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               Romans Chapter 8: 1 - 4

Set Free from Sin by the Spirit of God

       John 3: 16 – 21 / John 14: 15 - 17     

 

Last time we met the women at the tomb asking the question “What does it mean to live on the other side of the cross for them, for Jesus and for ourselves?”  

This morning, I would like us to focus on the other side of Christ’s ascension by looking at the Holy Spirit the third person of the trinity, who Jesus promised in John 14 and indeed sent after His ascension in Acts 2. The question I’m asking this morning, is this. If we have accepted Jesus as our Saviour, we therefore have the Holy Spirit living in us as 1Corinthians 6:19 says, “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own.” 

The Triune God is living in us! Therefore, the power that created, the power that saved and defeated death, that same power that raised Christ is present and available and furthermore is living in us!

 

So why do we feel like the Apostle Paul in Romans 7: 15 - 20?

When he says, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself, does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it”.

Paul is confirming the hopelessness of the flesh as he mourns that although he has the desire to do what is right, he doesn’t have the resources in himself to translate his desire into action. Paul is not excusing himself or disclaiming responsibility, he is simply stating that he has not found deliverance from the power of indwelling sin and that when he sins, it is not with the desire of the new man that he has become.

So how does Paul and we find this source of deliverance?

We simply turn the page and go to the next chapter!

Chapter 8 is one of those truly life-changing chapters in Scripture. It is a chapter however that people either find difficult to read because of the language used, or they struggle to read it in any depth. But it is a chapter that every believer must understand. The Holy Spirit is the main person in this chapter as the apostle Paul unfolds the wonderful reality of salvation and redemption. The Holy Spirit has only been mentioned once in the previous seven chapters but bursts onto the scene with great importance in this chapter. 

It is the Holy Spirit's chapter, and it is a chapter about life in the Spirit.

God has packed so many wonderful truths into this one chapter, it is truly amazing. And so, it is certainly worth our time to look at this chapter.

Verses 1 – 4 teaches us that as Christians, we have been set free from sin by the Spirit of God. Paul in Galatians 4:7 goes further by saying “Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God, through Christ.” This is an incredibly important truth, and so surely we want to see exactly what that means as we need to understand it because as Christians we are no longer slaves to sin, but we don’t always take advantage of our freedom. We continue to struggle with sin and guilt as Paul was stating in Chapter 7, when God only wants us to be free.

 

Part of our problem is simply knowledge. Unless we truly know that we have been set free from sin, we too can be tempted to remain in sin and that’s where Romans 8: 1 – 4 comes in. It explains to us how we have been set free from sin. Surely, one of our greatest weapons against sin and guilt in our lives is simply a clear understanding of the truth given to us in just these four verses.

So, beginning with verse 1: “There is, therefore, now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” “Therefore”, meaning the results or consequences of the truth just taught in the previous chapters. Normally the word therefore would mark the conclusion of the verses immediately preceding it. But here it introduces us to the staggering results of Paul’s teaching in the previous 7 chapters; that justification is by faith alone on the basis of God’s overwhelming grace.

Verse 1 is a strong statement of fact as there is, right now for you, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. We have been set free from the condemnation of sin.

 

Condemnation is a judicial term; it is the opposite to justification as it refers to a guilty verdict and the penalty that verdict demands. The emphasis in this verse surely falls squarely on the word, “No.” As there is no condemnation for you who are in Christ, none whatsoever! No sin a believer can commit, whether past, present or future can be held against them. Since the penalty was paid by Christ and His righteousness was charged to the believer. And yet so many of us still struggle with sin and guilt in our lives when in fact, we have been set free.

Notice the word “now” in verse 1. “Therefore, there is now no condemnation.” In one sense it is saying, “Now that Christ has come, now that you have put your faith in Christ, there is no condemnation for you.” But it also refers to the present. When we talk about condemnation and forgiveness, we are not just talking about heaven and hell in the future. Our condemnation or the removing of our condemnation are both present realities.

