NO CONDEMNATION — SET FREE IN CHRIST
Romans 8:1–11
Romans 7 ended with a cry:
“Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”
— Romans 7:24
Then came the answer:
“Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
— Romans 7:25
We should not let the chapter division interrupt Paul's thought.
Romans 8 continues the argument:
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
— Romans 8:1
Notice that word:
Therefore.
Paul is connecting what follows with what he has already said.
Romans 7 described captivity and cried out for deliverance.
Romans 8 begins with freedom.
“IN CHRIST JESUS”
Paul doesn't simply say:
There is no condemnation.
He says:
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
Those last words matter.
In Christ Jesus.
Paul has already used this language.
In Romans 6 he said:
“All of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death.”
— Romans 6:3
Then:
“So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
— Romans 6:11
Now in Romans 8:
“No condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
Paul's argument is connected.
We should read it that way.
FROM CAPTIVITY TO FREEDOM
Now watch the contrast between Romans 7 and Romans 8.
Romans 7:
“Making me captive to the law of sin.”
— Romans 7:23
Romans 8:
“For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.”
— Romans 8:2
Captive.
Then:
Set free.
That is difficult to miss when we read across the chapter division.
Something has changed.
And the change is in Christ Jesus.
WHAT THE LAW COULD NOT DO
Paul continues:
“For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do.”
— Romans 8:3
Notice carefully.
Paul does not say God's Law was evil.
We just heard him say:
“The law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.”
— Romans 7:12
So why couldn't the Law solve the problem?
Paul tells us:
It was “weakened by the flesh.”
The problem was not God's good Law.
The problem was sinful humanity.
The Law could identify sin.
It could expose sin.
It could condemn sin.
But it could not free sinful people from sin.
So:
God did what the Law could not do.
GOD SENT HIS SON
How did God do it?
“By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh.”
— Romans 8:3
Notice where the action is.
God sent.
God condemned sin.
God accomplished what human beings could not accomplish for themselves.
And He did it through His Son.
The answer to the cry of Romans 7—
“Who will deliver me?”
—is now becoming unmistakable.
God delivers through Jesus Christ.
BUT WHY DID GOD DO THIS?
Verse 4 is extremely important:
“In order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
Paul doesn't say Christ came so that how we live would no longer matter.
Quite the opposite.
God acted:
“in order that...”
something might happen in us.
Those who are in Christ are now described as people who:
“walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
Grace has not made the Christian life irrelevant.
Grace has made a new life possible.
TWO WAYS OF LIVING
Paul now develops the contrast.
“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh.”
But:
“Those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.”
— Romans 8:5
Two orientations.
Flesh.
Spirit.
And they lead in very different directions.
“For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.”
— Romans 8:6
Paul has returned to a contrast we've already seen.
Back in Romans 6:
Sin → death.
God's gift → eternal life.
Now:
Flesh → death.
Spirit → life and peace.
THE FLESH DOES NOT SUBMIT TO GOD
Paul says:
“For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot.”
— Romans 8:7
Then:
“Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”
— Romans 8:8
That language should make us think again about Romans 7.
There Paul said:
“I am of the flesh, sold under sin.”
— Romans 7:14
Here Paul says:
“Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”
But then something changes dramatically.
“YOU, HOWEVER”
Verse 9 begins with an important contrast:
“You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.”
You, however.
Paul is speaking to Christians.
And he tells them:
You are not in the flesh.
You are in the Spirit.
That deserves careful attention when we think back to the “I” of Romans 7 who said:
“I am of the flesh, sold under sin.”
Romans 8 says of Christians:
“You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit.”
We should allow that contrast to influence how we understand the previous passage.
THE SPIRIT DWELLS IN YOU
Paul continues:
“Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.”
— Romans 8:9
Then:
“But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.”
— Romans 8:10
Christianity is not simply receiving a new list of rules.
God has done something far greater.
His Spirit dwells in His people.
They belong to Christ.
And the Spirit who dwells in them points toward something still greater.
RESURRECTION IS COMING
Paul says:
“If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you...”
Then:
“He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”
— Romans 8:11
Paul's hope is not merely that our attitudes improve.
It reaches all the way to resurrection.
Jesus was raised.
And those who belong to Christ will also be raised.
Notice Paul's words:
“Mortal bodies.”
The same God who raised Jesus will:
“give life to your mortal bodies.”
Our final hope is resurrection.
LOOK AT THE MOVEMENT
Step back and notice where Paul's argument has taken us.
Romans 7:
“Sold under sin.”
“Captive to the law of sin.”
“Wretched man that I am!”
“Who will deliver me?”
Then Romans 8:
“No condemnation.”
“Set you free.”
“God has done...”
“In Christ Jesus.”
“In the Spirit.”
“Life and peace.”
“Will also give life to your mortal bodies.”
That is quite a movement.
From captivity to freedom.
From condemnation to no condemnation.
From flesh to Spirit.
From death to life.
And the turning point is not human effort.
It is what God has done in Jesus Christ.
WHAT DOES THIS TELL US ABOUT ROMANS 7?
We should still be careful.
Romans 7:14–25 is a difficult passage, and Christians have interpreted the “I” in different ways.
But Romans 8 gives us evidence that should not be ignored.
Romans 7 says:
“I am of the flesh, sold under sin.”
Romans 8 says to Christians:
“You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit.”
Romans 7 says:
“Captive to the law of sin.”
Romans 8 says:
“The law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.”
Whatever explanation we finally give Romans 7, it must take those contrasts seriously.
We cannot build our interpretation from Romans 7 alone.
Romans 8 is part of the context.
READ PAUL BEFORE READING A SYSTEM INTO PAUL
This is another good example of why we should not begin with a theological system and then make individual verses fit it.
Read Paul's argument.
Romans 7 asks:
Who will deliver me?
Romans 8 answers:
God has acted through His Son.
Romans 7 describes captivity.
Romans 8 describes freedom.
Romans 7 describes someone “of the flesh.”
Romans 8 tells Christians:
“You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit.”
Let Paul make his own contrasts.
Then draw your conclusion.
BEFORE YOU LEAVE
Ask the text:
Who has no condemnation?
Those who are in Christ Jesus.
What has happened to them?
They have been set free from the law of sin and death.
Why couldn't the Law solve the problem?
It was weakened by the flesh.
What did God do?
He sent His own Son.
Where are Christians now?
Not in the flesh, but in the Spirit.
What is their final hope?
God will give life to their mortal bodies.
Paul isn't finished.
Because if we are now living by the Spirit, another question follows:
How should people who have the Spirit live?
That's where Paul takes us next.
TEXT B4 TRADITION
Read First. Conclude Later.
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