Part 2:
Deliverance from Bondage
Last week I gave you the background for what Paul tells us in Chapter 8. Remember from last week’s message that in order for us to be joined with Christ, we must be dead to the Law. Also, because of our new relationship with Christ, our old nature is in a constant battle with our new nature. In the closing 2 verses of chapter 7, Paul cries out as in exasperation “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of the death.” He follows this up in verse 25 with the answer “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Paul ends with an understanding that we are delivered through Christ, not through any action of our own. With this understanding, he now begins to explain to just what it means to be delivered through Christ.
In the first two verses of chapter 8, Paul says “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.” Paul opens the chapter explaining that there is no condemnation for us who are in Christ Jesus. Condemnation from what? In the mind of Paul there is a vivid sense of contrast between the character, the position and the prospects of the true Christian and those of unbelievers, whether Jews or Gentiles. This contrast is kept throughout this chapter. Paul is defining a clear difference between the saved and the unsaved. Paul made it plain that personal religion did not consist in our external condition or relationships, or in association with any family or nation. Our personal relationship with God is individualized and born through our acceptance of Christ, being “in Christ Jesus”. This is a spiritual union, not one that can be purchased or inherited, but must be accepted and then cultivated into what God desires for us. To be in Christ means that Christ Himself has joined with us. The New Testament represents Christ’s people as “in Him”, “found in Him”, “standing in Him”, “walking in Him”. After this life we are said to be “sleeping in Him” or “dead in Him”. All of these references centers on the one true reality that we must accept, as Christians, we are “in Him” meaning Christ. So Paul confirms this in the first verse, there is no condemnation because we are in Christ.
What was this condemnation that Paul was referring to? It is the penalty for sin. In the Old Testament, the law as we discussed earlier, that was previously given to Moses had set it forth. The law brings condemnation because it points out, stimulates and condemns sin. But as Christians, we are no longer under the law, but under grace in Christ Jesus. In other words, the Divine displeasure and judicial anger, the present punishment of remorse and fear and the future punishment of destruction and death are removed because we are in Christ Jesus. In verse two, he states that the “law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.” This contrasts the controlling power of the Holy Spirit who is life giving versus the controlling power of sin, which ultimately produces death. I like to think that every time I overcome a sin I am fulfilling this Scripture. But I am wrong, you see I cannot overcome a sin under mine own power. The forgiveness does not come from me nor does the power to walk away from the sin. When I realize that I was born into sin, that sin is my true nature, what my flesh desires, then I begin to understand my need for Christ’s grace and the Holy Spirit being active in my life. It is only when each of us individually comes to this conclusion that we are able to take the steps that lead us on the path to righteousness. As long as we believe that we have the power, that if we do “enough works” that we can be justified within ourselves, we never reach the understanding of our own need for Christ. You cannot sell someone a new car, house or even clothes if they do not believe within themselves that they need it. There must be a need present for someone to accept Christ. Paul is carefully pointing out the need that we all have for Christ because of what the Law could not do. Look at verse three.
6.
“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.” Because the Law could not complete the work within us because our flesh was weak, God sent His Son. Through Christ, sin was condemned in the flesh. Christ took victory over sin in His flesh. The Law addressed our flesh (sin nature) and because our flesh was weak, we continued to fail. Through God sending Christ, He addressed our “spirit nature” which when combined with the Holy Spirit is very powerful. Now because God was now addressing our spirits through Christ and not our flesh through the Law, verse 4 tells us that “…the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” Whereas before we walked according to our flesh and could not fulfill the law, we are now walking through the Spirit and are fulfilling the Law. The Law plays a role in life of ever believer, not leading to salvation as it did in the Old Testament, but as a moral and ethical guide, obeyed by our love of God and through the power of the Holy Spirit. By God sending Christ to us, we are able to embody the true and full intentions of the Law. We no longer let our sinful nature sway us as we yield to the directing and empowering ministry of the Holy Spirit.
Having said this, Paul begins to give the differences between a mind set on the things of the flesh verse a mind set on the things of the Spirit. The former cannot please God and leads to death. Look at what he says in verses 5-8: “For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set of the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” Paul makes a clear distinction between a mind that is focused on the flesh and one focused on the Spirit. A mind focused on the Spirit leads to life and peace while one focused on the flesh to death. This can be a hard pill to swallow for some people. Paul says that the mind that is focused on the flesh is actually hostile towards God, that it is not able to be subject to the law of God. Have you ever met someone who became hostile when you began talking about the goodness of God? Or when you began to talk about following God’s law. A mind of the flesh cannot comprehend why anyone would want to follow God’s law – there is literally no understanding about why we do it. The flesh, equally with the spirit, has its mind (i.e. its purpose, aspirations and activity when works toward a goal). The end goal of each is opposite of one another. One goal is life while the other is death. This is the difference that Paul continues to try and get across to the believers.
