Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, because 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 (CSB)

Do you know what one of my favorite things about God is?

It’s the way He repeats the same message to me in fresh ways through different people or circumstances.

He knows I need to hear a message more than once for it to sink in, and He knows exactly how my brain makes connections, so He gives me the same message in different ways over a period of time.

This week, that message has been: “There is no condemnation.”

The quote came from “You Are More Than You’ve Been Told” by Hosanna Wong (seriously, everyone needs to read this book!) and then I saw it supported again and again in a study of Romans by Dr. David Jeremiah (also great!) that I’m doing for adult Sunday school class.

Meditating on “There is no condemnation” along with the Scripture found in Romans chapters 6, 7, and 8, has brought me to several freeing and also sobering realizations, some for the first time and some as much needed reminders.

Sweet friend, God is so faithful in the way He reveals His truth to us or reminds us of it right when we need it most. Knowing how God works, I am trusting that the words I’m sharing today and the rest of this week bring realizations or reminders that you need too.

For today, let’s just hang out in Romans 8:1-2:

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.”

To fully embrace the freedom presented to us through Christ Jesus, we must first fully comprehend what it means to not be condemned, which means we must also understand what it means to be condemned.

A quick Google search reveals that the verb condemn is defined as:

• the expression of complete disapproval, typically in public
• to sentence someone to a particular punishment

Most often, in American English, the word condemn is used when someone is facing a severe punishment.

I mean, when is the last time you heard of someone being condemned to six weeks of public service?

No, condemned is reserved for “condemned to death” – otherwise, we use “sentence”, life sentence, sentenced to twenty years, etc…

Biblically, we see that condemnation is connected to sin; God expresses repeatedly His disapproval of sin (Isaiah 59:2; Psalm 5:4; Jeremiah 5:25, just to highlight a few).

God tells us that sin leads to death, because the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).

And I know that is not new information regarding sin and condemnation, but there’s a key point that God has shown me recently that I know needs shared more often:

God disapproves of sin.

God loves people.

Sin carries a death sentence.

God does not sentence people to death.

Sin carries people into death.

There is no condemnation for those in Christ because Christ allowed our sins to carry Him into death, then He rose again, demonstrating God’s power over death and over sin.

Beloved, we know those who are in Christ do not need to fear death because Heaven is home, BUT – and this is HUGE – those who are in Christ also do not need to fear God’s disapproval.

Now, I know that’s a bold statement to park us on today, but I’m going to park us there all the same. I hope you’ll come back tomorrow to see where I’m going with this bold statement. In the meantime, take some time today to celebrate that in Christ, we have no fear of death, and take some time to read Romans chapters 6-8 in preparation for tomorrow’s post.