No Condemnation

As we return to our studies in Paul’s epistle to the Romans, we find ourselves at the beginning of chapter 8. It is important to remember that the chapters and verses of the Bible were added long after the Biblical authors wrote, so Paul’s train of thought from chapter 7 continues here, as the word therefore indicates. However, Romans 8:1 does represent a major turning point. Our commentator, Dr. James M. Boice, notes that Paul’s “therefore” probably refers to everything he has written to the Romans thus far, not just to his teaching about the law of God in chapter 7. Paul, therefore, is summing up the result of God’s work of salvation through Christ, saying, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” Boice declares that this verse is the theme of Romans 8, which he considers to be “the greatest chapter in Scripture.” But he goes even further, saying that Romans 8:1 is “the theme of the entire Word of God, which is only another way of saying that it is the Gospel. Indeed, it is the Gospel’s very heart.”

As Paul has taught the Romans, all people are naturally guilty before God, having rebelled against Him and violated His law. That means all are under His condemnation, a sentence of eternal death. Christians, too, were under this well-deserved condemnation, but in their case the sentence has been commuted by the work of Christ. As a result, all who are “in Christ Jesus” face no condemnation. “We stood condemned by God and were due to suffer the penalty of an eternal death for our sins, the ‘wages of sin’ being ‘death’ (Rom. 6:23),” Boice writes. “But that has been changed now because of God’s great grace and favor to us.” Romans 8:1, therefore, is “a statement of the believer’s perfect and eternal security in Christ.”

Verse 2 gives us the first of several reasons why the condemnation has been removed: “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” Both instances of the word law in this verse refer to “operative power.” By the power of the Holy Spirit, believers have been freed from the power of sin and have been joined to Christ. All those so joined are given the divine gift of justification, by which their guilt is taken away and they receive the righteousness of Christ. None so blessed shall face condemnation.