September 29 – No Condemnation

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death” – Romans 8:1-2 (ESV)

Our promise today is the endorsement we have that we have been set free from bondage to the law of sin and death. It helps immensely to first understand what the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 7:13-25a which proceeds our promise verse today. The word “therefore” means the result or consequence of the truth just taught. Normally it marks the conclusion of the verses immediately preceding it. But here it introduces the staggering results of Paul’s teaching: that justification is by faith alone on the basis of God’s overwhelming grace. This is an amazing freedom-giving promise and it is all because of what Jesus Christ has done for us. To follow God, we have to be free from slavery to sin and its penalty—that was just the beginning. To build on this foundation, we must actively submit to the Holy Spirit’s ministry in our lives. God’s indwelling Spirit enables us to be “saved by His life” (Romans 5:10); His life is lived out through us as His instruments for righteousness. The word “condemnation” refers to a verdict of guilty and the penalty that verdict demands but Jesus promises that He has permanently removed that verdict from our account. 

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*John F. MacArthur Jr., The MacArthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible., (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2006), Ro 8:1.
*Steven E. Runge, High Definition Commentary: Romans, (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014), 138.

May 23 – Really, None at All

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” – Romans 8:1  (ESV) 

It’s a common struggle for Christian faith believers. We are still staggering under the weight of temptations and continue to give in to them even when we don’t want to. The Apostle Paul explains in the previous chapter of Romans 7, how we all face the ongoing problem of overcoming the pull of our old nature. It is our sinful flesh, often with enticements of our body’s desires, that we seek to satisfy. We learn from the larger context that while we are no longer slaves to the flesh we must continue to wage a war against the desires of the flesh. We want to serve God and obey his commandments but we still have the flesh drawing us away from that good work. Today’s verse gives us a promise that should lift our spirits when we are in this battle. Because of Christ Jesus, we are forgiven and we are not under any guilt or condemnation. This may be a difficult truth to understand – it seems to not make reasonable sense but that is the greatness of this promise. No matter how we reason, God says there is no condemnation for us who dwell in Christ Jesus. 

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September 14 – Free to be Free

“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.”  Romans 8:1-2  (NASB)

Don’t we feel trapped at times by our inability to do what is right?  Consequences hang over our head and affect how we choose to live. Trying to be successful, we end up time and again unsuccessful before God. We may question whether we, as believers in Jesus Christ are to spend our whole life on earth frustrated by defeats to our nature to sin.  We ask and seek for some way to achieve victory over this condition. The answer to the first question is NO, we do not have to live bound to the effects of our old sinful nature. The answer to the second question is YES, a way has been made possible by Christ Jesus, for us to be free from the law of sin and spiritual death. God did for us what we could never do. We are set free from our natural flesh which is weak and will never set us free. But God our Father will and did when He sent His own Son who lived a sinless life and paid our penalty for sin. This is our promise, our lesson.  Nothing can condemn us who are in Christ Jesus. 

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February 21 – Freed to Live Forever

“So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.”  - Romans 8:1-2 (NLT)

Honestly, even though we may not understanding this, Jesus Christ has made it possible for all who believe that He is their Lord and Savior, to have nothing that can condemn us.  That is not the status we started with in our lives.  Born with a sin nature, we are under the thumb and control of an oppressive power.  This power has enslaved us to sin and we are condemned to die rejecting God and separated from Him. This will be an eternal death for all who physically die while continuing to reject God’s offer of salvation.  But we who believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, as Peter confessed, have been freed from the clutches of sin.  Free from the power of sin and no longer condemned to die as unbelievers.  This has been made possible by what is our promise today.  Another power, righteous and more powerful than the condemning power of sin has given us Life.  The life-giving Holy Spirit is He who dwells in us, frees us, and gives us eternal life with God.    

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October 3 – Freedom From Fear of Death

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.”  Romans 8:1-2 (NIV)

What is the law of sin and death?  It is the law that says sin's wages are paid with death.  Our promise today is that Christ Jesus offers us a different law – the law of the Spirit of God and it gives life to those who choose to believe.  It sets us free from the old consequence of death for sin.  This is done through Christ Jesus, His sinless life, His death on the cross, and His resurrection to a new life.  He offers that new life to all and all who take Him up on that offer are set free from any law that requires death for sin.  So  we rejoice in this promise that there is no condemnation that can be brought on those who are in Christ Jesus.  Protected by the promise of God, set free by the Holy Spirit and given eternal life in Jesus Christ, we are free from fear of death and death itself. 

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