No Condemnation - Rom 8:1-4
Introduction
No Condemnation (1)
marker of an inference made on the basis of what precedes
ⓐ in declarative statement, and w. colloqu. flavor so, then, consequently, you see
The combination “therefore, now” is an emphatic one, marking what follows as a significant conclusion.
katakrima is a variant form found in only three places and denoting the universal “condemnation” of humankind brought about by the sin of Adam and Eve (Rom. 5:16, 18). Rom. 8:1 declares that there is no “divine condemnation” for those who are joined to Christ in faith.
There is no significant difference concerning the idea of “condemnation” between the two Testaments. The idea of God bringing condemnation down upon the wicked, both within Israel and beyond, is consistent throughout the Bible. What is distinctive in the New Testament is the finished work of Christ that removes condemnation from his people absolutely, as a consequence of his substitutionary atonement on the cross. What is anticipated through the sacrificial system under the Mosaic covenant is consummated in the new by the finished work of Christ on our behalf.
New Law (2)
eleutheroō is a verb found seven times, meaning “to set free” and conveying the significant nuance of being liberated from the power of sin through the person and work of Christ.
In John 8:32, 36 Jesus declares that he, the Son, who embodies ultimate truth, “will make free” any who put their trust in him. Rom. 6:18, 22; 8:2 contain the significant statements that believers “have been set free” from sin and death through the person of Christ in his redemptive work. Rom. 8:21 offers a similar expression of truth, claiming that the creation itself “will be set free” from its bondage to decay. Gal. 5:1 also affirms that Christ “has set his people free” from enslavement to sin.
God’s Accomplishment (3)
For sin. Greek peri hamartias, which is the regular LXX rendering of Hebrew ḥaṭṭā’t ‘sin-offering’. This is probably its force here (cf. RSV mg. ‘as a sin offering’; NEB ‘as a sacrifice for sin’).
Through Christ’s sacrificial death, God carried out His judgment upon sin, thereby breaking its power to control
New Standing (4)
Rather, Christian behavior is the necessary mark of those in whom this fulfillment takes place. God not only provides in Christ the full completion of the law’s demands for the believer, but he also sends the Spirit into the hearts of believers to empower a new obedience to his demands. Christians now are directed by the Spirit and not by the flesh.
“To walk according to the flesh,” then, is to have one’s life determined and directed by the values of “this world,” of the world in rebellion against God. It is a lifestyle that is purely “human” in its orientation.73 To “walk according to the Spirit,” on the other hand, is to live under the control, and according to the values, of the “new age,” created and dominated by God’s Spirit as his eschatological gift.
Takeaways
It is a glorious day in the life of the Christian when he or she realizes that God’s children are not under the Law, that God does not expect them to do “good works” in the power of the old nature. When the Christian understands that “there is no condemnation,” then he realizes that the indwelling Spirit pleases God and helps the believer to please Him. What a glorious salvation we have! “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage!” warns Paul in Gal. 5:1 (NKJV).