No Condemnation

Stephen Terry

 

Commentary for the December 2, 2017 Sabbath School Lesson

 

“For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” Romans 8:3-4, NIV

In Romans, chapter eight, we finally come to the resolution of our serious problem with the Law and sin. Paul simply sweeps the whole thing away in verse one proclaiming "there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." This simple statement carries so much with it. For instance it implies that those not "in Christ" remain under condemnation. They struggle with the Law and the death that is the only result for the disobedient, and of course, all are disobedient. (Romans 3:10)

This statement also reveals the important truth that Jesus Christ is the only resolution for the sin problem. (John 14:6) Whether Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Jew, Christian, Agnostic or Atheist, the same simple truth applies. We are all disobedient, and we can only resolve the condemnation that comes from disobedience through Jesus.

Some might attempt to ignore that Law that condemns us, or if not the Law, at least the condemnation it brings, but that Law is immutable. Even the Devil knows this and uses it to accuse us in our disobedience. (Revelation 12:10) He knows that the Law is an effective tool to slay the lost. We must be careful not to enter into this accusing work and assist the Evil One. Our work is to provide the solution by proclaiming Jesus. We have no part in the work of condemning one another, for all have sinned (Romans 3:23) and the very work of accusing others of their sins accuses us as well, and the death we bring to others through such work knocks on our door, too.

Interestingly, in verse two, Paul reveals that there are two apparently conflicting laws. One law, through Jesus, gives us life, but the other law, as has been previously discovered, brings us death. Examined through the lens of Romans 6:23, one law appears to operate by grace, bringing the gift of life. But the other law appears to be based on works which cannot provide life and instead brings death as a wage for those works. Perhaps it is this basis of works that makes the latter the “commandments of men” (Mark 7:7) for they teach that one may be saved by man’s works. Many in this world follow this idea. They believe that if they only accumulate enough good works to outweigh the bad, they will make it to heaven. Romans 3:23 seems to indicate that this idea may be grounded in self-deception.

In verses three and four, Paul shares a bit of a paradox, for Jesus did not come to condemn anyone (John 3:17), yet His life and death were condemnatory for they revealed that there is no escaping the penalty due under the Law. If it were possible for our good works to accomplish that deliverance, then the death of Christ on the cross would have been superfluous. That agonizing death is the greatest argument that our good works, weighed in the balance, do not outweigh the depths of depravity that sin has brought to our lives. Christ Jesus remains the only remedy.

Paul continues on in Romans 8 to reveal the conflicted nature of our existence. While we have the Spirit as a result of our relationship to Christ, we nonetheless continue to live in the flesh. These two natures are at war with one another, and this war will not cease until the Parousia. For it is then that we receive a body to go with the indwelling Spirit of God. (1 Corinthians 15:51-54) Death will continue to reign over us until that day. But the Spirit is the promise of that fulfillment to come. Without the Spirit of Christ, we have only the Law. It brings death due to our inability to obey. (Romans 7:21-24) Once we receive the Spirit, the presence of Christ is the negation of the condemnation the Law has brought upon us. This is the essence of our hope. Once Christ has entered our hearts and minds, the Law is fulfilled in us. Importantly, we must notice the distinction. It is not fulfilled BY us; it is fulfilled IN us. (Philippians 2:13) The Spirit then becomes that Law of life which replaces the Law of death. That Law of life is inscribed on our hearts through the Spirit’s presence. (Jeremiah 31:33)  Once that happens, the Law of the Spirit will pull us toward heaven, while the flesh which continues to encumber us will draw us toward all manner of fleshly desires. Each moment we are presented with a choice between life and death. Will we follow the spirit to life, or follow the flesh to death? Since the body is doomed to die, it has little interest in the change to come. It cannot enter heaven. (1 Corinthians 15:50)

Furthermore, in our flesh, which we continue to inhabit until the Parousia, we have no ability to do what is righteous. (Isaiah 64:6) The battle between the flesh and the Spirit continues to rage. However, while we do not have the ability to produce righteousness in our flesh, we do have the ability to choose to surrender the conflict each day and allow the Spirit to have sway over the flesh that He might work righteousness in and through us. It is through this surrender, this setting aside of the conflict between the flesh and the Spirit of God, that others are able to see Jesus in us. Perhaps the Gospel is never so much about being right as it is about being surrendered. Arguments won, no matter how powerful, may never equal the power of one surrendered life.

Perhaps the work of the Christian, if there is any work, is not works but surrender. In Romans 8:9, Paul affirms that life or death is a matter of who is in control. That choice is whether we surrender or fight against God as His enemies. (Romans 5:10) For those who choose to be at enmity with God, the choice is simple: continue to seek personal glory and self-gratification by pursuing fleshly desires. But for those who are tired of the battle and wish to surrender, the method may not be so obvious. How do we surrender to God's control when everything we do takes us further away from Him?

