Read: Romans 8:1-13
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 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. 12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
One of our precious children had a really hard time summing up what she wanted to tell us. I remember telling her, “I need fewer words.” She would use four hundred words when others could say the same thing in ten. When she would expound on things she wanted us to know, I would find myself getting lost along the way. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to know; I wanted to understand what she was telling me, but I would get lost in all her words. Do you ever feel that way with Romans? I know I do. I truly want to understand the words in this book, but trying to sum up the arguments and theological details that Paul is laying out can feel overwhelming.
Plenty of books could be written on each single chapter of this great book, and this Sunday, Carson will dive again into thirteen deeply rich verses. Thirteen verses that not only speak deeply in and of themselves, but tie to numerous other verses throughout Scripture which make their truth more tangible and evident. This leaves me wondering not only how I encourage you with these verses without writing a full chapter, but also how to do it without lessening the beauty of these verses.
We remember that Paul was a really good member of his Hebrew community. He had read, studied, and worked hard to be a good Hebrew. With this knowledge, I can’t help but think that if there was one verse Paul would have heard over and over, it would have been this one from Deuteronomy 6:5,
5Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
Internalizing this verse would have sounded this way to Paul, “Paul. Love the Lord with your heart, with your soul, and with your strength.” Within this verse the whole being of a person is encompassed. I can’t help but think this training that his being belongs to the Lord influenced him when he wrote this part of Romans.
Paul is transitioning from the argument he has been making in chapter 7, so he begins chapter 8 with,
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Our flesh (body) is no longer condemned.
3By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Our minds are no longer condemned: here I am equating mind to heart.
5For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
Our souls are no longer condemned.
9You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.
Interesting, right? As we think about what Paul was taught as a good Hebrew in addition to his consideration of his new life in Christ, it shines light on how his whole being is now found in Christ.
And being found in Christ, there is no condemnation. Experiencing salvation had to create a huge shift in Paul’s understanding of what it means to love the Lord with his whole being. A shift that says it isn’t on Paul’s (or our own) shoulders to be righteous. It isn’t about our deeds, our actions, our words, or our thoughts, it is about what Christ has done. We are now found in Christ, and in Christ, our righteousness is found.
How different is loving the Lord when the love isn’t based on our righteousness, but rather on being found within the righteousness that Christ has given to us?
8For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8-9
It is hard to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength when we feel we are living condemned. But living under no condemnation brings “life and peace” to our lives, and here we can love the Lord from a place of thankfulness and freedom from the death of sin (vs. 10).
