SERIES: The Book of Romans
The Believer’s Emancipation Proclamation
Introduction: Tony Campolo writes the following account of a little girl he knew:
A friend of mine has an adorable four-year-old daughter. She is bright and she is talkative. If tryouts were being held for a modern-day Shirley Temple, I think she would win hands down. One night there was a violent thunderstorm. The lightning flashed and the thunder rumbled. It was one of those terrifying storms that forces everyone to stop and tremble a bit. My friend ran upstairs to his daughter’s room to assure her that everything would be all right. He got to her room and found her standing on the windowsill spread-eagled against the glass. He shouted, “What are you doing?” She turned away from the flashing lightning and happily reported, “I think God is trying to take my picture!”[i]
No self-image problem with that little girl! While adults were heading for the basement, this little girl assumed that all the power of the heavens was being brought to bear as God’s flash camera took her picture—so valued was she in the eyes of her heavenly Father! Now certainly at age four she was not aware of just how dangerous a place this world is, but perhaps many of us focus too much on how dangerous and difficult it is, and we have lost sight of the love of our heavenly Father and the security He provides for His children.
I don’t think God wants us to live foolishly or presumptively, walking around as though we were the apple of God’s eye. In fact, He has gone to great lengths in the book of Romans to help us make a realistic assessment of our own inadequacies and the intense struggle we face with sin—both on the outside and the inside. But now in Romans 8 He also desires to give us a realistic assessment of the enormous resources He has placed at our disposal. God wants us to live with confidence and certainty in this dangerous world, and Romans 8 is perhaps the most confidence-building chapter in the entire Bible. Let’s read Romans 8:1-11:
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, {2} because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. {3} For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, {4} in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.
{5} Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. {6} The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; {7} the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. {8} Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
{9} You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. {10} But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. {11} And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.”
Romans 8 opens with what is surely one of the greatest, most liberating statements in all of the Word of God: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” I like to call this “the Believer’s Emancipation Proclamation.” It is desperately needed today because there are many Christians who suffer from the fear of condemnation. They have struggled with sin, they have tasted defeat, and they think they are the only ones in Christendom who mess up so often or so thoroughly. This sense of failure leads to a sense of condemnation, because they suppose that even God must eventually reject a consistent failure. There is no way such people will ever get victory in the struggle with their old sinful nature so long as they are paralyzed by that fear of condemnation.
The Gospel, however, liberates us from fear, freeing us up to be what God wants us to be: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” I want us to examine this statement in detail so that we can be sure we understand it correctly.
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
First of all, who is being addressed?
Who? Who is it for whom there is no condemnation? It’s not for everyone—just those who are “in Christ Jesus.” Paul uses the phrase “in Christ” or its equivalent 164 times in his writings. It expresses the union the believer experiences with Christ when he is justified. It is a virtual synonym for “born again.” You see, the Bible indicates that there are just two classes of human beings; those who are in Christ (and therefore not under condemnation) and those who are not in Christ (and therefore still under condemnation). What he is promising here is for those in the first class only.
Well, how do we get out of one class and into the other? When we come to the end of our rope spiritually and acknowledge that our only hope for eternal salvation is the fact that Jesus died in our place, taking our eternal punishment upon Himself and forgiving all our sin, then we are born again and placed “in Christ.”
So our verse tells us that the promise of “no condemnation” is only for those who are “in Christ.” But notice also that it is for all who are “in Christ.” This promise is not just to pastors or to mature Christian prayer warriors or to those who have reached sinless perfection (if there were any, which there aren’t)—it’s true for all believers.
Now this is very hard for some people to grasp. In fact, if you have a KJV you will notice that it adds a phrase at the end of verse 1: “… who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.” That statement is not in the best manuscripts of the New Testament and was apparently added by a scribe sometime after the first century. He must have felt that such a sweeping promise couldn’t be for all Christians but must be only for unusually saintly ones, i.e., those who consistently avoid sin and pursue the Spirit. But the original text doesn’t put any qualifications on the promise. If you are “in Christ,” then this promise is for you.
Secondly, what exactly is promised?
What? “No condemnation.” The word “no” in the original Greek is a very strong negative in an emphatic position. It means “absolutely no condemnation.” Now please note that Paul doesn’t promise there will be no struggle for those who are in Christ Jesus. On the contrary, we learned last Sunday that there is struggle, that it is sometimes intense, and that it will always be there. Furthermore, Paul doesn’t say there is no failure for those who are in Christ Jesus, or no fault, or no inconsistency, or no need for discipline in their lives. But he does say that there is no condemnation.
