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If Romans were the Himalayas, then Romans 8 would be Mt. Everest. It’s a sparkling diamond set perfectly on the gleaming gold of the book of Romans. More than one commentator has called it the greatest chapter in the Bible. It begins with “no condemnation” in verse 1 to “no separation” in verse 39; “Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Here is truth that lifts you, motivates you, encourages you, and prepares you to face the future, disappointment, suffering, persecution, and death. Romans 8 prepares us to be more than conquerors as we go through the worst this world can throw at us. It is truly the believer’s treasure chest for living the Christian life. I am reading it every night until we finish it in seven weeks.
Romans 8 introduces us to the ministry of the Holy Spirit for believers. While we read about the Spirit one time in Romans 7, now we’ll see the Spirit twenty times. The first four verses show the trinity of the Son, the Father, and the Spirit working together for sinners. The trinity is three Persons and one essence, all three working together is what the theologians call “inseparable operations.” Salvation is the work of the triune God. The Father planned it and sent His Son; the Son came and executed the plan in His incarnation and substitutionary death for sinners; and then the Spirit comes personally to your address, to your life, and applies the work of Christ to your spirit. Everything good about you as a believer is the work of the Spirit. Remove the Spirit and all Christianity collapses. Let’s get started looking into this treasure chest in verses 1-4.
FIRST – YOU HAVE THE MOST WONDERFUL PROMISE YOU COULD EVER HEAR
Romans 8:1, Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
(Note: “who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit” is not in the better manuscripts.)
Let’s relish every word here. Paul begins the sentence with a word that means “No, absolutely not even any.” Plus, notice “now.” We were under condemnation but now, not in the future but right now. Now everything is different. Condemnation is a strong Greek word katakrima, meaning final or eternal punishment. Condemnation is the opposite of justification. Justification means to be declared righteous; condemnation means to be declared accursed. To be under God’s condemnation is the most horrible possible status. It’s one thing to be condemned to life in prison; it’s another thing to be under God’s eternal condemnation, no escape, forever.
To whom is Paul speaking here? Do you see that beautiful prepositional phrase “in Christ Jesus?” This assuring and wonderful promise is not for those “in church” or “in a religion” or “in the Shriners” or “in the MAGA movement” or “in seminary” or “Bible college” or in anything else. This promise applies exclusively to those who are “in Christ Jesus.” Every believer is promised “no condemnation” because they are in union with Jesus Christ. This is the keystone of Paul’s theology. “In Christ Jesus” is the place of eternal safety, the Rock of Ages. Every believer is secure from God’s eternal judgment and that security will never be taken away. Once you are in Christ you will never be taken out of Christ. Even when you sin, which you will, you will not lose that standing “in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Martin Lloyd-Jones says when a believer sins, he should feel ashamed but not condemned. Sin for the believer is no longer a condemning matter, but a matter of offending God’s love. Some people think if you slide back into sin, you go right back under condemnation. No, Paul says differently. Romans 8:1 says now there is not any condemnation for any soul in Christ Jesus. That’s the most wonderful promise you could ever hear. It is similar to Jesus’ promise to the thief on the cross: “Today you will be with me in Paradise!”
When they built the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco in 1937, they installed a safety net to protect workers from falling to their death. Nineteen men were saved by the net. However, ten men fell to their death when a piece of the scaffold fell through the net. Praise God, no one will ever break through the safety net of Jesus Christ into condemnation. Jesus promises we shall never perish, and no one can pluck His sheep out of His hand (John 10:28). You may fall into sin at times, but in Christ there is always that net of being in Him, keeping you from eternal condemnation.
