Romans 8 is a panoramic view of the wonderful benefits of God’s righteousness that are now ours because we are “in Christ”…in union with Him through the Spirit. 

As Paul digs deeper into the righteousness of God, powerful keys open doors into this life of righteousness we are to live, built on the foundation of God’s righteousness. 

Romans 8 is the most profound of all Paul’s writings that unlocks the “why”, “what”, and “how” of our new life in Christ, based on what God has done to make this possible. 

This chapter begins with a statement that we believers can lean all our weight on…the first of Paul’s “keys” of understanding,  that forms a solid wall of protection around our minds, and neutralises one of Satan’s most potent and dangerous fiery darts…condemnation!

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭1‬ ‭NIV

“Therefore”… is the “why”… the bridge…the indisputable reason for our confidence, all of which reasoning has gone before in the previous seven chapters. God has done, through Jesus, everything needed to cancel condemnation. 

No condemnation!

Why is there now no condemnation?

“…because, through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭2‬ ‭

Let’s look at that again. 

Yes, the whole world, Jew and Gentile, are guilty of sin. Yes, all are under sentence of death. Yes, no one can escape God’s wrath… but God, because of His great love, stepped in and took the rap Himself. He is both righteous and just…righteous because He punished sin, and just because He can forgive the sinner since sin’s debt has been paid and sin atoned for through the blood of His Son. But why the “why”?

The real reason that God can be both righteous and just is that Jesus fulfilled the law in His human life…He lived in perfect obedience to the letter and the spirit of God’s covenant with Israel…and then He died in payment for the broken law which He didn’t break. 

Look what happened as a result!

“He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.”

‭‭Colossians‬ ‭2‬:‭14‬-‭15‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Jesus took away the reason for Satan’s accusations against us. Yes, we have broken the law and incurred an un-payable debt, but…Jesus paid our debt. 

Jesus fulfilled the law, once and for all, and made it obsolete as a  way to please God and a charge against us. The broken law, the one thing that separated us from a holy God, and roused in us the rebellion in our hearts, has been fulfilled by a human. God can no longer judge us for breaking His law because our debt has been paid by Jesus in our place and…Satan’s hold on us has gone. He cannot accuse us for breaking God’s law because Jesus fulfilled it perfectly for us as our representative. 

The law…the  invoice of all the debts we owed the Father because we broke the law…was  the one thing that stood between us and God. He nailed it to the cross as proof of payment. Jesus paid our debt in full. God has done away with the law as a way to be right with Himself. The invoice has been fully paid. We have the receipt, the blood of Jesus.  

Satan still tries to hold us guilty for breaking the law but his ruse, his lie, has be exposed. The law as a way of righteousness no longer applies. There is a new law in place…the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus…

God has put in place His way… another way to live that satisfies God’s holy standards…the Holy Spirit who now lives inside us!

Let me illustrate…  

There are two ways to obey the rules of the road. One way is by road signs which every driver must obey but… everyone disobeys the road signs even if they are in place, and causes chaos by their disobedience. The other way is to dispense with the signs and put a traffic cop in every car. This way is far more effective because the Holy Spirit’s instructions are internal and personal. 

So, God removed the “rules of the road”, first by Jesus fully obeying them and setting them aside and, second, by putting His Spirit inside us so that we still keep His laws but in obedience to the Holy Spirit because we are no longer in rebellion against God. He broke sin’s power over us.  His law is simple…love Jesus and love one another. 

Finally, how can this be? 

We were once on our own, trying to keep God’s laws but constantly bumping into our old rebellious nature. That didn’t work. Now, however, we are “in Christ”, our old nature dead, buried, and risen to new life in Him. Instead of trying to obey, we simply rest in His perfect obedience. Jesus has “done” everything we were supposed to “do”. It’s s simple as that! 

“The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭3‬-‭4‬ ‭NLT‬‬

All that is left for us to do is to say “no” to the old nature that keeps poking its head up out of the grave, and “yes” to the Holy Spirit who is leading us from inside through the Word. 

To be continued