What does this mean? Well, for one thing it means that God will not reject us. If we get caught up in the struggle with sin and find ourselves doing the very thing we don’t want to do (as happened to Paul himself in chapter 7), God doesn’t respond by kicking us out of His family. You don’t reject your children when they misbehave, even over a long period of time, so why should you think God does so with His?
But “no condemnation” also means there is no punishment. God never punishes His children. Even a wayward child need not fear the punishment of God. Now don’t get me wrong. God does discipline His children; He does chastise them. You say, “You’re just playing word games.” What’s the difference between punishment and chastisement? There’s a world of difference:
Punishment is oriented to the past—toward what one has done.
Discipline is oriented to the future—toward what one can become.
Punishment focuses on one’s deeds.
Discipline focuses on one’s character.
Punishment is designed for retribution.
Discipline is designed for correction.
God’s discipline is certainly nothing to be taken lightly. It can be painful. It can create great sorrow. It can even result in physical death. Especially is it severe when we have committed willful sin. You see, the sin Paul talks about in Romans 7 is not willful sin; it is the result of great inner struggle. He wanted to do what was right; it’s just that at times his old sinful nature got the best of him. But sometimes a professing believer purposes in his heart to do wrong. He premeditates the evil. That is a very serious matter, and the discipline of the Lord can be expected to be very harsh. We need to understand that this glorious promise that there is “no condemnation” is in no way to be taken as a license to sin. But God’s discipline is not punishment. His children will not be punished—either in this life or in the next, because God’s Word promises, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
The third question we should ask is
When? When is the promise in effect? And the answer is “Now.” “Therefore, there is nowno condemnation ….” “Now” is a time word, pointing to the change that comes about as the result of the believer’s entering into the justification that Jesus Christ made possible by his death. There was a time when condemnation hung over every one of our heads. John 3:18 makes this clear: “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” But now that God has reached out to us in His great grace and we have responded by putting our faith in Jesus, there is no condemnation.
Why? Look at the word, “therefore,” which opens this chapter. It is a logical term which always draws an inference from what has gone before. You’ve never seen a book which began with the word, “Therefore.” That’s because “therefore” is a conclusion word; it offers a summary based upon what has come before. Here the author is probably pointing back to the entire argument of the epistle thus far. So, let’s review a bit and see if we can grasp why there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Paul has made it clear that human beings are essentially depraved sinners who are totally unable to save themselves and even unable to seek after God unless God seeks after them first. But on the basis of Jesus’ righteous life and sacrificial death God has declared those who put their faith in Him “not guilty,” wiping their ledger clean of liabilities and crediting to their account the very righteousness of Christ. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Furthermore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God, access to God, and hope in God, and God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit—a love that is without measure, without reason, and without end. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
God has also dealt a blow to the power of sin in our lives by liberating us from slavery to the old sin nature. We were buried with Christ through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
There are times when we get discouraged at our own lack of conformity to the will of God, to the point that we want to cry out, “What a wretched person I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” But the answer is clear: “Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Now there’s a final question we should ask in respect to this first great verse.
How? The remainder of our Scripture text today is really an explanation of how it is we can know we are not condemned. True, the absence of condemnation is soundly based upon the first seven chapters of Romans, but Paul does not say, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Period. End of story.” Rather he follows this great promise with further reasons how we can know we are not condemned.
These reasons are not really new—they are a restatement of what he has already taught us. But what is perhaps new and noteworthy is that Paul draws upon reasons that involve the entire Trinity. There is no condemnation because the incarnate Christ died for us, because the Holy Spirit lives in us, and because God the Father will raise us from the dead, just as He raised Jesus. (So, if you’ve been wondering why I wasn’t preaching on the resurrection on this Easter morning, I will—just be patient).
There is no condemnation because Jesus died for us.
Verse 2 introduces this first reason why believers can be sure they will experience no condemnation: “because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” I was condemned until Jesus set me free. Why was Jesus needed? Because the law was powerless to save or to sanctify (verse 3). And why couldn’t the Law get the job done? Because it was weakened by the sinful nature. It could demand, demand, demand, but it could not motivate or enable. This, by the way, is why nagging never produces positive change of character. Nagging only makes a person worse because it stirs up a rebellious attitude.
But what the Law couldn’t do, God did! How?
