Romans 8:1-17
1Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. 3For 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, 4in 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.
5Those 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. 6The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; 7the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
9You, 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. 10But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11And 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.
12Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. 13For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, 14because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." 16The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
I have to tell you that I am very excited for us to be going through Romans chapter 8 together. God will surely bless us from our study of this chapter I assure you.
Within this chapter we start in verse one with “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” and we will end in verse thirty eight and thirty nine with “38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
What power God has given us in these verses here. God wants to make sure that we know that through our faith in Christ, we will never have to suffer the consequences of sin. Christ has paid for it and God guarantees it. And there is nothing, nothing that can separate us from that guarantee. Why? Because God loves you and Christ loves you because of your faith, faith that makes you the children of God.
Charles G. Trumbull said this:
The eighth of Romans has become precious to me, beginning with “no condemnation,” ending with “no separation,” and in between, “no defeat.” This wondrous chapter sets forth the gospel and plan of salvation; the life of freedom and victory; the hopelessness of the natural man and the righteousness of the born again; the indwelling of Christ and the Holy Spirit; the resurrection of the body and blessed hope of Christ’s return; the working together of all things for our good; every tense of the Christian life, past, present, and future; and the glorious, climactic song of triumph, no separation in time or eternity “from the love of God which is in Jesus Christ our Lord.”
So let’s start by looking at verses 1-4
Romans 8:1-4 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. 3For 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, 4in 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.
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
This one verse not only sets the theme of this entire chapter, but it is also the theme of the entire Word of God. It is the gospel message for all Christians to proclaim. That through faith in Christ you are assured a place in heaven. It is the gospels very heart.
In Romans chapter 1 Paul told us that he was not ashamed of the gospel because he said “it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes”. Paul also said in chapter 3 “now a righteousness from God, apart from the law, has been made known”.
We cannot appreciate or even understand what Paul is saying unless we recognize that we are sinners and that we have been saved only by the grace of God.
What we need to understand at this point is that, there is no condemnation for us because of what God has done for us. It is God that has saved us from the fate that we where heading towards by our own sinful desires. And it was God that saved us by giving His only Son for us, to die on the cross for our sins. But do we really believe that? Or do we still think that somehow, in some way, that we have contributed somehow to our salvation.
We can break down the entire human race in to two classes of people. One is those who are in Christ and are saved. And the other is those who are not in Christ and are doomed to hell. I bet that you thought life was more complicated than that? God made it very simple for us didn’t He?
So the question is: If you are not in Christ how do you get in Christ? Is it something we do? Do we earn it some how? Well if you have been following along with us for the last several chapters you know that it is not by any work of ours but only because of the work of God by joining us to Christ. In Romans 8:23 it states “we wait eagerly for our adoption” now if you are adopted is it you that picks your father and mother or is it the father and mother who pick you? It is the father and mother correct. God is telling us here that we are His adopted children and it is He who picks us not us who picks Him.
There is no condemnation for those who have been joined to Jesus by God the Father through the instrumentality of the Holy Spirit.
Ah, The Trinity at work. Romans 8:1-2 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
It was god who sent His Sin, it was His Son who went to the cross and it was the Holy Spirit who gave us a new heart.
How could we loose? When God, Christ and the Holy Spirit are all at work in your life there is no defeat. There is no power greater than any one of them, so there is no way that any force can come against the three let alone any one.
Let’s look for a moment at how the Trinity works for us:
God the father
(1) God sent Jesus in the likeness of sinful man (meaning He was human in every way except he didn’t sin) to be a sin offering. Someone had to pay the price for our sins so God sent His Son to pay that price for us.
(2) By this means, God condemned sin in sinful man so that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in those who are joined to Christ. Christ lived the perfect sinless life that we couldn’t.
God the Son
(1) He was the sin offering for us. There are many today that do not acknowledge that God has any wrath side to Him at all, only that He is love. But as we know having studied the first several chapters of Romans that Gods wrath is just as important as His grace and love. Without understanding His wrath we can not really understand His grace and love for us. We need to hold close the reality of Christ’s suffering for us on the cross. For without Gods wrath on Christ we would be still doomed to hell. Without Gods wrath on those who will not come to faith in Christ, He would not be a just God.
(2) Jesus did a work of redemption for us. Jesus redeemed us from the fate of our sinfulness, He purchased us so that we would not have to endure the wrath ourselves. He purchased us with His life so that we could be with Him in heaven.
God the Holy Spirit
(1) The Holy Spirit has joined us to Christ. He joined us to Christ so that we become beneficiaries of all that Christ has done.
(2) The Holy Spirit gives us a new heart. He does this so that we can live a changed life so that we can be a testament to the power and grace of God and so that we will have a true desire to do the work God has called us to.
Romans 8:3-4 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, 4in 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.
In a Gallup pole 95% of Americans claimed to believe in God and 81 % claimed to be religious. In spite of this only one in five or 20% of these people said that religion is the most influential factor in his or her life.
So what does that suggest? It suggests that many who would consider themselves religious even Christian are really not. It takes more than just saying that you’re a Christian to be a Christian. Saying you’re a Christian without the Holy Spirit who changes and renews your life and your heart is a dead religion and a dead faith. Christians as we see them in the Bible are men and woman who live their lives in a way that the fruit of the Holy Spirit is evident in their lives. It is obvious to those who know them that they are Christians. They are warriors for Christ and have a desire to be more like Him, and they are driven to do His work and build His kingdom.
Is that you? I know I wonder at times if this is me. I have said before that if God decided one day to add to His word would your love and desire to serve Christ be seen in these pages. Would the testament of Gods power working through you be told here? Would your story be told of the ways in which you helped in building Christ’s kingdom? God can do great things through each and every one of us. We need to expect it to happen and insure that we take advantage of the opportunities that God lays before us.
