Great News!!!

Biblical writers are really saying. The key to understanding any Biblical passage is to read it closely; focus on the typical meaning of each word or phrase. Also, one must ALWAYS consider the context of the Biblical passage. Romans is just like any other rationally written letter or e-mail; Paul is talking to the people who were the church in Rome, a church established by the Apostle Peter (as in St. Peter). Peter considered Paul his brother, fellow Apostle and his intellectual superior. At the time of the writing of Romans, it is possible Peter was in residence in Rome. Nevertheless, the letter is written to a people that Paul had never met, a church that Paul had not founded (Peter had).

Let's try dissecting verses 1 and 2 and see if any insights are available. First, here is the text we want to examine:

1Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,[a] 2because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.

Now we break down the details:

Therefore: Paul has just gone from Romans 1 through Romans 7 explaining the horrors of sin, God's penalty for sin, and God's mercy in sending Jesus Christ to pay man's price for sin and open the way to eternal life to all who will received the free gift of God's merciful redemption from sin and death into life. So the word is "Therefore", as in "because God has done all these things for all mankind..."

"...there is now no condemnation...": since God has accepted the atoning work of Christ's death and resurrection, people who accept the gift are no longer condemned to hell (eternal separation from God) and are instead given a new life like Jesus' resurrected life (see Romans 6:5-6). These are the greatest two words in the Bible because people had no idea how they could find "peace with God". People who have not accepted God's gift of salvation and eternal life have no clue about sin and death because they are spiritually dead. BUT, their intellects and souls are not dead; they are dying, but they can perceive these words and hear the God's call if they do not harden their heart. Why would anyone reject a call to eternal life???

"...for those who are in Christ Jesus...": the "No Condemnation" promise is only for those who have accepted God's gift of eternal life. You may wonder how that is done. Frankly, you don't have much of a hand in it; God has already done all the hard work on the Cross. People are born to sin, not by anything they did as babies or in their mother's womb, but because Adam and Eve sinned at the dawn of time and were expelled from God's presence. God continued to love them, but there is always a consequence to our behavior. I am a snow skier; when I was a young man I ran a racing course on Aspen Mountain with a more advanced skier / friend. I fell and tore my medial collateral ligament in half, which required 7 hours of surgery to repair and a year of rehabilitation (this was in the stone age in '88 before the fancy new surgery they do today). The point is, I skied in a way that was beyond my ability and I paid a heavy price for it. God warned Adam that when he sinned he would surely die. Well, he didn't physically die in the Garden. But remember the Genesis passage says "their eyes were opened and they realized they were naked". Prior to that they were spiritually alive, spiritual infants, living in paradise with God and his perfect creation. But once they sinned, their infant spirits died on the spot, they were no longer suitable for paradise, and God banished them from Eden. He did not stop caring for them, but their wrong behavior ("sin": "missing the mark") caused them to have to change their circumstances dramatically. We are their children and we all are born with dead spirits, just like those of Adam and Eve. God will resurrect those dead spirits if we accept the free gift of eternal life in Christ. My signature line below delineates the difference between those who are spiritually dead and those who are alive in Christ. Dead spirits think all this "religious mumbo jumbo" is foolishness. But those who God has saved understand it is God's tangible, authentic and REAL power at work in their lives. So the "NO CONDEMNATION" is for those alive in Christ; those who reject Him are still under the death sentence for their sins.

"...2, because through Christ Jesus...": our only hope is in Jesus' atoning death and resurrection. He is God; the book of John says Jesus (the Word) was with God in the beginning at creation; in Colossians it says all creation was made by Jesus and FOR Jesus. He is the King of the Universe; anointed by God the Father. And don't forget, the Trinity is imagery that allows us mere mortals a glimpse at mysteries far beyond our comprehension. God is a bigger God than people can imagine. The Bible tells us all we need to know about Him in this life, but when we see Him face to face we will "see clearly", as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13. So all our salvation is "through Jesus Christ". Jesus told His disciples "I am the way, the truth and the life: no one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). This comment of Jesus is according to the Bible, which has been demonstrated historically accurate via archaeology and never altered from the original writings by all the manuscript copies of the New Testament in our possession from the early 2nd century (as early as 110 AD, hundreds of years before the Council of Nicea). Jesus says He is the only way to God. IF there is a God Who has revealed Himself to us, would He allow that revelation to be uncertain or nebulous? It seems to me intellectually that a God willing to give a clear revelation would be very specific. Indeed, Jesus' words in John above are about as specific as any ever uttered in history. He is not about diversity or tolerance as the world envisions it. His way is "one way". That one way: "...through Christ Jesus".