Jesus delivered us from the penalty of sin. “He sent His own son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering.” Every word in that sentence is important. God didn’t send an angel—He sent His own Son. God did not send His Son as a superman, but rather in the likeness of sinful man. This speaks of the incarnation—God in human flesh—not sinful Himself but in the likeness of sinful man. But most importantly, God sent His Son as an offering for sin. God gathered up all the sins of the world—the terrible, foul, heinous injustices and crimes done throughout human history—and laid them on Jesus. In other words, Jesus was condemned so we wouldn’t have to be. He paid for our sins when He died on the Cross, and when we put our faith and trust in Him, our sins are forgiven and forgotten by Almighty God.
But Jesus not only delivered us from the penalty of sin.
He also delivered us from the power of sin. The end of verse 3 says, “And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us.” Weare not condemned, but sin has been. That old sinful nature we were born with was judged, crucified, dethroned, denounced, condemned—everything but eradicated. Therefore, there is no necessity for us to yield to it or become a slave to it again. The result is that for the first time in our lives we are free to obey God’s Law.
In a sense we’ve come full circle here. The Law, we learned in chapter 7:12, is righteous, holy, and good. But when men try to achieve a right standing with God through the Law, they find that it ends up condemning them because they do not keep it perfectly; in fact, it has a way of actually stirring up evil intentions through the phenomenon we have called “the fascination of the forbidden thing.” However, when we quit living by the old sinful nature and start living according to the Spirit, we find that we can meet the righteous requirements of God’s law without the condemnation we used to experience.
Now this brings us to the second main reason why believers can be certain they will not experience condemnation:
There is no condemnation because the Holy Spirit lives in us.
In verses 5-8 Paul contrasts the one who lives according to the sinful nature with the one who lives in accordance with the Spirit. The former has a mind set on the desires of the sinful nature, a mind that is death, and a mind that is hostile to God, unsubmissive, and unable to please Him. The latter, on the other hand (the one who lives according to the Spirit), has a mind set on the desires of the Spirit and a mind that is life and peace.
Then he claims, “You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.” What is clear here is that the Holy Spirit lives in every believer. It is not the case that someChristians have the Holy Spirit and others are still seeking Him. If you don’t have the Spirit, friend, you don’t belong to Christ. It’s that simple. Is it any surprise, then, that Paul says, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”? After all, the Holy Spirit surely could not experience condemnation, and He lives in every believer’s life. Therefore, every believer must also be exempt from condemnation.
There is another point here, however, which is a bit more difficult to grasp. I’m talking about the opening sentence of verse 9. It seems to say that what characterizes every true believer is a life controlled by the Holy Spirit. What about true believers who are temporarily out of fellowship with God, as all of us have been at one time or another? What about a true believer who finds himself as Paul did in Rom. 7:15: “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” That doesn’t sound like a life controlled by the Spirit, does it?
It seems to me that Paul is using the term “control” here in much the same way he used the term “slavery” earlier. There was a time when we were slaves to sin, and there was a time when we were controlled by our old sinful nature. But when we were justified by faith in Christ our slavery to sin was broken and for the first time in our lives we were able to serve God instead. Another way of putting it is that we came under the control of the Holy Spirit. It’s not that we never struggle or fail, but our allegiance has switched from the old sinful nature to the Holy Spirit.
This, friends, helps us to understand the difference between a legalist and a truly godly person. Think of someone you know who is legalistic, remembering the characteristics we talked about several weeks ago—proud, critical, reluctant to admit failure, defeated, and angry. At the same time think of someone you know who is a very godly and mature believer. What is the difference in their lifestyles? Well,
Neither of them takes the Lord’s name in vain or curses.
Neither of them would be seen in places of questionable entertainment.
Both tithe, and probably give beyond that.
Both are regular attenders at worship.
Both serve in the church.
There’s almost no difference in their lifestyle, is there? Yet while one is a delight to be around, the other is very difficult to love. In the one we see an outward conformity to the Law that is stilted, phony, and even repulsive. In the other we see a conformity to God’s Law that is sweet and attractive. By the one we feel judged and rejected. From the other we always feel love and acceptance. The difference is that the second person has learned to live according to the Spirit. I like the way James Boice explains this:
The Christian life is a path along which we walk, following Jesus Christ who goes before us. The path has a direction, and it has boundaries. The direction is the character of God, which is expressed in the law but which we see fully in Jesus. The boundaries are the requirements God’s law imposes. We must not cross over these requirements. If we do, we are not on the path. We are not following after Christ. On the other hand, if we do follow, our eyes are not fixed on the law primarily—that was the error of the Pharisees (and the error of all egalists)—but on Jesus, whom we love and desire to serve by our obedience.[ii]
Now there is a final reason offered as to how we can be sure that we will never face condemnation.
There is no condemnation because God the Father will raise us from the dead, just as He raised Jesus from the dead.
