Romans 8:1
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”
Where this sits
The opening of Romans 8, immediately after Paul's account of doing what he does not want to do and crying out about the body of this death.
Reflection
The word therefore points back, and what it points back to is a description of failure.
Romans 7 ends with a man in a loop: he wants to do good and does not, he knows better and acts worse, and he finishes by calling himself wretched and asking who will deliver him. Whatever else that chapter is, it is not a picture of someone with the problem under control.
And then: there is therefore now no condemnation.
The therefore is doing something almost outrageous. It draws a conclusion of acquittal from a description of ongoing struggle. That is not the direction arguments usually run.
Condemnation is a verdict word, not a feeling word. Paul is not saying you will stop feeling bad about your failures; chapter 7 suggests he did not. He is saying the court has ruled, and the ruling is not in doubt while the struggle continues.
Now is the other word to notice. Not eventually, not once the pattern in chapter 7 is broken. Now — at the exact point in the argument where the man is still in the loop.
And the qualifier is positional rather than behavioural: to those who are in Christ Jesus. Not to those who have stopped losing. To those who are somewhere.
- Theme:
- Forgiveness
- Book:
- Romans