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
_______________________________________

                                     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

Main Index