"the law of the Spirit of life": When God saves us "through Christ Jesus", God's Spirit, or the Holy Spirit, also called "the Spirit of Jesus", quickens, or gives resurrected life, to the our dead spirits we inherited from Adam. That is the miracle of God's salvation (technically called "justification", which means God sees the people He has saved "just as if they had never sinned"). When we are saved God gives us His Spirit Who lives inside us, never leaves us for all eternity, and makes us a child of God. He will also grow us in the knowledge of God. When we are not saved, we cannot believe the truth about Christ because it is a spiritually discerned belief and we are spiritually dead. Atheists, for example, are dead spiritually, just like people who give intellectual assent to a "belief" in God but have not been justified by God. That is the "foolishness" that Paul is talking about. But the first thing God does is when He saves us and the Holy Spirit indwells our dead spirits, giving us spiritual life, is we have "FAITH" that Jesus has saved us; that is how "we know" He exists. Until we have that supernatural faith, we are dead spiritually and cannot understand the "law of the Spirit of life". The law is God loves us, has given us eternal life that has begun RIGHT NOW, not when we die. We have a new life in Christ and a new relationship with God "through Christ".

"...set me free from the law of sin and death." Once we are indwelled by God's Spirit, the is NO CONDEMNATION, which is the law of sin and death. God is perfect. He allows no imperfection in His presence. He made a perfect creation for man to live in and made man in His own image; He gave man a free will and man chose to sin rather than obey God. The law of sin is: "...you will surely die". But Jesus set us free by paying the price for sin on the Cross. And if you don't understand, the pain and beatings were just mere by-products of the price He paid. Remember that while Jesus was on the cross a complete darkness fell on Jerusalem. Josephus (I believe it was him, but you can Google it and check it) reported that there was an eclipse of the sun during Jesus' execution, at a time an eclipse was not possible. It was no eclipse. God turned His "back" on His Son. At that time in history, God's presence was literally removed from that part of the world. Jesus, dying but not yet dead, experienced the hell due all mankind for all their sins, on mankind's behalf. God, Who loves Him as His only Son, turned away from Him; that is the definition of hell. Remember that the devil doesn't like hell; it is his place of torment and eternal punishment also. So God the Son, Jesus Christ, spent time in hell for all the sins of the world that had been committed since Adam and that ever will be committed until He comes back to earth. The enormity of Jesus' sacrifice is far beyond our comprehension. Mel Gibson's wonderful movie The Passion of the Christ depicts mostly Jesus' physical and emotional suffering. But that was "chump change" compared to the hell He took for you and me. That hell is the "law of sin and death".

If there is any interest in this from even one reader, I am glad to cover the rest of this monumental chapter, Romans 8, in this expository fashion. It will take some time, but I'm willing if you are.

David

PS I didn't have time to edit this for grammar and typos; hope it's okay but I've got to go.

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. The Apostle Paul

said I should keep teaching. Here's Romans 8:3-4...

3For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature,[b] God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering.[c] And so he condemned sin in sinful man,[d] 4in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.

"For what the law was powerless to do...": The law (Law) is the 10 Commandments and all of God's Old Testament Commands as found in the Pentateuch (the first 5 books of the Bible; originally the Jewish Torah). Paul teaches that the Law shows us what sin is. Without the Law, Paul says he wouldn't know that "to covet", for example, is a sin. But through the Law, he learns that it is a sin to covet the things of others (wife, possessions, money, etc). We also learn that murder, stealing, and putting other things before God are all sin. The Law makes lost people aware of what is "right and wrong" even though we do not have God's Spirit (the Holy Spirit, God the 3rd Person of the Trinity) to accurately TEACH us His Law personally. And we know that the Law works. Most countries, regardless of religious affiliation or culture, know that murder and theft are "against the Law". But though the Law makes lost people aware of what is right and wrong, it is powerless to SAVE US from eternal separation from God. The Judaism that evolved after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD taught the Pharisees version of God's Word (from the Old Testament); that we are to be saved by obeying the Law. That is what Orthodox Judaism teaches today; salvation by good works; obeying perfectly the Law (which no one can do). Paul says here that the Law is powerless to save us, because man cannot perfectly obey the Law.

"...in that it was weakened by the sinful nature": The Law is powerful in that it teaches us what sin is. God taught the first command of the Law to Adam and Eve; their obedience to it in the Garden of Eden kept them in God's presence and in Paradise. But once they sinned, they died spiritually, were cast out of God's presence and Paradise, and began living by their "sinful nature". Paul teaches that in our sinful nature we are spiritually dead and incapable of doing any "good" thing due to the spiritual death. Now you may say that generous people do "good" things all the time. But Jesus says that only God is good. He also says to believers who are about to give a gift at the altar (in church); "if there is anything between you and your neighbor, then leave you offering and go to your neighbor and make things right between the two of you. THEN, go present your offering so it may be accepted by God. So goodness is not something man can conjure up; it is only by God's indwelling Spirit that man can be good. Otherwise, man's fallen sinful nature is incapable of anything good; the Law is weakened by this sin nature. Lost mankind can try to "do good", but obeying the Law in a lost, sinful state is not enough. The sinful nature weakens the Law's ability to save people from separation from God. That is why Judaism and any other religion does not save people from separation from God. Once the original sin had been committed in Eden by Adam and Eve, there were NO WORKS of man that could ever resolve that sin problem. Only the work of Jesus on the Cross will ever repair that rift between God and men and women.

