Read Romans 8:1-2
There is therefore NOW no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. This is a summary statement of what it means for the Christian to trust in the finished work of Jesus. Before we can truly understand what this means for our lives both now and into eternity, we first have to come to understand that if we are not IN Christ, then we face condemnation.
The reality of our rebellion against God is a reality that the Bible delves into time and time again. The entire storyline of the Old Testament is the perpetual failures of God’s people, even the most hopeful and brightest individuals out of God’s people, ultimately fall far short of the perfection that God requires. This is known as the righteousness of God. God is perfect and pure, he is Holy. As a result, we stand before him condemned as rebels and traitorous children who have forsaken God and sought to overthrow Him as Lord of our lives.
In Romans 1-4, Paul makes it clear that this fallen reality of standing before God condemned is true for both Jew and Gentile. In other words, it is UNIVERSAL. There is no one who is righteous. However, this is not the end of the story, in Romans 5-6 Paul shows Jesus to be the new Adam, the new representative of God’s chosen people, who is God, who perfectly walked before God in obedience and who offered himself as the perfect sacrifice for the sin of his people. We are united to Christ by faith (Romans 6). And yet, even though we are united to Christ, we are still faced with the reality of sin and the residual effects of a sinful nature in this life. Romans 7 shows the futility of trying to fight this sin nature on our own, the futility of seeking to earn God’s approval in our own strength. The reality of our sin continues to plague us and spoil even our best efforts to please God.
Romans 8 is all about what it means to live in the Spirit instead of in the flesh. If Romans 7 shows us what life is like when we try to earn God’s love through our effort, Romans 8 is all about what life is like when we live out of the freedom that we have in Christ and live by the Spirit, not in order to earn God’s love, but flowing out of God’s love. These first two verses are the foundation of life in Christ. Life in Christ is fundamentally about living free from the condemnation that haunts human sin, and embracing the role of the Spirit as we walk in our new identity as God’s beloved children.
Questions
Look at Romans 7:21-24. How does the law of the Spirit in Romans 8:2, compare to the law that Paul describes as the law of sin?
Why do ALL those outside of Christ face condemnation? How does the looming threat or memory of that condemnation continue to haunt you today?
Does your flesh respond to the memory of condemnation that we all continue to have through rebellion or through seeking to please God in your own strength?
Why is it important to understand what sin is in order to grasp how great the message of Romans 8:1-2 is?
What is one way that you can live more in line with the “law of the Spirit of life” (aka freedom in Christ) rather than the “law of sin and death” (aka our desires and works apart from the Spirit)?