Romans 8:1 No Condemnation

Romans 8:1  “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (NASB)

Referred to as “The greatest verse in the Bible” by some, the truth revealed here is certainly central to the Gospel and essential to the Christian faith.  What a verse! 

Of course it isn’t fair to just jump right in to Romans 8 without pointing to the “Therefore”.  That single word at the beginning of the verse points to all that has gone before.  It has been a road pointing to the desperate need for a savior of all men.  Not just the gentiles but also the Jews, God’s chosen people.  Romans has pointed to man's ability to know God exists through His creation yet points to man’s rejection of the Creator.  Romans shows the way of knowing Christ as Savior and the redemption offered through Grace rather than works.  Leading up to Romans 8 we are presented with the struggle even Paul faces living out his salvation under Grace but in this sin stained body wrestling daily with the battle of spirit and flesh.

Only then comes the great news and assurance of Romans 8.  “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”.  So the verse is for those of us walking this earth and for those that have passed on “In Christ” only.  To be clear this is not a universal get out of jail card for the human race.  This assurance is limited. 

For those, “In Christ” the assurance is, “Now”.  Isn’t it significant to know that the assurance of Romans 8 is not something to wait for or hope for but is, “Now”?  I think so.  And what is “Now”?  “No condemnation” is what is “Now”.  So currently, in this present time, as we walk through this life troubled by the battle of spirit and flesh just referenced in Romans 7 we have this assurance of Romans 8.  There is no condemnation now.  I don’t have to wait for someone to remove my sin at some ceremony later.  Because of Christ Jesus my sin results in no condemnation right now.  That is a wonderful message to me.

Now there are plenty of warnings in earlier chapters of Romans about intentionally liberating Grace by sinning all to more.  Paul tells us this is absolutely wrong and misses the point.  The point is we will continue to sin because we are damaged goods.  We have a sin nature handed down from our father Adam.  Try and we might, we will continue to sin from time to time.  When we do, those sins are covered immediately by Grace through the work of Christ Jesus and we find ourselves in this state of “No condemnation”.  

Applied to our lives there should be great comfort in knowing we walk in Grace free from the burden of our sins.  We do not have to carry the guilt of our sins before the Lord.  When the Father looks at us he sees the Son; guiltless.  So we don't need to be kicking ourselves, that is what Satan wants.  He wins when we do that.  Hold your head up high and go do something for Jesus.

In closing, if this isn’t the greatest verse in the Bible, it certainly gives rise to explanation of the greatest gift, Jesus Christ our Lord.  AMEN!

John 1:14 The Word became Flesh

John 1:14  “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth”. (NASB)

John starts his gospel speaking of the Word.  We’ve discussed this before – see (In the Beginning was the Word from December 2, 2010)  One of the keys to that was the identification of Christ as, “The Word”.  A few short verses later John reveals more about, “The Word” in our verse today.

John writes that, “The Word became flesh”.  This speaks of the incarnation of Christ.  In the previous discussion we saw that Jesus exists eternally, “In the beginning was”.  Now this eternal Word comes to earth as a man, “The Word became flesh”.  Now there was a purpose for this as the passage next says that He, “Dwelt among us”.

While the passage itself reveals more about the impact of this dwelling among us, there is more to it.  Because Jesus dwelt among us He experienced life on earth as a man.  Because He did this Scripture tells us, He was tempted in every way we are yet was without sin.  This perfect life made Him the perfect sacrifice acceptable to God to pay the price for our sin.  Now in heaven His experience continues to pay dividends for us.  “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin”. Hebrews 4:15  Jesus accepts our prayers as one who understands what we go through; the Creator understands His creation because He has walked in our shoes.

This passage though goes on to reveal another impact of His time among us.  ”And we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father”.  This means that we were able to witness God as the life of Jesus was observed.  Jesus, the Word, revealed the “Glory as of the only begotten”.  In addition is revealed the source of that Glory, “From the Father”.  So God’s glory is revealed to us through the Word which is Jesus Christ.  Hebrews puts it this way, “And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature…” Hebrews 1:3

So our whole faith hinges on the truth of this passage.  If it were not true that the Word came to dwell among us the gospel wouldn’t exist.  Thankfully it is true and John does us the favor of revealing its significance.  Jesus did walk among us living a perfect sin free life which He gave up as the only acceptable sacrafice for our sins.  Thank you Jesus! AMEN!

Romans 5:18-19 Willing Spirit, Weak Flesh

Romans 5:18-19  “So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.  For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.” (NASB)

Do you ever wonder “Why” you do the things you do?  Do you think, “That was really bad; that’s not the way I want to behave”.  The conviction occurs nearly simultaneously with the act.  You’re not alone.

Just last week shortly after posting one of my devotionals my wife Sharon accusingly said I hadn’t done something I had agreed to do.  I didn’t think it was anything we had ever even discussed before.  My response was quick and harsh and I used language I shouldn’t have used.  She of course wasn’t happy about that and told me so.  I just shut up being convicted by both her response and the Holy Spirit letting me know that I’d blown it.

Where did all that come from?  I love Jesus, I try to live a life that honors Him in my behavior and yet I screwed up.

Paul wrote to the Romans about this explaining in Chapter 5 verse 18 that all men are sinners because of the, “One transgression”.  He’s referring to the original sin of Adam in the garden.  That sin resulted in the imputation of sin to all men.  So as descendents of Adam we are all sinners.

But Paul also shares that, “As through one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners” that, “Through the obedience of One the many will be made righteous”.  The One of course is Jesus Christ and this being made righteous is the result of his work on the cross imputed to those who believe by faith.

So why do believers still sin?  Chapter 7 of Romans holds Paul’s answer.  There is in fact a war that rages in the believer between flesh and spirit.  Paul says, “But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.  I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.” Romans 7:20-21  Christ is quoted in Mathew’s gospel, "Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." Mat 26:41 

So the bottom line is we sin in our weak moments because sin is in our flesh, our damaged DNA.  Even as believers saved by grace we sin.  The response when we do though should be different.  We should understand by the conviction of the Holy Spirit that we have sinned then deal with it.  We do this by confession of the sin and making the decision not to sin in that way again (repentance). 

One day our sinful flesh will be replaced with a perfect sin free body built for eternity.  That discussion we’ll save for another day.  AMEN!