"...,God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering." AS I just pointed out above, it is the work of God's Son as a "sin offering" that allows people to be saved from eternal separation from God (hell). Never forget that the baby Jesus was God the Son, the eternal God of eternity Who took the form of a baby to grow into a man in order to be God's perfect "sin offering" to pay the price of the sin Adam and Eve committed, plus all of the sins mankind has committed and ever will commit. God the Son took the likeness of a man so we could know what God looks like and how He operates. The Jesus we read about in the Gospels is the God/man Jesus of Nazareth. Don't believe the liberal TV docudramas (like on the "History" Channel) about Jesus as some dude about whom "myths" sprung up, and those myths are reported in the Bible. Not one Word of the Bible has ever been documented to be false. Read William Lane Craig's monumental book "Reasonable Faith" (available on Amazon.com) to understand the inerrancy of the Bible. The bottom line of this passage: the Law could not save mankind from it's sins, so God sent Jesus to be the perfect sin offering.

"...4in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us,": The Law demands we obey it; that we become "righteous". But due to our dead spirits (we inherited from Adam and Eve), we can do no good deed good enough to be seen as "righteous" before a righteous and holy God. We sin not matter how hard we try not to sin. Only Jesus of Nazareth lead a perfect, holy and righteous life as a man on earth. Of course, He was also God incarnate; He had an advantage we do not. Yet the Bible says Jesus was tempted to sin in every way we are tempted. But He never sinned. So He is righteous. His sacrifice for our sin is then acceptable payment for our sins in God's eyes. So when God saves us (due to us not rejecting His call to salvation), then we become "righteous" due to God the Holy Spirit indwelling our dead spirits and giving us spiritual life. Our "righteousness" is not our own; it is God's righteousness living inside us by His Spirit Who gives us His righteousness. The Law says we must be righteous. After God saves us, He sees us righteous. That is very good news, because only those God sees as righteous can enter His presence for eternity. Those who reject Him and His call do not meet the "righteous" requirement, so they are separated from God. If they never accept Him in this life, they will be separated from Him for eternity; they failed to meet the "righteous" requirements of the law; they were never fully met in them.

"who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit." Once we have been "saved" by God's justification, we become alive spiritually. God's Holy Spirit lives in us. So we do not live like those who are dead spiritually (those who reject Christ; those who are "lost"). The lost may be famous, wealthy or powerful people. They may possess great intellects, athletic ability, talent, humor, or the ability to do great acts of kindness and compassion. Those are all gifts from God. But if they reject God's Spirit, they are destined for eternal separation from God. Even with all those wonderful gifts from God, they are still living according to the sinful nature and not according to the Spirit. The promise of "NO CONDEMNATION" is only for those who God has justified; who have accepted God's free gift of salvation by the blood of Jesus shed on the Cross, which paid the price for all of the sins of mankind. But for those who continue to live in the sinful nature because they rejected Christ, the price is "Condemnation": eternal separation from God.

The world is full of people who reject God and are on the path to Condemnation. Many famous people, many who are role models for young people, are living by the sinful nature. It is not hard to figure out. Look at their behavior. Listen to the lyrics of their music. Look how they behave sexually. Look at how they mock God in their attitudes; like they are the most important people on earth. It's not just celebrities. Look at your friends. Look in the mirror. Today, if you hear His voice calling you to surrender your life to Him, do not harden your heart. That call is the soft, still voice of God's Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus, calling you to Him. He loves you. He wants you to know Him and have fellowship with Him and have a love relationship with Him forever. He wants you to live with Him for eternity, and eternity starts TODAY if you accept Him as your Savior and Lord. He is always good. His love endures forever. He is the MOST REAL person you will ever know. Of course, after He saves you you are still an infant. But you will grow as you learn to walk with Him. He will never leave you or forsake you. He will give you PURPOSE in you life; to know Him and love Him and enjoy life to the fullest walking with Him every day of this life and for eternity. You never are really alive until you know Him in His death (on the cross for YOUR sins) and His resurrection (eternal life that YOU can share with Him forever!). He does all the work; your job is just to not harden your heart against Him, and that is not work. It is work to reject Him. So be lazy and don't reject His call. Just say in your heart (or out loud; it doesn't matter, He hears your every thought before you have it): "Lord Jesus, thank you for dying for me so I can know you and live with you forever. I want to live eternity with you starting right now. Please save me and let me be your child forever."

If you asked Him that sincerely, you are already saved right now. Angels are rejoicing in Heaven right now because you are saved. God the Holy Spirit is living in your heart; you are a "new creation" in Christ Jesus. Your life will never be the same. You may feel different or you may feel the same; it doesn't matter, He deals with us all individually. But never doubt He loves you, has always loved you and will never stop loving you. But now you are His child. You are a newborn spiritual infant. If He has given you this spiritual birth, let someone know who is a believer. Find other believers who will help you in your life with Him; someone who can help you grow in your faith. That is what we are to do for one another. The "church" is not some building; it is the fellowship of believers. We are here for each other. WE are brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ. IF you are my new brother or sister, let me know if there is no one else to talk to. I'll take care of my brothers and sisters if there is no one else.

In Christ.
David

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. The Apostle Paul