We read John 3: 16-18 earlier which said this: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

Do you understand that? Whoever believes in him “is not condemned,” right now, therefore in the present, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already, right now, therefore in the present.

Back in Romans 8:1, the word translated “condemnation” here carries not only the idea of “condemned as guilty” but also of the actual punishment that follows the sentencing. Didn’t the thief on the cross in Luke 23: 40 – 42 recognise this when rebuking the other criminal, saying, "Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong." Then he said to Jesus, "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom." Another example here could be that of a condemned house, as it is not only deemed unsafe to live in, but there is also a judgement hanging over that house, because it is going to be knocked down and destroyed. Therefore, the word encompasses both the condition of the house and its future destiny. So, when Romans 8:1 says that there is no condemnation for the believer, it clearly means there is no sentence of guilt and no corresponding punishment for the one who is in Christ Jesus.

 

Finally, the phrase “in Christ Jesus” here in verse one describes those for whom there is no condemnation. What does it mean to be “in Christ?” Those who are in Christ are those who have been united with Christ by faith and are those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ as God’s only Son who died on the cross for their sins. Therefore, for those who are in Christ, there is now no condemnation as we have been set free from sin.  

And verse two tells us the reason why there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.”

The word “For”, introduces the reason there is no condemnation for the believer as the Spirit has replaced the law that only produced sin and death with one that produces life!

The word “law” can however be a tricky word in the Bible, because it can have several different meanings depending on the context. Even today we use the word “law” in different ways. Sometimes we use it to refer to a written statute: whether a speed limit or a law against crime. Other times we use the word “law” to refer to a recurring principle, like the law of gravity or the laws of physics. For example, if I hold a heavy object over your head and drop it, the law of gravity tells me that you are not going to be very happy with me.

There are however three different types of law that we find in these verses in Romans: the law of Moses, the law of sin, and the law of the Spirit.

The law of Moses is an example of written law. These are the commands God gave us to obey, especially in the Ten Commandments. But the law of sin and the law of the Spirit are both laws of principle or force. The law of sin is the principle of my sinful nature which rebels against God and desires sin over righteousness, whereas the law of the Spirit is the principle of the Holy Spirit living inside me who desires righteousness over sin.

There are however three important distinctions about these laws:
1) the law of Moses has righteousness, but no power;
2) the law of sin has power, but no righteousness;
3) whereas the law of the Spirit has both righteousness and power.

 

Let me explain what I mean. The law of Moses has righteousness, but no power. Romans 7:12 says, “The law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.” The law God gave to Moses was holy as it reflected God’s righteous character. There was nothing wrong with the law except our inability to keep it. The law of Moses therefore has righteousness, but it offers you no power to keep the law.

 

The law of sin on the other hand has power, but no righteousness. The law of sin is that sin principle within me that keeps me from obeying the law of Moses. The law of sin within me does not desire God’s righteousness and rebels against God’s laws. The law of sin therefore has great power, but no righteousness.

Whereas the law of the Spirit has both righteousness and power. The law of the Spirit is the principle of God’s Holy Spirit living within me, desiring righteousness, and giving me the power to obey God’s commandments. The law of the Spirit therefore has both righteousness and power.

Paul calls the law of the Spirit “the law of the Spirit of life,” and he calls the law of sin, “the law of sin and death.” Simply, because the law of the Spirit leads to life, while the law of sin leads to death. Paul says that if you are in Christ then the law of the Spirit of life has set you free from the law of sin and death, because the power of the Holy Spirit is a greater power than the power of sin.

Yes, you still struggle with the sinful nature after coming to Christ just like the Apostle Paul was speaking of in Ch7: 15-20, but you are no longer a slave to that sinful nature. You have been set free from the law of sin and death by the law of the Spirit of life, and the rest of Romans 8 goes on to examine this truth more fully.

