Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. ASV
Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are
in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. KJV
Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those in Christ
Jesus, who do not walk according to flesh, but according to Spirit. LITV
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COMMENTARY
The true believer is ~both~ justified by faith alone plus
nothing Period.... and is walking, or living in the spirit and not the
flesh!
That means he is walking in all the commandments of God ~Blameless~.
Luke 1:6. And it is the redeemed ~Person Himself~ who is doing that!
There are those out there who deny the Biblical doctrine of
Sanctification by saying...
"It's not ~Me~ doing anything... because I can't do anything... because
I am still a sinner and am like the guy in Romans 7. Just like him I
cannot keep the law, neither do I ~have~ to keep it because my [false]
christ has kept it for me. In my flesh, everything ~I Myself~ do is
sin! In my flesh I am a God-hater. But Christianity is.. 'It's all god
and NO me!'. I don't live the Christian life. Jesus [the false one]
-in- me lives it through me. Gal 2:20."
That false doctrine of Sanctification is taught by John Pedersen & his followers in Gettysburg, Pa.
That's damnable heresy folks and there are people who believe that who think they are Christians!
The life and the lip go together and -both- are necessary
elements of the process of salvation. Nothing is more certain,
than that chapter 7 and the two chapters 6 & 8 were designed to describe not only
different experiences, but experiences opposite to each other. And that
both these experiences should belong to the same person at the same
time, is manifestly impossible. Therefore chapter 7 and chapters 6 & 8 are 2 different persons. Chapter 7 is the unregenerate & chapters 6 & 8 the regenerate man.
The Christian, though he walks in newness of life characterized
by an absence of sin, will still sin from time to time. But if he were
to brake the law and then die of a heart attack, the entire universe
could not inflict the sanction of the law on us because we are no
longer under it’s ~Condemning~ power & jurisdiction.
Christians are no longer under the -Ruling power- of the law. Christians are no longer under the -Condemning power-
of the law. A Christian therefore is -Beyond the power of death!- The
condemning sanction of the law is eternal death but we are dead to the
law’s condemning power through the death of our Messiah.
Therefore we are beyond the clutches of death. True, we must pass
through the process of -physical- death but that is not real death in
the true Biblical sense. The death that God will inflict on the
Reprobate who have broken the law has already been inflicted on Christ
on behalf of all the Elect. Therefore, those who are joined to Him by
faith have died to the condemning power of the law and will never know
death in the true sense. If anyone objects that this makes no sense, I
heartily agree. It makes no sense to the -carnal mind- which is
enmity against God. But the gospel teaches that the just shall live by
his -Faith!- We walk by -Faith-
and not by sight. How can a person become "free from the law" and yet
at the same time be obligated to pursue holiness or perish? I don't
know; ask God!
In the final analysis it must be recognized that Romans 7
is not talking about the believer's conflict with sin, nor is it
talking about the on-going process of sanctification, which is the same
thing. This approach is what leads to erroneous interpretations and
false doctrine. Rather, the subject of this chapter is nothing less
than the subject of the whole book, namely, Justification by Faith! In
chapter 7 Paul sees man in his fleshly state in comparison to the
Living God and recognizes the depths of depravity sin has carried him
to. Paul is not asking the question "how can I have the victory over my
sin?" Rather, he is asking and answering the question "How can someone
as wicked and depraved as I am ever hope to be ~DELIVERED~ from my sin
and its consequences?"! The one & only answer is the Gospel.
Therefore Rom 7 is the Gospel as it depicts an unregenerate man who
realizes that there is -no way- he can deliver himself from the power
of sin through the law. This is what causes him to cry out... Wretched
man that I am who shall... ~DELIVER~ me? The answer to that question is
found in chapters 6 and 8 as they describe the New life of a New man in
Christ which comes about by the Gospel.
Romans
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