Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3 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, 4 so that the righteous requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, 7 because the mind set on the flesh is at enmity toward God, for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, 8 and those who are in the flesh are not able to please God.
9 However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. 10 But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Romans 8: 1-11 LSB
Romans 8: 1-17
There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus - This goes along well with Paul's overarching argument of Justification by faith alone. I have known many who believe that you can lose your salvation, including people from the Alliance denomination, but that is inconsistent with the gospel, and once again it is a turning back to works, to the Roman apostasy. To be in Christ Jesus means to be born again, it means that His work was sufficient, His death fulfilled all justice. Paul has already addressed antinomianism, the other error, but neither is so humble as it supposes. It is arrogant to continue in what you know to be sin, unrepentant, claiming that, "it's okay, it's covered by the blood of Christ." That makes my stomach curdle, but it is also arrogant to believe that you are saved because you made a decision, you walked forward, got sprinkled with water, or that you are somehow holding on to your salvation, and that if you sinned today, even unknowingly, that if you forgot to repent before you went to sleep, and died in your sleep, then all is lost. In this case you are still trusting in a work that you are not calling a work, that because you didn't say that prayer before bed, that phrase that pays, then now you are on your way to hell. You know God looks at the heart, so I always like to ask people like that, "what if you sin in a dream while you are sleeping?" Work that one out. There are two parallel truths being taught in the gospel and expanded upon in the epistles, and that is you are saved by grace through faith, not of works, and that if you are born again you are a new creature, having a new nature that wants to please God. In other words, if you are saved there will be a change, a tree is known by it's fruit. And in all of this we have only God to thank.
Dr Harry Ironside has an interesting thought on the variation in translations remarking that "Careful students of the original text discover that the last part of Romans 8:1 in the King James version is an interpolation properly belonging to verse 4 [Romans 8:4]. The magnificent statement that opens Romans 8 - "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus" - requires no qualifying clause. Our justification does not depend on our walk. Freedom from condemnation is given to all who are in Christ, and to be in Him means to be of the new creation. A glance at the Revised version or any critical translation will show that what I am pointing out is sustained by all the editors. It was man's innate aversion to sovereign grace, I am certain, that brought these qualifying words into the text of the King James version. It seemed too much to believe that freedom from condemnation depended solely on being in Christ Jesus and not on our walking after the Spirit. So it was easy to lift the words from verse 4 [Romans 8:4-note ] into verse 1 [Romans 8:1 ]. But in verse 4 [Romans 8:4 ] they have their proper place for there Paul was writing of the state of the believer. In verse 1 [Romans 8:1 ] it is the question of standing that is under consideration. (Romans 8).
The Christian’s war with sin does not end until he goes to be with the Lord. Nevertheless, there is still no condemnation-because the penalty for all the failures of this life (and who of us does not have many, yea, even many every day!) has been paid in full at Calvary. The holiest of believers are warned that, although they are no longer slaves to sin’s dominion, they will continually experience conflict with this old nature in this present life (cf Gal 5:17+, 1Pe 2:11+ where "wage war" is present tense). The weakest of believers are promised that, although they still stumble and fall into sin’s power in their flesh, they will experience ultimate victory over sin in the life to come. - Precept Austin
…18Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19And this is the verdict: The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light because their deeds were evil. 20Everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come into the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.… John 3: 18-20
Vs. 2-4 Set you free from the law of sin and death - The law of the Spirit is better understood not as the Mosaic law, but like universal laws, such as gravity. It is the same with the fallen flesh and it's desires. Your old nature is constantly seeking attention, looking to be scratched behind the ears and affirmed, and for a time, before you were indwelt by the Spirit, you were bound by the flesh. This is why there are so many self help books and life coach gurus out there. You can fight the flesh in the flesh, by realizing that your over eating, smoking, or alcohol consumption may not be quite the good investment you once thought it was, and I know many people in false religions that follow a code like this, or a twelve step program, but it becomes solely pragmatic. If it feels good and I can avoid any physical, financial or emotional consequences then they reason that it is within their liberty. I used to feel this way and reason that others needed a God crutch, and chose not to do some things because they were religious, and I thought I wasn't. Being indwelt by the Spirit is much different. He is what guided Paul's hands in writing these letters, and it is in the Holy Scriptures that we find the words of faith, that which the Spirit uses to quicken us from the dead and cause us to walk in newness of life. Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit says the Lord. This is the operation of a new law within us, one that doesn't base things on how it made me feel or not feel, but upon the love of my Savior.