Look at verses 10-11: “But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.”
I believe two resurrections are in view here. Verse 10 speaks of a spiritual resurrection while verse 11 speaks of a physical resurrection. First, we are resurrected spiritually when we are born again. That is, we who were dead in trespasses and sins were regenerated, i.e., brought to life spiritually through faith in Christ. The body is still dead because of sin, says Paul, but the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
In what sense is this body dead, since we are still walking around in it? Probably in the sense that our physical bodies have the seeds of literal death in them and are fast approaching physical death. I have been watching some of my friends through the years. Although I haven’t noticed much change in myself (ha!), I have noticed they seem to be deteriorating rapidly. They are growing older and getting weaker. Their hair is turning gray (those that still have some to turn) and they move a little slower than they used to.
You see, these bodies are yet unredeemed. As a consequence, they are the seat of the sin that troubles us so. For the one who is not a Christian, that’s the whole story. The body is dead, and so is the spirit. When death comes the body will be separated from the soul and the spirit will remain separated from God for all of eternity. But that is not the final answer for the believer—our spirits have been made alive by the Holy Spirit whom the Father has sent to do precisely that. That is, we have been made alive to things we were previously dead to.
We are alive to God. Before conversion we may have believed in God; indeed, the Bible says only the fool does not. But God was not real to us. We had no true sense of who He was or what He was like. Now, however, although there is still much we do not know about God, and although His ways still puzzle us at times, He is very real to us and we cannot imagine facing life without Him.
We are alive to the Bible. New members here at First Free share their testimonies with the Elders, and one of the exciting things we often hear from people is how the Bible was once a strange and closed book. Little in it seemed to make sense; in fact, it was downright boring. But when the person received Christ, the Bible opened up like the azaleas at Shaw’s Garden, and today they can’t get enough Bible study—whether at church, at Precept, at BSF, or just personal study. They are alive to the Bible.
We are alive to the Spirit of God in other Christians. Just as the Spirit of God bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, so does the Holy Spirit within us bear witness that we are fellow members of the one spiritual family of God. Other believers are our brothers and sisters in Christ, and it matters not what race, color, status, or educational level they may come from.
Friends, I would ask you his question: If you are not alive to God, the Bible, and other believers, i.e., if God is not real to you, if the Bible is not meaningful and attractive, and if you do not enjoy fellowship with other believers, why do you think you are a Christian? Probably you are not. The promise of no condemnation is to those whom God has raised to new life spiritually.
But God promises more than spiritual resurrection; He will also raise our bodies physically. And that’s how Paul closes our text today: “And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.” The little word “if” in English generally expresses doubt and contingency. I might say, “If the weather is good this afternoon, I will take a walk.” The walk is totally contingent upon the weather, and the weather is unknown in advance. But in the language of the New Testament, the word “if” can express certainty, depending upon the mood and tenses of the verbs used with it.
Here is a case where it clearly implies certainty, not contingency, and it can actually be translated, “since.” “Since the Spirit of him (i.e., God the Father) who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.”
We know God raised Jesus from the dead. There is no historical fact of the ancient world better attested than the resurrection of Jesus. Furthermore, there is no fact of more importance to the Christian faith. Paul states in 1 Corinthians 15,
If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God…. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead.
We know that God raised Jesus from the dead, and since that is certain, we can be certain that He will raise us also. That’s what Paul is saying. And he is telling us that the Holy Spirit plays a major part in this certainty. He is living in us; in fact, our bodies are His temple. Why would the Father allow the temple of the Holy Spirit to be buried in the ground and left there? He would never do that. At the resurrection we shall be freed completely from sin’s dread penalty, power, and even presence, and we shall spend eternity with our Heavenly Father.
Friends, God has declared us emancipated. Therefore, there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. I ask those of you who have never committed your life to Jesus Christ, “Why spend your life as a walking dead person when Jesus said, ‘I have come that you might have life?’” And I ask those of you who have committed your life to Christ, “Why spend most of your Christian life in weakness and fear and self-condemnation? Why not live?” For Jesus not only said, “I have come that you might have life;” He also added, “and that you might have it more abundantly.” Choose life.
DATE: April 16, 1995
Tags:
Condemnation
Punishment
Discipline
Holy Spirit
Resurrection of the believer
[i] Tony Compolo, quoted by Steve Zeisler in a sermon, Living By the Spirit, preached at Peninsula Bible Church on June 27, 1993, Catalog #4346.
[ii] James Montgomery Boice, Romans, Vol. 2, The Reign of Grace, Romans 5-8, 801.