Romans 8:1-4 "The Triumph of God"

Introduction

Romans 8:1 is part of the Romans Road approach to sharing the gospel with others.

It is a great verse to commit to memory but it is even better to understand the implications of it given the context in which it is set.

As we have seen in Romans already God is the initiating power behind gospel transformation.

This certainly includes our justification by faith alone in Christ alone but it also includes our sanctification that He is progressively working in us through Christ.

This is all reflective of the Triumph of God through the work of Christ. This is why God is working all things for His glory to be manifested in and through Christ.

He is doing it for the glory of Christ and this is why it is so critical for us as Christians to know that our ultimate identity and purpose is in Christ as well.

This is the essence of our our Liberation that God has brought to pass for us. Look at verses 1-2 at what I am calling the Triumphant Liberation:

I. The Triumphant Liberation (1-2).

Christ set us free from the condemnation of the law of sin and death.

The law as a requirement for righteousness has a death sentence attached to it for violating it. We saw this back in Romans 6: 23 “For the wages of sin is death.”

All of the condemnation that humanity has ever been under has come about because of the violation of God’s law. Original sin as well as our own sin justly puts us under the condemnation of God.

God would never condemn a human being unjustly. God is a God of justice and truth and to condemn in an unjust manner is contrary to His character and nature.

His condemnation upon Christ on the Cross was due to Christ taking our sin upon Himself as if it were His own. God put Christ forward as a substitute in our place.

This redemptive work on our behalf paid the penalty of our offense against God due to the violation of His law.

You see Christian if our identity is in Christ and He took our sin upon Himself and paid for it in full, then there is no longer any just basis for condemnation to be upon us.

This is the reason Paul says, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

And his reasoning is very simple and very logical in verse 2: “for the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.”

Now what is he talking about when he says, “the law of the Spirit of life?” And how does it set us free?

I believe that Leon Morris in his work on Romans gets it right when he states: “The law here then is the principle on which the Holy Spirit works, a principle that operates in power. Spirit here is surely the Holy Spirit, who is characterized as the Spirit of life, that is, the life-giving Spirit. The presence of the Spirit is the distinguishing mark of the Christian, and this presence means the defeat of the power of sin.”

So the principles of operation that were established by God and carried out and applied by the Holy Spirit. Through this dynamic, the Holy Spirit regenerated us unto saving faith in Christ. This is the basis of our justification which actually sets us free from the demands of the law of sin and death.

Whenever a war is won and one side is the victor and the other side unconditionally surrenders the victor dictates the terms of surrender. And the loosing side waves the white flag and sets all the prisoners taken captive free.

Christian when Jesus, the very image of the invisible God, the one in whom all the fullness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell, took our sin upon Himself and bore it on Calvary’s Tree to pay our penalty; the perfect law of God waved the white flag and submitted to the Victors terms and the law had no choice but to set the captives free!

That is the Triumph of our Liberation and it is glorious but there is more to this victory that God has worked in Christ than just our liberation. There is The Triumph of Vindication as seen in verses 3-4:

II. The Triumphant Vindication (3-4).

Christ upheld the vindication of God’s law. And Christian there is no liberating freedom apart from the vindication of the law. You don’t usually get out of jail until payment has been made.

Christ fulfilled the law of God and He upheld it due to His passion for the holiness of God. He went to the Cross to uphold the righteous holiness of God.

And that was the basis that God established by which He could justify us without compromising the demands of His law. This is why we often refer to Holy week leading up to Easter as the Passion of Christ.

We often think that Christ passion was primarily for us but it was actually for the glory and holiness of the Father which which in the end brought about our redemption.

Christ was passionate for the law of God so much so that He was willing to die to uphold it and to glorify the Father to redeem a people for Him.

Remember the words of our Lord from Matthew 5:17-18 17“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”

And we see the Apostle Paul writing to Titus in reference to our great God and Savior Jesus Christ in Titus 2:14: “who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.”

Christ upheld the law to the glorification of God and this is the basis of our redemption. Because we are liberated from the demands of the law and purified by it and set apart to be the very possession of God.

And none of that is possible without Christ vindicating the law of God.

Conclusion:

In the Old Testament there is a story in Numbers 25 where God is angry with His people because of their marrying pagan wives and then going off into idolatry by worshipping Baal.

God ordered that the chiefs be hanged in order to compensate for their sin against Him. And Moses ordered the Judges of Israel to kill all the ones who have yoked themselves to Baal.

And right when Moses is saying all of this a man of Israel entered his tent with a Midianite woman right in front of Moses and the congregation.

The grandson of Aaron was there and he saw it and the text says, “he rose and left the congregation and took a spear in his hand”.

Hum, wonder where Phinehas is going? He went into the tent and he rammed the spear through the man and the Midianite woman.

At this time there was a plague upon the people as an act of God’s judgment. This act by Phineas brought the plague to an end but not before 24,000 people were killed by it.

Numbers 25:10-13 tells us how God viewed Phinehas:

10 And the Lord said to Moses, 11“Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back my wrath from the people of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I did not consume the people of Israel in my jealousy. 12 Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace, 13 and it shall be to him and to his descendants after him the covenant of a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the people of Israel.’ 

The parallels between Christ and Phinehas are astounding. But there is one thing that is profoundly different. And that is that Jesus Christ in His passion took our sin upon Himself and subjected Himself to die in our place.

He is the basis of the covenant peace that we have with God. Peace, not condemnation.

Unbeliever you need a savior. Christ will return and destroy the enemies of God. If you are outside of Christ then you are under the wrath of God. Love compels us to warn sinner everywhere to come to Christ for refuge from condemnation.

Believer in Christ there is no condemnation. Christ has liberated us from the laws demands by His vindication of the law.

And by Him we are ransomed to God to be His for all eternity. Confess your sin and rest in His covenant of Peace. Let’s Pray!