What a joy to know whom you have believed and be persuaded that He is able to keep what you’ve committed to Him against that day! Fanny Crosby wrote, “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh what a foretaste of glory divine.” Lina Sandell Berg, another hymn writer, wrote, “More secure is no one ever than the loved ones of the Savior.” Romans 8:39, “Nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
SECOND – YOU HAVE THE GREATEST FREEDOM YOU’LL EVER KNOW
Romans 8:2, For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
Paul is going to focus on six great ministries of the Spirit up to verses 26-27. The Spirit has regenerated you in 2-4; indwelt you in 5-11; leads you in 12-14; witnesses to your adoption in 15-17; sustains you in your trials in 18-25; and intercedes for you in prayer in 26-27.
In verse 2 we have the powerful work of the Spirit for every believer. You’re not under condemnation because the law of the Spirit who brings you spiritual life liberates you from that law of sin and death. Law in this verse means reality or powerful factor. The reality of the Spirit bringing life to you, new spiritual life in Christ, has liberated you from the law or power of sin in you. Isaac Newton discovered the universal law of gravity one day while sipping his tea. An apple fell to the ground right beside him. Suddenly the law of universal gravitation dawned on this genius of the 17th century. He discovered every pair of bodies has a gravitational pull on each other. He even demonstrated that by saying if it weren’t for gravity, the moon would shoot out in a straight line! As it is, the moon is actually drifting away from the earth at 1-½ inches per year! Newton discovered all kinds of other laws and scientific realities. He was an ardent student of God’s Word but sadly rejected the doctrine of the trinity. The law of gravity is like the law of sin. It’s real and strong. We need a stronger law to set us free from sin.
The law of the powerful Spirit gives you life in Christ Jesus and liberates you from the overpowering law of sin and death. Let’s illustrate. There you are surrounded by tons of steel snugly held to the tarmac by Newton’s law of gravity. Suddenly the jet engines fire up and the pilot taxis to the runway. With a mighty roar the engines launch that huge engineering marvel down the runway and before you get to the end, the law of gravity is overcome by the law of aerodynamics. The law of gravity is still there, but the law of aerodynamics is stronger and there you go, hurtling through earth’s atmosphere at 600 mph, happily on your way to your intended destination!
This illustrates what happened in your life when the powerful Spirit of God brought you new life in Christ Jesus. You were released, set free from the law of sin and death. No longer are you under sin’s power and condemnation. You are a new creation in Christ Jesus, and that new life means death is no longer a penalty. Remember, “the wages of sin is death.” Becoming a new creation in Christ means death is now a door into Christ’s very presence. You’ve been set free from the law of sin and death in Christ. Paul is not teaching sinless perfection here. While you cannot live a sinless life and you’re plagued by that flesh back in chapter 7, you’re a free person in Christ and sin cannot stop you from doing God’s will, trusting Him, praying and rejoicing in Him.
THIRD – YOU’VE BEEN BLESSED BY THE MOST GLORIOUS WORK OF GOD FOR SINNERS
Romans 8:3, 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,
“As an offering” is in italics. It should read “concerning or for sin.” And before we dive into this verse, notice two words: “God did.” In the original it just says “God.” We didn’t do it; it’s all about God and what He has done for us. Now, what did God do?
First, you weren’t freed from sin and death through keeping the law because the law had no power, no dunamis. Remember Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes….” The gospel is what? God’s dunamis, God’s power to save. Not the law. And why not? Nothing wrong with the law. The law was weak through the flesh! The Law has no power to change the flesh. That’s why the law can’t save us. The Law is outside us. And all we’ve got is the flesh and nothing good dwells in our flesh (Rom. 7:18).
Which brings us to the fork and pork principle. There’s a savory tender pork roast simmering on the stove. Stick a big shiny fork into it and pull it back out again. All the well-done pork does is fall off the fork into the broth. The pork has no power to cling to the fork. The fork is good, but the pork is weak! There’s the good law, but your flesh is weak in its sin and depravity. You need something far more powerful than the law to come to your rescue.
What the law couldn’t do, God did! Just think about that. What did God Almighty do? He created a universe out of nothing. He is infinitely powerful. He overshadowed Mary and Christ was conceived. The Law has no power, but God is powerful. God did it!
