“There is therefore NO CONDEMNATION for those who are IN CHRIST JESUS. For the Law of the Spirit of Life IN CHRIST JESUS has set you free from the Law of sin and death.” (Romans 8:1-2 NAU) The Weymouth NT puts it, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus; for the Spirit's Law-- telling of Life in Christ Jesus--has set me free from the Law that deals only with sin and death.”
The Greek word used here for condemnation is Strong’s #2631 - katakrima. It means, an adverse sentence, a down/negative judgement which results in damnation. How like the voice of religion is this meaning! So ready to damn us for what we have done or we been.
Now, most of us do believe that, “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.” (1 Corinthians 15:2,3) And we just dwell at the “sins” level. However, because we fail to accept that Christ DIED for US “THE SINNER,” we see ourselves as “sinners” who constantly sin, rather than the SAINTS that we now are. Our salvation has been merely a ticket to fly off to a place called heaven where one can enjoy all of the things that appeal to our earthly senses (most descriptions of heaven are very appealing to our carnal senses), should we somehow make it by our good works, etc.
It is a sad fact that multitudes of God’s people live in condemnation. It may have been imposed by others, or self imposed when we have failed in some aspect of our walk as a believer. This need not be! The root problem behind this is our FAILURE TO SEE OURSELVES IN CHRIST. Most live in the, “hope to someday be free, to live victoriously, or fly away” syndrome, or think that they are bound up by some demon whom they believe is more powerful than Christ. What a perversion of truth that is!
The idea of a life-living present relationship with Christ has never reached the minds, let alone the spirit of many. If it has, it was quickly cast aside so that we can continue to wallow in the stench of unworthiness. Not worthy? Settle it once and for all, of course we are not worthy in and of ourselves! Once the issue is settled, let the fact of the worthiness that we have IN CHRIST overwhelm us. So stop sinning against the Grace of God, begin to receive, and live in by and through his glorious grace.
There is NO CONDEMNATION to ALL who are IN CHRIST JESUS. WHY? This is because He bore the condemnation, and the sentence for us. That is not all. WE WERE INCLUDED IN CHRIST JESUS WHEN HE DIED. ALL of the members of the first Adamic race, who have lived, are now living, or will yet live, HAVE BEEN included in His death, and in the CONDEMNATION He bore.
Yet, many believe that Christ died in our stead rather than for us, and with us included in Him. Ray Prinzing has written, “The carnal mind always conceives a doctrine which spares the flesh and dulls the mind with a false security. Such is the whole tangled thread of "substitutionism" with its inherent delusion of escapism. How we rejoice therefore in the inflow of divine illumination which dispels the darkness, eradicates the carnal creeds and concepts, and brings us back into the upward path of truth and life. It is not an escapism which is needed, but that personal participation which will work in us the fulfillment of His purpose, and the experiential knowledge of His plan for each of us. Then shall we be found to His praise and honor and glory. Amen!” End of quote.
Romans 6:5-7: For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin. THE CARNAL ADAM IN YOU, IS DEAD! This death means that there is legally, NO CONDEMNATION! Why? The new In-Christed man is NOT the old man.
Romans 8:2 tells us that LIFE, the Spirit of Life, HAS set us free from the Law of Sin and Death which for us began by the failure of the First Adam. Not only have we died IN CHRIST, we now have LIFE IN CHRIST that overpowers all else. So, why let the fear mongers twist our faith towards anyone, or anything, but our victorious Christ. Yes, the ONE who is dwelling in you and me. Forget the teaching of “generational curses” that were taught under the Mosaic law. We ARE NOT UNDER THAT OLD LAW unless we choose to be, and if so, then we have forsaken the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ. It is either sin, death and fear, OR life, joy and freedom in Christ, because we are NOW new creations in Christ.
Romans 6:8: Now if we have died with (a primary preposition meaning UNION) Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, Our UNION in Christ works both ways, it kills the old Adam man and releases us into the NEW, that is God’s LAST Adam. The choice we have to live by is either the OLD ADAM who instigated sin and death, or the NEW ADAM, the Prince of Life. Those who ARE IN CHRIST JESUS have absolutely NO CONDEMNATION because we are IN HIM and HE IS IN US.
It was in the mid 1950's that I heard an old man (R.E. Sternal) who had been a leader in the early Pentecostal move of the 20th century in Canada, speak about, “CHRIST IN YOU.” Night after night he spoke, yet, my mind was not getting it. Was it just because his speech was hard to understand due to the stroke he had suffered, or perhaps I was just a spiritual dunce? Yet, in spite of that, something was being birthed in my spirit. As I look back through the years I am amazed at the patient way our Father has been maturing truth in me. It has been much like a woman who has become pregnant with child, and must go through the whole nine months before giving birth. Probably some of you have been, or are, there too.
Yes, we are free from condemnation since He took it all on Himself. No longer are we under the Law of Sin and Death, and the condemnation that comes with it. Rather, we are flowing with the SPIRIT of LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS. It is no wonder that we can say as the words of an old chorus has:
Our lives are swallowed up in victory,
Death has no dominion over us
Since Jesus came, O praise His name,
Our lives are swallowed up in victory!
There is NO CONDEMNATION for God’s LAST ADAM, is CHRIST, and CHRIST IS IN YOU, and YOU are IN CHRIST! Walk in this light of this glorious FREEDOM!