In summary, Paul explains why there is now "no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." In this next section (Ro 8:2, 3, 4) Paul draws a striking contrast between those who are in Adam and thus can walk only according to the flesh and those who are in Christ and now have a supernatural ability to walk according to the Spirit. We were bound by (enslaved to) sin and death just as we're bound by the law of gravity. It was holding us earthbound or, more accurately, flesh-bound. However, the law of gravity can be overcome by the proper application of certain natural laws, such as the principle of aerodynamics. Though aerodynamics doesn't negate gravity, it can overcome its force. Similarly as we learn to submit to and depend upon the indwelling Spirit, we can overcome the continual pull of our fallen flesh (it's "gravity" if you will) which seeks to make us commit sin. This classic confrontation is described by Paul in Galatians 5:16-17. Notice that the way a believer overcomes the lust of the flesh is NOT by trying not to do what the fleshly desire is tempting us to do, but by walking continually by the Spirit. When we yield to the Spirit and allow His supernatural power to flow through our members, then (and only then) will we be able to refuse the desire of the flesh. The correct order is to say "Yes" to the Spirit and then you will be enabled to say "No" to the flesh. If you invert this order, you end up putting yourself in the subtle trap of legalism, saying "I won't do this or that, etc." That is a surefire setup for falling. Romans 8:13 is a corollary for there Paul says that we are putting to death the (sinful) deeds of the body by the Spirit. When we try to put the deeds of the body to death by using our flesh, we end up actually arousing our flesh (see Ro 7:5). - PA
…35A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37I know you are Abraham’s descendants, but you are trying to kill Me because My word has no place within you.… John 8: 35-37
…62Then what will happen if you see the Son of Man ascend to where He was before? 63The Spirit gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. 64However, there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray Him.)… John 6: 62-64
V. 5 Set their mind on the things of the flesh - Again, this is a principle, the law couldn't save because the flesh could not keep it to God's standard, and worldlings are going to side with the flesh. These aren't just people outside of the visible church buildings either, remember, Judas walked among them. If we are ruled by fleshly inclinations, our lust for money, power, the sensual, then we will betray Christ and often it is found that we were never of Christ, never indwelt by the Spirit. He mourns within us for the things of God, and brings about a desire for the sort of holiness that is not based upon the perception of man, but the mirror of Holy Scripture, and the person of Jesus Christ. So recognizing that we are justified by faith in Jesus we can now see the difference between the sin of Judas and the sin of Peter. One looked forward to a kingdom, but of his own imagination, fulfilling the desires of his flesh, and that became preeminent. I see this in the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements of today. They appeal to the flesh, to worldly prosperity. But then we see Peter, and it was about as ugly as it gets. He bragged in his own ability to stick with Christ, but when the time of testing came, he denied His Lord and Savior three times. The difference, he repented of trusting in his own works, and the flesh still pulled at him, but he became a man who could take correction, a man who desired to please God more than his own appetite or ego.
…47The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. 48As was the earthly man, so also are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. 49And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so also shall we bear the likeness of the heavenly man.… 1 Corinthians 15: 47-49
…2I beg you that when I come I may not need to be as bold as I expect toward those who presume that we live according to the flesh. 3For though we live in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh. 4The weapons of our warfare are not the weapons of the world. Instead, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.… 2 Corinthians 10: 2-4
9if all this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment. 10Such punishment is specially reserved for those who indulge the corrupt desires of the flesh and despise authority. Bold and self-willed, they are unafraid to slander glorious beings. 11Yet not even angels, though greater in strength and power, dare to bring such slanderous charges against them before the Lord.… 2 Peter 2: 9-11
Vs. 6-8 Those who are in the flesh are not able to please God - The Father is and will only ever be pleased with the works of the Son, and it is the Spirit that applies these to us and causes us to walk in them. There is a President today that has alluded to God being pleased with him because of his work in the Middle East. The Bible does say, "blessed are the peace makers for they will be called sons of God", but in the same Bible it also states that you must be born again. It is a huge sin of presumption to think that God owes us for doing what we should already be doing anyway. Many will sign peace treaties in this world, agreements that won't last, powered by ambition and self righteousness. The peace that needs to be made is that between fallen man and God.