What did God do? Here you have the gospel in a nutshell. God Almighty at a point in time did something for us poor lost sinners. He took the initiative. He launched His rescue operation. He sent His own Son! He designed this rescue operation for us. He didn’t send an angel. No, He spared not His own Son. Doesn’t that sound like Genesis 22 that Stuart read last Sunday. “Take your son, your only son, whom you love.” Abraham spared not his own son! Look at Romans 8:32, “God did not spare His very own Son.”
Here comes the second person of the godhead, the Son, willing to come, obeying His Father, coming in the likeness of sinful flesh. That means He came as a full-fledged human being through the incarnation, virgin conception, two natures joined in one Person, that mysterious “hypostatic union,” truly God and truly man, looking just like you and me but free of sin. He came under the law of sin and death but without sin. 2 Corinthians 5:21, “God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us.” Hebrews 4:15, “We have a great high priest who was tempted just like we are, yet without sin!”
Now, why did God send Him? God sent His own Son to condemn sin in the flesh, His flesh, His perfect humanity! Here is the great gospel reality! God the Father poured out His condemning wrath on His own beloved Son instead of on us. That’s called propitiation! Christ died bearing our condemnation, and then when God raised Him from the dead, the condemning law of sin and death was ended forever for His people! “If the Son shall set you free, you are free indeed” (John 8:36).
FOURTH – NOW YOU HAVE THE GREATEST TRANSFORMING POWER AT WORK IN YOUR LIFE IN CHRIST.
Romans 8:4, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
“So that.” What is the result of what God did for you in Christ. True, you now have Christ’s righteousness imputed to your account and you are justified. But there’s something more here. The righteous (ESV, LSB) requirement of the Law of God now begins to be fulfilled in us. This is progressive sanctification. As believers you have the Spirit of God in you to overcome your flesh. You begin to produce the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, meekness, self-control. And what does it say next in Galatians 5:23? Against such, against this fruit of the Spirit, there is no law. You are living a life that pleases God. God is at work in you to will and to do of His good pleasure! God’s glorious plan of salvation has the power to totally transform the life of any sinner, regardless of his pre-salvation rebellion!
How does this life of sanctification, of walking or living according to the Spirit, take place? Some have gone way wrong here. Around 400 AD a fellow named Simeon the Stylite claimed salvation and wanted to become perfect. He went to a cloister and nearly starved himself in self-denial. Then he took off to a mountain to live as a hermit with a chain around his feet and was visited by people amazed at this holy man! But that wasn’t enough for Simeon. He invented a new form of holiness and lived east of Syrian Antioch sitting on a tall pillar with a platform so small he couldn’t lay down. There he was night and day. Philip Schaff describes it as being “exposed to the scorching sun, drenching rain, crackling frost, howling storm.” He lived on his pillar for 36 years, built higher and higher until finally his pillar was 60 feet high! And there he died, completely misinterpreting holiness. Sanctification has nothing to do with sitting on poles for the rest of your life. The righteous requirement of the law fulfilled in God’s people takes place where we live, in our homes, our marriages, our families, our work, our friendships, and with our neighbors and enemies as we yield our hearts to God, to the Spirit of God in our lives.
SO WHAT?
Spiritual growth in righteousness, or sanctification, is the norm for every believer. If you claim Christ as your Lord and Savior, you don’t go hide away in a monastery or sit on a 60-foot pole. You have an inward delight in God’s Word and a Spirit-given desire to please your gracious and merciful God who loved you so much He sent His Son to suffer in your place for your sin. The law of the Spirit, powerful as He is, enables you to overcome that law of sin in your members.
Do you have assurance of no condemnation in Christ Jesus? Is your life characterized by the overcoming power of God’s Spirit. Take those beautiful fruit of the Spirit and prayerfully ask God to produce them in your life, first loving God and then loving your neighbor as yourself! That’s the righteous requirement of the Law that only believers in Christ who are renewed by the Spirit can produce.