In verse 9, Paul makes a transition of confirmation. Up to this point, we are left to wonder if we walk in the flesh one day and in the Spirit the next and how can we tell the difference. Paul addresses this in verse ten when he said “However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.” If we have the Spirit of God living within us, we are not in our flesh. When we accept Christ as our Savior, the Spirit of God comes to dwell within us – He is our helper. We cannot shake off or handle our fleshly nature on our own, we need help. For those who belong to Christ, we have this help the Holy Spirit. We have to understand that when we become Christians, we become spiritual beings, we transition from being fleshly beings. That is why we had to die to the Law because as I said before, it addressed our flesh, but now that we are spiritual, God addresses our spirits. In verse 10 Paul mentions this when he says, “If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.” Our bodies began the death process when Adam sinned. After we are born of our mothers, our bodies immediately start the process of dying. It may take many years, but everyday it can be said that we
7.
get closer and closer to death. Because the spirit of the believer has been justified, it is not subject to death as is his body. The Christian is in-dwelt by the life-giving Spirit as a result of his justification. But we must know for sure because Paul said, “If Christ is in you.” You must know that you know that you know that Christ dwells within you. If you have no desire to serve God, you need to check yourself. If you do not feel guilty when you flesh sins, you need to check yourself. If your idea of being a Christian is going to Church once a year (on a holiday) and never thinking about Christ after that, you need to check yourself. We can know that Christ is living within us. In 2 Corinthians 13:5 Paul says “Test yourselves to see is you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you, unless you fail the test?” We need to examine ourselves. If you are not sure, Jesus is always ready to receive. Revelations 3:20 says “Behold I stand at the door and knock: if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him and he with Me.” Christ has knocked and continues to knock. Have you answered the door? Have you accepted Him?
Paul says in Romans 8:11-13 says “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh, for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” The resurrection of our bodies is guaranteed to the believers because of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. As Christ was raised, so shall we, in Him. We are no longer under obligation to our flesh. By the Spirit dwelling within us, we must put to death the deeds of the flesh – our fleshly desires and lusts. This is a very painful process, but the pain eases to nothing as you get further into it. Think of the pain you feel when you start working out again after not doing it for several months. Your body hurts, gets stiff and you wonder why you started working out again. But the longer you stay with it, the pain begins to cease and it gets easier. Your endurance increases and soon you are back to where you were before you stopped. This is a similar process for putting to death the deeds of the body. It hurts when you start, but it gets easier over time as you yield more and more to the Spirit of God.
I will close with verses 14 and 15 of Romans 8. Paul writes, “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba Father!” Those who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God through adoption. In the Greek and Roman culture, adoption was a common occurrence. When it happened, a son was granted all the privileges of a natural son, just like we have today. We are adopted sons & daughters by grace whereas Christ is God’s Son by nature. But as sons of God through adoption, we have the rights and privileges of His natural Son. Paul also says that we have not received a spirit of slavery. Remember when we talked about the bond-slave? They had no rights, had to do what they were told, and could not necessarily do what they wanted? Paul said that we have not received this in our new relationship through Christ. The beautiful thing about our relationship with Christ is that we have a choice, we are not robots without a will. In our new relationship, God desires a love relationship with us and is willing to provide all of the incentives available to His natural Son to have that with us. Remember the message Rev. Cox preached 3 weeks ago about our coupons? You make the purchase, you get something back. God desires to give to His Children, as a child of His, we can boldly make the claim on our benefits as a child.
10.
Paul said “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Do you understand why now? When the Spirit of God comes and dwells within you, you become His. When you accept Christ, you are “in Him”. As you are “in Him” you are raised with Him. It becomes a package deal. The ultimate penalty for your sins have already been paid – no more death. We do not have the right to continue sinning because Christ has paid the price for us and we are under grace. Our desire to not sin comes from the love relationship that we have with God through our acceptance of Christ. But if we should find ourselves doing that that we do not want to do, we have the right to cry out to our father for forgiveness and we can know that we will receive it.
We used to sing a song years ago that was based on this verse. Part of the song asked a question and the answer was always “I____ in the Spirit”. The jest of the song was that there is no condemnation because we are in the Spirit. Everything that e do, is in the Spirit. When our flesh rise up and try to dominate, as it will, we can by our Spirit get it back in place. “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
May God continue to bless and keep you.
