The Christian's Freedom - Part 1 (Romans 8:1-4)
THE CHRISTIAN’S FREEDOM – PART 1
INTRODUCTION:
This morning we come to Romans 8. This chapter is rich and full of so many wonderful truths, we will be in this chapter for a while mining the depths of the treasures that are found here. This chapter marks a major change in the focus and direction of this epistle of Paul’s. In this chapter Paul begins to define the wonderful results of justification in the life of the believer. Paul in this chapters begins to explain some of the cardinal truths of salvation, understanding that some are beyond our finite minds to fully comprehend. I love this chapter; I love the truths that are revealed in this chapter and I hope that you will learn to love it as well. Let’s pray and then get into the first four verses of this chapter.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles this morning to Romans 8:1-4 our passage for this morning, a passage that teaches us about the Christian’s freedom. This passage teaches us Freedom’s fact, we have freedom because there is no condemnation; Freedom’s why, justification; Freedom’s way, substitution; and then finally Freedom’s fruit, sanctification. Please, stand if you are able in honor of the reading of God’s Word.
Romans 8:1-4,
“Therefore there is 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 of death. 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, 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.” (Romans 8:1–4, NASB95)[1]
FREEDOM’S FACT – NO CONDEMNATION (Romans 8:1)
This passage begins with the word “therefore” which by definition introduces a result or a conclusion based on what has already been written. So, when we see a “therefore” we need to look back at what was written previously. I do not believe that this “therefore” refers to the immediate previous text where Paul had been describing by his personal testimony the conflict that every believer has with sin. It is cannot be on the basis of this conflict that Paul so confidently says that a believer no longer is under condemnation. This “therefore” I believe refers back to the first seven chapters of this epistle and Paul is bringing to conclusion the focus of the first seven chapters which is justification by faith alone, made possible only on the basis of and by the power of God’s grace. By referring back to the first seven chapters we see the change that is taking place in Romans 8, a transition to the wonderful results of salvation.
As Paul begins to teach us the wonderful results of salvation it must be understood that God’s provision of salvation came to us through Jesus Christ’s perfect sacrifice for sin on the cross. It is through Christ’s death that God provides salvation to those who put their faith in Christ and what He has done for them through His death and resurrection. Paul writes for those who have come to Christ in repentance and faith, “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1, NASB95)[2]
This word translated “condemnation” is a Greek word that is only found in Scripture in the book of Romans. Paul uses it three times in this book, twice in chapter five where he uses it to show that because of sin we are all under condemnation, we all deserve death, we all deserve eternal separation from God in the lake of fire. Our sin condemns us. But here Paul says that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. John MacArthur writes, “Although it [the Greek word translated condemnation here] relates to the sentencing for a crime, its primary focus is not so much on the verdict as on the penalty that the verdict demands. As Paul has already declared, the penalty, or condemnation, for sin is death.”[3] With that in mind Paul gives us this wonderful fact that for those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ for salvation there is no condemnation, there will be no sentence and there will be no penalty for sins that a Christian committed or will ever commit. The Greek word translated “no” is an emphatic no, it like the word that we looked at last week that was translated “no longer” both of these are negative adverbs of time and carry the idea that what is negated is permanent and complete. This word speaks of a complete cease of action. This phrase “no condemnation” really captures the heart of the Gospel that Jesus’ death completely and permanently paid the debt of sin and the penalty of the Law, death, for every person who humbly comes to Jesus Christ in repentance and faith asking for God’s mercy and grace. This paying of our sin debt is only the beginning, the Scriptures tell us that we are cleansed from all unrighteousness and God imputes and imparts Christ’s righteousness to us. Because of what Christ has done for us through His perfect sacrificial death and because of the salvation that is ours through faith, because God has reconciled us to Himself, we will never and under no circumstances ever come under condemnation, we have been placed beyond the reach of condemnation.
As we consider the freedom that we have from condemnation it is very important to understand that we had nothing to do with it, we cannot do and have not done anything that brought this deliverance from condemnation about. We will never be free from the presence of sin during this earthly life, it will always be there and in conflict with us. This is what Paul was teaching us in the last chapter. Our conflict with sin does not end until we discard this corrupted flesh and go to be with the Lord. With that said, there is still no condemnation, because the penalty for all those times we fall into sin have been paid by Christ and applied to us by grace. But also understand that this freedom from condemnation does not mean freedom or deliverance from discipline from the Lord. The author of Hebrews writes in Hebrews 12:6, “For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, And He scourges every son whom He receives.” (Hebrews 12:6, NASB95)[4] Not only does the Lord still discipline us to bring us back from sin, but we are also still accountable to Him and there are consequences for our actions. Paul wrote to the Galatian believers in Galatians 6:7, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.” (Galatians 6:7, NASB95)[5] God disciplines us, there are consequences when we give into temptation and sin, but God will never condemn us to eternal separation from Him because we are in Christ Jesus.