…8Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. 10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.… Matthew 5: 8-10
…2He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs You are doing if God were not with him.” 3Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” 4“How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time to be born?”…
…5Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6Flesh is born of flesh, but spirit is born of the Spirit. 7Do not be amazed that I said, ‘You must be born again.’… John 3: 2-7
…26He did this to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and to justify the one who has faith in Jesus. 27Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of works? No, but on that of faith. 28For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law.… Romans 3: 26-28
…21The troops took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of the things devoted to destruction, in order to sacrifice them to the LORD your God at Gilgal.” 22But Samuel declared: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obedience to His voice? Behold, obedience is better than sacrifice, and attentiveness is better than the fat of rams. 23For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance is like the wickedness of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has rejected you as king.”… 1 Samuel 15: 21-23
Vs. 9-11 Will also give life to your mortal bodies - The Spirit is life, and this is indwelling in the believer, and to be sure it changes this temple. Seeing the war that ensues gives assurance of the final deliverance from this corpse of death.
Raised (awakened) (1453)(egeiro) means to rise (stand up) from a sitting or lying position (Mt 8:26, 9:5), to awaken from sleep (Mt 8:25), figuratively to "awaken" from death (rise up), describing the bringing back of Jesus from the dead.
Give life (2227) (zoopoieo from zoós = alive + poieo = to make) means to revitalize, make alive, quicken, vivify.
John uses zoopoieo in a similar way as Paul writing...
"For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes. (John 5:21)
"It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. (John 6:63)
Why did Paul use "give life to" instead of "raise" when describing men's bodies? Godet comments that...
Once again we see how carefully Paul weighs every term he uses. We have a new proof of the same in the use of the two expressions (egeirantos), to awake (raised) (applied to Jesus), and (zoopoiesei), to quicken (to give life) (applied to believers). The death of Jesus was a sleep, unaccompanied with any dissolution of the body...; it was therefore enough to awake Him. In our case, the body, being given over to destruction, must be entirely reconstituted; this is well expressed by the word quicken ("give life"). (Romans Commentary Online)
Vine writes that "The reference is not to the impartation of some special energy of life and power to our bodies in their present state, but to the effect upon them of the shout of the Lord at the time of the Rapture (1Thes. 4:17; see note Philippians 3:20, 3:21; 1Cor 15:52, 53). What is mortal will then be “swallowed up of life.” The statement in this eleventh verse is to be put in connection with that at the close of the seventh chapter, where the assurance is given that Christ will deliver us “out of the body of this death” (see note Romans 7:24) (Vine, W. Collected writings of W. E. Vine. Nashville: Thomas Nelson )
S Lewis Johnson observes that...
this verse is the final answer to the cry of Ro 7:24 (note). The power of indwelling sin and physical death over the believer's body is destroyed in the bodily resurrection. The logic of the apostle is clear. The presence of the Spirit of God in our mortal bodies is the guarantee of the bodily resurrection, for He is the one who raised up Jesus Christ.
Now one must be clear here. When Paul says, "the one who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead," he is referring, not to the Holy Spirit, but to the Father. It is not, "the Spirit who raised up Jesus from the dead," but, "the Spirit of the One Who raised up Jesus from the dead," that is, the Father God. It is the Father Who raised up the Son, and that is the universal testimony of the Bible. The reason for that is that it is important to make plain that the sacrifice of the Son is acceptable to the Father. Therefore, the almost universal testimony of the New Testament is that the Father raised the Son (cf. Acts 2:24, 32; 3:15, 26; 4:10; 5:30; 26:8; 1 Cor. 6:14; 2 Cor. 4:14). Thus, regeneration and the indwelling of the Spirit of the God of the resurrection naturally involve the resurrection of the believer's body. All are parts of the one process of redemption. If God has done the work of regeneration, He will accomplish the work in resurrection.
What a wonderful promise that is for the believer! Our spirits are already alive; our bodies soon shall be. (Romans 8:5-17) (Bolding added) - Precept Austin
