“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are IN Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:1
“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39
Romans Chapter 8:
No condemnation — in Christ!
No separation – in Christ!
Dear Faithful Seed Sowers,
Greetings in the love and joy and peace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ—who is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow! Praise God!
We will be working through some of the passages in which Paul teaches us that we have a new “LIFE IN CHRIST.”
Do you know that the words “IN CHRIST” are used 119 times just in Paul’s letters alone?
Paul wrote thirteen letters to the churches plus his letters to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. “IN CHRIST” is a dominating theme for Paul. It is fitting that the apostle Paul, who received the revelation of the mystery of the union of Jew and Gentile into one body, should coin a phrase to describe those incorporated into one body. This body is, of course, the body of Christ, the church. Pentecost is the church universal’s birthday; the day the promised Holy Spirit fell upon those who believed in Jesus.
I have a handout with a few of the 119 times where Paul tells us what life is like in Christ. If you would like one —- email me at: pastordave@theseedchristianfellowship.com and I will email you back a copy!
I would like to spend the next few minutes on verse one of Chapter 8 of Romans—possibly one of the greatest chapters in all of the living word! In the Greek verse one is only eight words. But these eight words are powerful and give us a promise of the freedom we have in Christ. I’m going to go over the verse as it is in presented in the Greek lineup—not in the English.
No! — oude
The first word in the Greek is an adjective with an emphasis. The word is “No.” This word is weak in the English translation. In our texts it is a simple negative, like most other negatives. In the Greek text “no” (oude) is strongly emphasized. First, it is not the simple negative “ou” but the compound and therefore the stronger negative “oude.” Second, it occurs at the beginning of the sentence, which intensifies the negation. This word “oude” can be translated, “not one, nothing, no one, none, or just plain no.” The strong emphasis could be translated with a double negative like “no, nothing — no, not one— no—none— no, no one–or simply no no!”
It’s important to note that this word Oude (NO, NO!) describes the noun “condemnation” for anyone who is IN CHRIST. There is simply no, no, no, not one, nothing, none—no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus! That’s great news.
Therefore!— ara
The second great word in this sentence is “therefore.” To what does it refer? Does “therefore” bring us back to the arguments of the struggle with sin in chapters 7, chapter 5 or chapter 3 of Romans? NO,NO! Most scholars say that Paul’s “therefore” is all inclusive, pointing back to the entire argument of the epistle—all 7 chapters prior! The Good News that Paul is telling us is this—- there is no, not one, nothing, none, no, no, no condemnation for us. What Paul is really saying is this, “You know everything else I’ve written in this letter—in the previous 7 chapters…well all of that was to come to this: THEREFORE…there’s NO CONDEMNATION if you believe in Jesus Christ.
Why? Because God’s work done in Jesus Christ (through his life, death and resurrection) and through the the Holy Spirit’s coming at Pentecost—this all leads us to this one thing: there is now “no condemnation” for any person who is “in Christ”.
Now!— vuv
“Now” is a time word, pointing to the change that has come about as the result of our believing in the work of justification that Jesus Christ made possible by his death. Before we believed IN CHRIST, we stood condemned by God. We were due to suffer the penalty of an eternal death for our sins, the “wages of sin” being “death”. But once we believe in Christ…therefore, there is now no condemnation.
Now — not tomorrow.
Now — not next week.
Now — not next year.
Now — not when you get your life together.
Now — not when you do good works for your sins.
NOW — is translated with words like, “at this present time, now, at this very time, just now.”
I love that word!
This past week, I was captured by that word in 2 Corinthians 5:5 — “NOW it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”
I truly believe that God wants us to live in the now and not the the tomorrows or yesterdays. Will Rogers once wrote these profound words about living in the “NOW.” This is what he said, “Don’t let yesterday use up too much of today.(1)
I know that I have at times allowed yesterday’s mistakes, sins, and failures to hold me back. What we are learning today is that if we are “in Christ,” yesterday’s sins contain no condemnation for us. Zero. None.
So What?
Now is the time to receive the undeserved and unearned gift of grace that God has given to us through Jesus’ death on the cross and His resurrection and ascension into heaven —no, not one, none, nothing — no condemnation.
Condemnation — katakrima
This Greek word means that there has been a legal decision in a court case and the verdict is guilty. Did you hear that? “Guilty” was our status! If we were to read the opening chapters of Romans, we would see that we are to be condemned as sinners. We were condemned sinners, subject to the outpoured wrath of God. But suddenly Jesus entered our world and died for us, bearing the wrath of God in our place, and there is NOW “no condemnation” fort hose who are in Christ.
This is such a groundbreaking chapter in the Bible. Chapter 8 starts with THERE IS NOW NOCONDEMNATION for those IN CHRIST JESUS…and ends with…THERE IS NOW NO SEPARATION from the LOVE OF GOD for those of us in Christ.
You see, what will happen when we each face the “Day of reckoning” is that we will have the greatest defender of all stand with us before the judge of all. No matter what the enemy says about us—the grace of God will cover us—if we are in Christ! Instead of a GUILTY verdict, our Lord and Savior will deliver to us a NOT GUILTY verdict—all because he paid the price of our sin on that cross at Calvary.
Oude ara vuv katakrima….
OUDE: No, nothing, no not one thing, no none, no no one, no, no, no….
ARA: Therefore…and not just chapter 7, 5 or 3…but the whole kicking kaboodle of the Bible and the fall of man has been covered by the blood of Jesus…
VUV: NOW….not yesterday, not when you were little, not in your teen years, not in your college years (OH BOY) no…not then…but NOW…just now…today, not yesterday…
KATAKRIMA: NOT GUILTY….
That’s not Greek to us anymore! How about in English? “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are IN Christ Jesus. ”Romans 8:1
Let’s take a moment to pause and ponder the great grace of Jesus who pardons us…now might be a goodtime to say, “I’m sorry. Please forgive me”
I don’t know about you, but I want to run around right now and shout, “HEY! I am IN CHRIST, people! I AM LIVING IN CHRIST!”
Hey, sow a seed of faith in you today. Then go plant that seed into your family, friends, strangers, etc. Who doesn’t need to hear the living word of Jesus Christ? Not GUILTY. Saved. Justified (Just as I’ve never sinned), forgiven.That big gavel in the judges hand is going to slam onto the desk and, if you are a believer, if Jesus Christ is your lord and Savior, you are going to hear over and over again, NOT GUILTY.
Your “SO WHAT?” homework for the week: How does this SEED OF FAITH make me feel? Give me 3 words that describe how you feel knowing there’s no condemnation for you? Here are my three: free, forgiven, unafraid.
“Father God, I believe. I believe Jesus is your only son who died for my sins. Forgive me. Set me free to live in Christ…today and tomorrow. Thank you that after a long and surly court case—you have declared me NOT GUILTY and I am free from all condemnation. Help me to turn from my wicked way and to learn how to live the rest of my life in Christ. God, help me. Amen.”
God loves you and so do I,
Pastor Dave
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