Light Brings Salt
Volume 1, Issue 23 December 28 , 2004
Dedicated to the
Systematic Exposition of the Word of God
The Believers
Freedom in Christ
The Announcement of No Condemnation
At the
beginning of Romans 8
Paul makes a very dogmatic announcement: "There
is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."
There are
actually 2 ways to look at what Paul means by "no condemnation here."
Based on how you interpret the function of the connecting conjunction that
opens the verse and is translated "therefore."
(a;ra) its retrospective that is it indicates logical sequence,
therefore, consequently;
The question we must ask, is based on what? If you take it to refer back to Rom
But if we take the
retrospective aspect to go back to the more immediate context, that of Rom 7,
which is the more normal, then the focus of 8:1
is vastly different and I believe actually fits better with the flow of
the context of 8:1-4. [sometimes the subject points to farther back, but not often,
Rom 12:1 being an example of the long retrospective look]
As you begin to examine
Romans 8 two questions should naturally arise, based on the ongoing struggle
that is noted in ch-7: #1 Must we as
believers spend our whole life on earth frustrated by ongoing defeats at the
hand of the indwelling sin nature? #2 Is there not a power and provision provided to achieve
victory?
The answer to the first
question is no and to the second, yes.
So then Paul is saying here that the believer is not condemned to a life
of servitude or enslavement to the sin nature.
F.F.Bruce is convinced that the
term "condemnation" refers to
"penal servitude" and that Paul is teaching that "there
is no reason why those who are 'in Christ Jesus' should go on doing penal
servitude as though they had never been pardoned and never been liberated from
the prison house of sin." And he is
right. We can choose to do so, but it is not in our best interest. The word for condemnation is katakrima (kata,krima) a legal term; to judge down; to bring a judgment
down on someone. The word was used to refer to the punishment following a
sentence; a charge was made, a trial held, the charge was proved, and a judge
ruled and handed down a sentence.
I believe
that the primary emphasis here must go with the thrust of the closer context.
Nothing incorrect about the truth taught by the longer look but it is
interpreting theologically not based on context. We're justified by faith; we're in Christ;
therefore No condemnation, true no question!
We as believers should have great confidence and assurance of this
truth. That is because we're in Christ
there is no condemnation now or ever before God the Father. We have been
declared justified.
Reasons
for a shorter look back to the immediate context!
1st Romans 6-8 deals mainly
with the subject of sanctification, not justification. Therefore a stronger
emphasis on the immediate context.
Both have their foundation or basis in the Cross, but a different emphasis or impact in the
life. Question we need to ask is the
primary focus of the immediate context here our positional standing or is it
what's going on now in our life as a believer?
2nd The next
verse (Rom. 8:2), presents the reason
why believers are under no condemnation, deals with freedom from domination or
enslavement by the sin nature, not with freedom from guilt and penalty of
sin. Context clearly is not
justification.
3rd The sentence in which the words "no condemnation" appear is
joined to the immediately preceding context by the word "therefore," the conjunction a;ra.
With the
shorter look back it makes the emphasis of Romans 8:1 a conclusion drawn from
what Paul has just covered in Romans 7.
Paul has
just dealt with the problem of the believer being overpowered by the sin nature
and then spoke of God's provision of deliverance from the power of that nature
in (
Paul's
dogmatic statement here in Romans 8:1 must be primarily referring to no
condemnation with regard to the power of the sin nature, not to no condemnation
with regard to guilt. Paul is saying
that, since God has provided the believer with deliverance from the power of the
sinful nature, and enslavement to it,
the believer is not condemned to a life of servitude to that nature.
Point is that the believer is provided in Grace all the resources so that no
longer does he/she have to be enslaved to the sin nature.
Paul's
use of the word "now" [adv nun]
in his announcement of no condemnation indicates that the believer is
free from this condemnation now, at this time, during this present
lifetime. He does not have to wait until
death or future glorification to have this freedom from servitude to the sin
nature.
Paul then
expands on our new freedom in 8:2. He
begins Rom. 8:2 with the word "for " (ga.r). This indicates that he is giving the reason
for the believer not being condemned to a life of servitude to the sin
nature: "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from
the law of sin and of death."
In other
words, God has provided a means of deliverance.
The means for that deliverance, he calls here, the
law of the Spirit of life. This
prepositional phrase of life
is a functional title in that it tells us something about the noun it is
related to, that is the Holy Spirit; it describes what the Holy Spirit does or is; here what He does. Another
title we have seen is the Spirit of truth with an emphasis on what He is!
What's
the first thing done for us at the point of faith? The Holy Spirit regenerates and gives us a new
life in Christ! (Titus 3:5) When the Holy Spirit regenerates the new
believer what does He do? He gives them
life, spiritual life, eternal life! He
has also done something else for us when we believed, and that is what Paul is
emphasizing here, "has set us free from the law of sin and of
death." [which leads to death] The verb set
us free evleuqero,w means to be set free, liberated; speaks of a
completed action.
The
aorist tense of the verb takes us back to the cross, "to the time and act of regeneration, when the freedom began and was
established." This being set free
becomes actualized or real for each of us the point that we believe in Christ,
from that moment the Holy Spirit set us free from the ruling power of the sin
nature.
What Paul
is leading up to here is that we as believers have a whole new way of living, a
whole new means of enablement for living, having completely new resources
available to us. Part of the uniqueness of being a church age saint in union
with the King!
Several
significant things should be noted concerning Paul's statement in Romans 8:2.
First Paul refers to two distinct
laws: The law of the Spirit of life and the law of sin and death. Law, no
matter what kind it may be, is established for the purpose of governing or
controlling, or influencing a course of action. In light of this, the law of
the Spirit of life is the enabling power of the Holy Spirit, which enabling
power is related to newness of life (Romans 6:4; 7:6 whole new framework for the believer in Christ).
In
The reason that the believer is not condemned to
a life of servitude to the sin nature is that the enabling power of the Holy
Spirit has set him free from the ruling power of the sin nature.
Second
the freedom from the sin nature to which Paul refers to here is different from
the freedom from that same nature to which he refers in Romans 6:7. Two things
in the original text indicate this. #1
Paul uses two distinct words for freedom in these passages. The word in 6:7 is
a legal term. [dikaio,w] freed from, justified. The word in 8:2 is not a
legal term. [in a spiritual or moral sense evleuqero,w] #2 The freedoms of
these two Passages are obtained through two different means. The freedom of 6:7
is obtained through our identification with the death of Christ at
salvation. The freedom of 8:2 is
obtained through the indwelling Holy Spirit and His enabling power.
In Romans
8:2 Paul is saying that someone much more powerful than the sin nature has
intervened on behalf of the believer and has set him free from the ruling power
of his former master. That someone is the Holy Spirit. The law of the Spirit is
a higher law than the law of sin.
If we
continue to choose to live under the law of sin and death we will eventually
fail; crash and burn; that's Rom 7's message! But if we come to that
realization of
Because
He is the power source for the new life! We now are able to serve a new master!
In the
next 2 verses