THE GLORY OF GOD ( PART 28 )
Pastor Christopher Choo
Lesson 3326
THE GLORY OF GOD ( PART 28 )
From Glory to Glory ( Study 7 )
Paul states there is now no condemnation in Christ (Romans 8:1). What did he mean?
This phrase " no condemnation" has a legal connotation.
To have “no condemnation” declared means to be found innocent of the accusation, to have no sentence inflicted and no guilty verdict found. By the grace of God, believers in Jesus Christ will not face the condemnation of God. “We have passed from death to life” (1 John 3:14).
In Romans 8:1 the apostle Paul speaks in the present tense, as evidenced by the word now. Also, notice the word, therefore, which points the reader to the previous passage of Romans 7:21-25. In Romans 7 Paul describes his struggle against the sinful nature—a struggle that every believer experiences. Paul writes, “Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me” (Romans 7:21) and, “What a wretched man I am!” (Romans 7:24). Paul is expressing his hatred for the sinful nature which continues to war against his new nature in Christ—Paul hates the sin he commits, but he is also thankful because he has been set free from slavery to sin. He now has the ability to do what is good because Christ has delivered him (Romans 7:25).
Paul takes this a step further in Romans 8 when he teaches believers are not only free from bondage to sin, they are free from the inner emotions and thoughts that tend to bring feelings of condemnation to the Christian when he does commit sin (Romans 8:2).
Believers are thus free from the “law of sin and death,” which means, although they will commit sin, the Law no longer has the power to condemn them. We are not under the Law’s condemnation because Jesus fulfilled (“filled-up, completed”) the expectations of the Law perfectly, and believers are “in Christ” (Romans 8:3). Because believers are in Christ, they have the joy of being counted as righteous, simply because Christ is righteous (Philippians 3:9).
Even so, the Bible teaches that every human being will be brought before the judgment throne of God for an ultimate and decisive judgment (2 Corinthians 5:10), and Christ Himself will be the judge (John 5:27). We are all naturally under the condemnation of God: “Whoever does not believe stands condemned already” (John 3:18b). But believers will not be found guilty on Judgment Day (John 3:18a; Matthew 25:33–34).
Abba Father,
genuine believers, although they struggle, will not live “according to the flesh”; that is, they will not persist in a constant state of sinful living (Romans 8:5). Indeed Romans 8 teaches us that Christ will sanctify us by the power of the Holy Spirit so that we remain in the love of God that nothing can separate us from.
As Romans 8:37-39 states in the NKJV:
37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
