news this is to those of us in Christ who struggle and wage war with sin in our lives. Some believers mistakenly think that, because they struggle with sin in their lives so much, then they must not really be saved. But personally, I believe that this very struggle is a strong indication that they truly are children of God. Unsaved people don't struggle with sin in their lives because they don't mind its presence; but someone in whom God is working hates the sin in their lives, and struggles with and wars against it.
That makes me think of the most immediate context of Paul's words. In fact, I don't think we can fully appreciate this affirmation from Paul unless we see it in the context of what he says immediately before it. Who among us doesn't know all too well the struggle Paul expresses in these words? -
What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, "You shall not covet." But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. I was once alive without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.
Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God - through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus ... (Rom. 7:7-8:1)
If you don't find yourself rejoicing at those closing words, then you obviously haven't much felt the struggle Paul describes in the verses that proceed them!! That word "therefore" is the word which indicates that the despair of condemnation from the law has given way to victory in Christ!!
Notice that word "no" in the phrase "no condemnation". In the original language of Paul's letter, it is the first thing you see - being placed in the emphatic position. Literally, Paul is saying, "NO CONDEMNATION therefore now ..." No matter how intensely you now feel that struggle against sin within; no matter how you may have failed in that struggle in the past; and no matter how you may fail in the future; if you are in Christ, there is therefore now - emphatically - "no condemnation" for you from the law.
And notice also the word "now". There is, therefore "now" no condemnation. It's not just that there will be no condemnation when you finally stand before God's throne in heavenly glory. It's not as though there has been a declaration of "no condemnation" in the past, but no guarantee that such a declaration will always last because you might blow it. Rather, for the believer, "no condemnation" is a fact that exists in an eternal, unending "now" - because it's based, not on the believers performance in the law, but on the reality of the believer being "in Christ Jesus".
* * * * * * * * * *
This is great news. But how did it come about? How can it be that we now stand in such a wonderfully non-condemning relationship to the law? What did God do to make this happen? Paul goes on to tell us that we now stand in this new, non-condemning relationship to God's law ...