There is therefore now no condemnation in Christ

[瑤翰 김요한]

There is therefore now no condemnation in Christ (Romans 8:1)

Humans have a humanism that likes themselves to be self-respecting.

In such a situation, people prefer religion and faith that seeks their own benefit.

We hate to find ourselves in the Bible that God designed.

So, Israel refuses to be like Moses because they say to Moses, "you will  meet God, and we will do whatever you say".

Because this is the tendency of humans to have sin in Adam, the gates of heaven were blocked in the Middle Ages by preventing anyone from reading the Bible.

Although the Bible is now open, as it obscures the Spirit of truth, and obscures the fact that heaven has been created where people become one with Christ and dwell in God.

The Bible helps us know Christ (John 5:39) and Christ allows us to approach God, so preventing us from reading the Bible or not knowing that the Spirit of truth has come within us is the same as blocking the gates of heaven.

So, while the preacher was trying to cater to the tastes of people who said, 'I believe in Jesus, believe in God, receive grace, receive blessings, and seek my own benefit, and then go to heaven after I die,' true biblical repentance was not achieved, and salvation in Christ did not even begin.

The reality is that many of these believers are coming and going from the church.

Q. Why is it so important to know where we belong?

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” (Romans 8:1)

A. Because there is absolutely no condemnation in Christ.

Being in Christ means that the Spirit of truth has entered into us and that the conditions for salvation have been established.

In Romans 8, there is no talk of forgiveness of sins or salvation.

That's because we've already gone through Chapters 5 and 6.

In chapter 4, we receive the word of God before God.

That was the faith of Abraham and David.

Chapter 5 is the result of faith.

We were passed from Adam to Christ.

Chapter 6 explains, ‘What kind of relationship do I have with Christ and how are we connected with Christ?’

Chapter 7 explains 'Why humans cannot obey the law and why they cannot become instrument of righteousness".

So, oh wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? (Romans 7:24)

There is a sigh, followed by a song of victory that says, “I thank God through  Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 7:25)

1 Corinthians 15:57, “Thanks be to God, which gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The wages of sin is death.

Death gives sinful people dark energy, dark emotions, and dark hearts and minds.

Victory comes when you hear the word of life from Christ, the Son of God, in the midst of death, and you become alive and brightened by the light.

For this, he says, "Thank God for giving us victory."

So the word "now" refers to entering a new spiritual state that is completely different from before.

Therefore, he emphasizes that there is no condemnation.

In Romans 8 there is no condemnation anywhere.

There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus.

Because in Jesus Christ there is no element of sin and death.

Condemnation means executing sin, but since there is no sin in Christ, there is no execution.

In Romans 8, there is a clear divide between the inside and the outside.

It means inside the castle and outside the castle.

Inside the city there is light, outside the castle  there is darkness, inside the castle  there is freedom and outside there is condemnation.

That is why Paul very firmly declares, "therefore now".

When a man is in the light, he is confident and bold, but when he is in the dark, like Adam and Eve, he looks for a place to hide.

We must not forget that the Bible was written to recognize God's children as superior from the standpoint of God's promises.

Abraham, David, and Paul were all physically insignificant people, but the Bible is a book written to give them a sense of great superiority from the perspective of God's promise.

Therefore, only by reading the Bible can one's glory and honor be revealed within it.

Only the Bible recognizes my superiority and my worth.

That is why the Bible strongly states that if you are in Christ Jesus, there is no condemnation from now.

This is to give a very great feeling of superiority to those who are in Christ Jesus.

The Spirit of truth is the Comforter who leads to Christ and Christ to God.

It is a truly amazing way to salvation and an incredible way to life.

We must believe in and accept both the redemptive work accomplished by Jesus and the provision of life through which Christ lives and works within us.

We must participate in what Jesus did, and we must participate in the work of Christ living within us.

The Book of Acts explains that Jesus is both Lord and Christ. (Acts 2:36)

That Christ is now within us.

Truth is always present.

It makes us one with God in our present state.

This is called eternal life. (John 17:3)

The message of salvation was different in each era.

In the Age of Law, if you read the Law and believed and looked forward to the coming time of grace and truth, you were saved.

At the time of grace, if you become one with Christ in the truth, you are saved.

If you accept and apply the truth of Christ, you am saved.

The Synoptic Gospels are about what Jesus did, and the Gospel of John is about Christ.

In the Acts of the Apostles, the gospel that ‘Jesus is both Lord and Christ’ is preached.

Romans says that Christ is in us and that we are in Christ.

The Church Epistles talk about how Christ is applied and filled through his body, the church.

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.”

This means that we have become members of one household with Christ.

However, this means that there is still condemnation for those outside of Christ.

“He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Those who believe in him have eternal life, but those who do not believe in him are already condemned. (John 3:16,18)

The proof that I have been judged is that when I receive his words, I feel condemned without realizing it.

The feeling of condemnation against the Word is judgment.

If you look at Jesus' genealogy, it includes Abraham, David, and Jesus Christ.

Jesus and Christ are the same, but on different levels.

Because Jesus was born from Judah, but Christ is the Son of God.

The divinity of the Son of God resided in Jesus,  he died, was raised again, and was declared to be the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead.(Romans 1:4)

Jesus, who was born of David's lineage, was declared as the Son of God through his death and resurrection from the dead, and because we have received the Spirit of the Son of God, we call God Abba, Father.

So in 2 Corinthians 5:16, Paul says, “I do not know Jesus according to the flesh.”

This means that I do not know Christ according to the flesh.

Chapter 1 of the Gospel of Matthew ends with these three men: Abraham, David, and Jesus Christ.

Chapter 1 of the Gospel of Matthew ends with these three men: Abraham, David, and Jesus Christ.

From then on, spiritual lineage appears through Christ.

However, it says, "there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."

In other words, he explains it this way to explain who those in Jesus Christ are.

This means that they are those who walk after the Spirit in Christ.

Salvation is not important in how you believe, but in where you are.

Therefore, faith is not about feelings or emotions, but about believing in tangible facts according to the Word of God.

Written by Ptr. Yohan Kim.

Translated by  Nancy Chung

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