Maybe Moses knew the secret of surrendering to God's control. In Exodus 14:14, we read that Moses told the people, "The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” In this modern age, perhaps that is the hardest work of all, to simply be still. We often crave activity and engagement with the world around us. While this is not always bad and may even be essential to sharing the Gospel, we dare not overlook the opportunity of being still and allowing God to be in control. This, maybe more than anything else we can do, opens the door for God to enter our world and manifest His power. If we want seas to part and mighty deliverances to occur, we might wish to cultivate the ability to “be still.”

Life continually confronts us with problems and drama. It is hard not to feel that we must address those issues lest they spin irretrievably out of control. If God already has it all worked out, and we only need to “be still” and trust Him, It may be that the only way to find that out is to actually put this concept to the test.  Maybe this is why so much of the kingdom of God is not about proof but instead is experiential where we continually return to the proverbial “leap of faith.” Perhaps this leap is simply type at the moment of conversion and finds its anti-typical existence in these myriad challenges, large and small, that confront us day by day.

If we take that leap and trust Him and continually surrender to His control, His interventions may enable us to learn to be still even though everything around us is total chaos and devastation. We may not be able to learn this any other way, for every good thing, every righteousness in our lives comes only from Him. (Philippians 2:13) The ability to "be still" might uniquely come from a peaceful heart that only He can grow in us over time as we learn to trust Him more and more.

We may, of course, choose instead to surrender to carnality and lust. But when we do so, we eliminate any ability to be in harmony with God. In the same way that, when we choose to surrender to the Spirit, we place ourselves in opposition to fleshly desires. (Romans 8:5-8) We decide each day which nature we will surrender to and allow growth. It may seem strange that we would even think to choose death when life is free for the asking, but even deadly poison can be very alluring to the flesh if enticingly packaged. Nature teaches us this lesson through examples such as the Pitcher Plant and the Venus Fly Trap. We can be delivered from such snares if we choose to surrender instead to Christ. (Romans 8:13) Then life will grow within us until that eventual day when even death will no longer have a foothold.

Paul tells us in Romans 8:15 that before Christ, we were slaves to fear. Fear of what? In our selfishness, we accumulated whatever was in our power to gather. Then, through fear of losing what we had collected we became enslaved to the very things we were so attracted to. If we think of how much time and effort is spent securing, maintaining and insuring these things, we can perhaps begin to understand how a life of selfishness can be enslaving. The mind of such a person is often revealed in its obsession with personal rights rather than service to others. Their life is spent striving to receive all they feel they have coming to them with little to no surrender of their personal desires in favor of others who may also have legitimate “rights.” Afraid of losing everything, they refuse to surrender anything.

However, Christ has offered to set us free from that fear and slavery by assuring us that God can be the source of our security and happiness, not things. (Matthew 6:25-33) While some would blame all the strife and warfare in this world on religion, perhaps the reality is that pursuit of things is at the root of most conflict. We want what others will not allow us, and so we seek to take it by any force that lies within our means. Then if successful, once we have it, we do all we can to keep it from losing it. More often than not, however, most of us are not successful and that carrot always remains just out of reach.

This does not mean those with little or nothing are saints in their poverty. They too can be enslaved with fear of losing the only thing they may have, life itself. Rich or poor, much of our grasping is centered on life and life quality. But God has assured us that He will provide for all of our needs. Even though anything beyond that is vanity, He also often blesses us beyond those simple basics. The key is to abandon our fear of losing everything and surrender it all to Him and His care. When we do this, even if we experience loss, we can perhaps begin to understand that in that loss may be deliverance from a greater loss. We may learn to accept without knowing why or how God works for our benefit and blessing and rarely takes something away without providing a greater blessing in its place.  Perhaps it is in the comfort of that understanding that we can experience the peace that breaking the chains of self-centeredness can bring.

When we proceed in Romans, chapter eight, we discover that we are the sons (and daughters) of God and joint heirs with Jesus. (v 14-17) However, that may be a legal definition which, while technically true, is not physically so, as Paul goes on to say that we are not yet revealed as such. At least the Creation does not recognize it as so. (v 19) Perhaps this is because inwardly we may surrender daily to the Spirit, but outwardly, we too often still walk in carnality. The battle still rages between the dying flesh and the life giving Spirit.

Some may act as though they can completely overcome the fleshly desires and lusts before the Parousia, but if that were true, why would they still need Jesus? It is the spirit that overcomes, not us, and He is only allowed to do so if we surrender to Him daily, moment by moment. We may still be tempted to take up arms against Him and resume warfare against God. We surrender not because we are righteous or able to overcome such temptations in our own power, but precisely because we are not and cannot. When we look at others and believe that we are in any way more righteous than they, we are far from the Kingdom of God. But when we look at them and see, instead of their sins, our own corruption and need of a Savior, the Kingdom of God is very near.