Promise #283 - Wednesday October 10, 2012

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Romans 8:1 WEB

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

Promise #283: Because of Jesus, you are free from all condemnation.

This is a wonderful promise that we can all take to heart. There is therefore now NO condemnation! Many of us struggle with feelings of shame and condemnation every day. This Scripture tells us that because of what Jesus did, we do not have to live under condemnation any longer.

However, when you read the WEB Bible translation of Romans 8:1, it seems like there is a bit of a disclaimer to the statement 'There is therefore now no condemnation..." The disclaimer is ...who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For me, when I was a young Christian and read this verse, I felt that if I somehow was walking after the flesh, then I would be subject to condemnation.

I truly believe that the heart of this verse is better translated in the ESV translation of the Bible which says in Romans 8:1-2...¹There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. ²For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. (ESV)

Notice that after the promise of no condemnation there is a period. The disclaimer (who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit) is not there. I truly believe that because of the finished work of Jesus Christ there is therefore now NO condemnation...period! The law of the Spirit of life has set us free from the law of sin and death. Hallelujah!
Photo by Barry Adams

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Comments

[Natasha]

I used to get stumped by that part of the verse too, seeing it as a condition that I had to meet before I could be free of condemnation. But the more I read scripture, the more I've begun to understand that to live in the Spirit is to live in faith in Jesus. John 6:29 says that our work is "to believe in the One He has sent". Jesus states that it is "work" to believe in Him. We must constantly strive to believe what our hearts tell us and not our emotions, not others' opinions, and not even our own (1 Corinth. 4:3-4). We need to believe that Jesus' life, death and resurrection saved us from our sins and made us clean in the eyes of God. And that takes being "in Christ" or "in the Spirit" rather than being "in the flesh", or leaning on our own understanding. In the end, however it is phrased, the message is that having faith in Jesus will open us up to the pardon of God, and that this is a Spirit-thing, a heart-thing, not something that we can really, truly nail down or understand intellectually.