Day 2: In Christ Jesus, There’s No More Condemnation

Myth:

Condemnation is a normal and expected part of life for believers.

Scriptural Truth:

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

Romans 8:1

The verse, Romans 8:1, is written in the present tense, as evidenced by the word now. Because the verse is preceded by the word therefore, this 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 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.

In Romans 8, Paul takes this a step further when he teaches that 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). Christians are 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 the expectations of the Law perfectly, and believers are “in Christ” (Romans 8:3).

And because believers are in Christ, they have the joy of being counted as righteous, simply because Christ is righteous (Philippians 3:9). Paul also points out that genuine Christians, 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).

Paul encourages us that we need not fear condemnation because we can come to God as our loving, forgiving Father (Romans 8:15–16). Christians who live in shame and guilt over past failures are needlessly condemning themselves when they ought to be “forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead” (Philippians 3:13). Fear can be paralyzing, “but perfect love drives out fear” (1 John 4:18).

As Christians, we must understand that our justification is found in Christ alone—in His finished work on the cross—not in what we do or don’t do (Romans 3:28). Believers can find solace in the assurance that we have been adopted into God’s own family and have been made heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17). Nothing can separate us “from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:39).