No Condemnation in Christ. Romans 8:1-4

Transcription

1 No Condemnation in Christ Romans 8:1-4

2 The deeper our understanding of a Romans is, the more meaningful and applicable it will be in our lives. We have to consider the big picture, or the overall message of the book, if we are going to understand the smaller parts.

3 There was never any thought or intention by the authors that the readers would look at one part of the letter without considering the message of the entire letter. The expositional method of study gives us the clearest understanding of the meaning of each individual passage within a particular book.

4 That s not to say that every study of an isolated passage will result in poor interpretation.

5 Romans 7: For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, 23 but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?

6 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.

7 If we don t keep going and take a good look at chapter eight, we will have a very unbalanced view of what God is trying to tell us about our struggle with sin.

8 Romans 8:1-4 1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,

9 4 so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Therefore is a connective word that tells us that Paul is drawing some kind of conclusion or stating the result of something that he had previously mentioned.

10 Good students of the Word will be very intentional about finding connective words and figuring out why they are there. Paul is building an argument that we need to follow, if we are going to really understand what he is saying.

11 The Therefore at the beginning of chapter eight refers to the primary focus of the first seven chapters of Romans, which is that justification, or salvation, is by faith in Christ alone and is made available only through God s grace. Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

12 Everyone is either in Adam or in Christ. Everyone is a physical descendant of Adam and has inherited Adam s sin nature. However, those who trust in Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior are now in Christ and are His spiritual descendants.

13 Even though we still struggle not to sin, our failures do not result in further condemnation. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus! God laid all of our sins on Christ: past, present, and future.

14 God took the righteousness of Christ and placed it upon us. 2 Corinthians 5:21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. There is no basis for believers to be punished for their sins.

15 We will never stand condemned before God. We have been set free from sin and its penalty. Death has been replaced by life.

16 John 5:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.

17 Romans 8:3-4 3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

18 The purpose of the Law was to show us that we were sinners and that we were unable to put ourselves in a right relationship with God.