Romans 8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.“
This is such a great statement that I have heard thousands of times in my Christian walk. However, I have often dared to ask people confessing this statement to please explain why. After all if you saying that there is no condemnation you should at least know why there is no condemnation – not so!
Usually after a statement like this I get met with a total blank look or someone totally flustered and not knowing what to say because quite frankly many Christians have no clue as to why we have no condemnation.
When the Bible was written, the letters were written in the form of letters to other Christians or churches. I have written many letters and have never once used a system such as “Letter 1, paragraph 1, 1st segment 2“ such as the format that we see in the modern bible. I sincerely doubt that the authors of these letters actually sat and gave their letters a numbering system, as above, at the time of writing. This means that these chapters and verses were added after the fact – possibly for reference purposes or for translational purposes.
The above scripture is Romans 8 verse 1, and so we tend to look at it as being a new subject. However a close look at it reveals that the opening words “there is therefore “ is a summing up of an argument. You do not summarize an argument before the argument, you summarize after the argument!
This means that the argument took place in Romans 7 and if you read Romans 7:15 to 25 you will find an accurate outline of the argument that Paul had and used to come to the conclusion revealed in Romans 8:1
In the above verses Paul is confessing how he only wants to walk in total accordance with God’s word but that he finds that there is a constant battle with sin within him self and sometimes the sin does win!! Paul sinned and found himself subjected to things his spirit told him was wrong but his flesh wanted and the flesh won sometimes!
How many times have you or I sinned knowingly, and then bash our heads in frustration at how weak we are and how we can not make it as a Christian. No-one is perfect – except Jesus. If we are not perfect it makes us sinners and as sinners we will fall into sin at some time or the other, and right at that time the devil is there waiting to take advantage of your sin and rub it into your face impressing upon you just what a bad Christian you are and how unworthy you are!
How many people do you know that have left churches and God because of condemnation about their sins.
This is not the case and our defense to the Devil is given by Paul in Romans 8:1 where he states “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” There we go devil, put that into your pipe and smoke it!
In Parting, 2 Corinthians 6:12 “ You are not restricted by us. You are restricted by your own affections.”