Why do we need the law of the Spirit then? We find the answer in verse 3: “For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering.” The word “law” here in verse 3 refers to the law of Moses, God’s commandments. Why do we need the law of the Spirit? Because the law of Moses was powerless to help.

The word translated “powerless” in verse 3 can also be translated “impossible.” It is the same word Jesus used when he said in Luke 18:27, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.”

So, what was impossible for the law of Moses to do? It was impossible for the law of Moses to set us free from sin.

Why was the law of Moses powerless? Verse 3 says because “it was weakened by the sinful nature.” The verb I am assured in the original language means “continually weakened.” God’s perfect law, which has righteousness but no power, was continually weakened by my sinful nature, which has power but no righteousness. The problem therefore is not with the commandments, as the problem is with me because I have a sinful nature that does not want to obey God’s law.

The law is like a mirror. A mirror can show you that your face is dirty, but it cannot clean your face for you. In the same way, the law can show you that you’re sinful, but it cannot take away your sin. And how does my sinful nature weaken this? Simply because the best mirror in the world will not help me if I have no desire to wash my face. God’s law was holy, righteous and good, but I did not desire to follow God’s law. The law was powerless to help me, because it was weakened by my sinful nature.

But what was impossible for the law to do, God did. And how did he do it? Look at verse 3 again: “. . . by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering.” The words “his own Son” are emphatic in this section. God did not send an angel or an agent or someone else’s son. God sent his own Son “in the likeness of sinful man.”

This is a very carefully phrased statement about Jesus: “in the likeness of sinful man.” John Stott says about this phrase: “not ‘as a sinful person,’ for Jesus was sinless; not ‘in the likeness of humanity,’ for Jesus was fully human; but ‘in the likeness of sinful humanity’ for Jesus was both completely sinless and fully human.”

Verse 3 ends by saying this: “and so he condemned sin in sinful man.” Picture with me for a moment that broken-down house once again, but now with the word “SIN” written across the front in big, bold letters, and then picture a “Condemned” sign hanging on that house. Now picture a large wrecking ball swinging down and demolishing the whole structure. That is what the law could not do. It could not condemn sin and destroy its power in your life. But God sent his Son to condemn sin for us. We are no longer condemned, because God has already condemned sin in Jesus Christ. “What the law was powerless to do . . . God did by sending his own Son.”

 

And why did God do this for us? What was God’s purpose in condemning sin? Look at verse 4: “… in 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.”

God’s purpose in sending his Son and demolishing the power of the law of sin in our lives was so that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us. Our Bibles sometimes translate this word in the plural as “requirements,” but in the original text this word “requirement” is in the singular. In other words, it does not refer to all the many requirements of the law but to the one overall requirement of the law which is to be righteous in God’s sight.

 

Notice that this requirement is “fully met in us.” We do not meet the requirement ourselves. We never could, because we are not righteous in and of ourselves. But the requirement becomes fully met in us through faith in Christ as we live out our lives, not according to the sinful nature, but according to the Spirit of God who now lives in us.

Let’s review all four verses for a moment.

Ø Verse 1: There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Ø Verse 2: Why is there no condemnation? Because the law of the Spirit set us free from the law of sin.

Ø Verse 3: Why do we need the law of the Spirit?  Because the law of Moses was powerless to help, so God sent his Son and condemned sin.

Ø Verse 4: What was God’s purpose in condemning sin? That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who live by the Spirit.

 

You see, the law of the Spirit does it all! It fulfils the righteous requirement of Moses’ law, and it sets us free from the power of sin’s law. Through Christ we have been set free from sin by the Spirit of God.

So, the question I leave with you is, are you living in Ch7 or Ch8? Are you still struggling with your sinful nature as in Ch7, or are you ready to walk in the freedom of Ch8 by the power of God’s Spirit?

Because through Christ we have been set free from sin by the Spirit of God.

And it’s in Christ alone.