There is now no condemnation, Paul writes, for those who are in Christ Jesus. We can no longer come under condemnation for sin because we are in Christ Jesus, and this is true of every person who has come to God in repentance trusting in the Jesus Christ for salvation. When we are justified by God through grace by faith in Jesus Christ, every believer is forever and completely released from sin’s bondage and its penalty, which is death, and justified you can stand sinless before a holy God forever. This is the specific aspect of justification that Paul is focusing on here in the opening verses of chapter 8.
Chapter 7 we saw from the apostle’s own life that sad and frustrating reality that in this present life, no believer, not even an apostle, is spared from conflict with sin. As we come into this first verse in chapter 8 Paul changes his emphasis and gives us this wonderful fact that every person who has put their faith in Christ for salvation, even the weakest, most unproductive, has this truth in common with every other believer that he has complete and eternal freedom from sin’s condemnation. Why? Because that person is in Christ Jesus. Can we fully understand or comprehend what this means? The full realization of this truth will only become clear when we step into His presence and see Him. Then as we are face-to-face with Him, with Jesus Christ, I believe that our understanding of what it means to be in Christ Jesus will become clear. It is this wonderful truth that because we have put our faith in Jesus Christ for salvation that we are in Christ and because we are in Christ Jesus, because we are covered in His righteousness, our sins have been paid for and we have been cleansed of all unrighteousness, we stand with no fear of condemnation because we are in Christ Jesus. We have the nature of Christ Jesus in us, the old sin nature is gone, we have a new nature in Christ, Christ’s nature in us.
I need to say something to those of you who are using the King James Version or the New King James Version this morning. You have another phrase in verse one that is not in the NASB, or the ESV or the NIV. Your verse one says, “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, NKJV)[6] Why does your version have this phrase, “who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit,” while most other versions do not. This phrase is not found in the earliest Greek manuscripts that we have of Romans, because of this it is probable that a copyist inadvertently picked up this phrase from verse 4 where we have the identical wording. This phrase is not necessary here and does not change the meaning of the passage when it is not there. The newer translations have gone with the earlier manuscripts which do not have this phrase, the earlier manuscripts being closer to the original. The important fact of our freedom as a Christian is given in the preceding phrase that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. This marvelous truth should cause us to erupt in gratitude to God that He has justified us, and that verdict is irreversible because it was made by the Most High God, the Supreme Judge of the universe, who is there that could overturn it.
FREEDOM’S WHY – JUSTIFICATION (Romans 8:2)
As we come to verse 2 it begins with the word “for,” this same word could also be translated “because.” This word leads into the why of our freedom, why is there now no condemnation, because Paul writes in verse 2, “…the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.” (Romans 8:2, NASB95)[7] Paul is not speaking of the Mosaic Law or other commandments or requirements given in Scripture. Instead Paul is using this term in the sense of a principle of operation. We have talked a little about this before and how we have to really look at the context to know if Paul is speaking of the Law of Moses or as here a principle of operation. In this verse Paul is saying that those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ for salvation have come under a principle of operation that supersedes the principle of operation by which they were living, the principle of sin and of death. By that principle they were condemned to die, and sin and death were reigning in their life as their cruel and ruthless master leading them to destruction and eternal punishment. Then they heard the Gospel and responded to it in repentance and faith and there was no more condemnation because the principle of the Spirit, who gave them life in Christ Jesus. At salvation they were crucified with Christ and buried with Him and raised to new life in Christ by the life-giving Spirit of God. This new life in Christ is His righteousness credited to us, because we now have Christ’s nature in us, we are righteous in God’s eyes and He has justified us before Him. This new life in Christ given to us by the Holy Spirit has been set free from the bondage of sin and from the penalty of sin, which is death, and one day our salvation will be complete when we are set free from the presence of sin. This is justification, sin has been disposed and banished and no longer rules our life, because we have new life in Jesus Christ.
CONCLUSION:
I am going to stop here today, there is still lots happening today with our potluck and then our board meeting. But as I wrap up today having only looked at the first two verses of this passage already we can see the transition that Paul is making here moving from justification through faith in Jesus Christ by God’s grace to the results of that justification. In these first four verses Paul speaks of the Christian’s freedom and looks at it in four ways. This morning we have looked at the first two ways, first, we have looked at the fact of the Christian’s freedom and that fact is that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Christ’s death and resurrection has forever freed you from the power of sin in your life and from the penalty, or the condemnation of sin, which is death, spiritual separation from God forever. Through faith in Jesus Christ we will never be condemned to spiritual separation from Christ. This is the fact of the Christian’s freedom. Then we looked at the why of the Christian’s freedom. Why are we free? The answer to that question is because of justification, we have received new life in Christ Jesus through the Holy Spirit and have been set free from the principle of sin and of death. No longer are we enslaved to sin and death, but we have been declared righteous, we have been justified by God because of our new nature in Christ having His righteousness imputed and imparted to us, we are righteous in Christ Jesus and we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and this is why we have freedom. Never to be condemned, always justified.
[1]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[2]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[3]MacArthur, John F., The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, Romans 1-8. Chicago, IL : Moody Press, 1991.
[4]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[5]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[6]The New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982.
[7]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.