Believers are NOT condemned.
The Doctrine of Justification by Faith Alone
No Condemnation (Justification by Faith Alone)
During premarital counseling, I was given some of the best advice I have ever received to this day. This one session in particular had a major impact on my life. Once this session had begun, our counselor instructed us each to think of the worst possible thing the other could do to us. He gave us each a moment to think—What? Why would I want to think of this? What could he possibly be getting at with this instruction here? This seems so contrary to the point of premarital counseling, right? I was pretty confused and racking my brain to think of something, anything—Finally, he broke the silence and said, “Okay, now forgive them for that.” Woah... What a beautiful way to love your spouse, exercising forgiveness toward them in the same way we are forgiven of our sins against God. This advice has given me valuable perspective, and really shaped my heart. Almost ten years later I still tell my wife playfully, “I already forgave you for that.”
This counseling exercise helps us begin to grasp the concept of today’s passage. Let’s dive into the text and then unpack what Paul is teaching us through Romans 8:1,
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
- Romans 8:1
First and foremost we must recognize the therefore statement and investigate it. Meaning, any time we see the word “therefore” we need to look to see what it is “there for”. These therefore statements are usually used in scripture when signifying a conclusion to a series of verses directly before it. However, in this case, Paul is actually using this statement to conclude the entirety of his letter so far. Here is a recap through Paul’s letter to the church in Rome to show us what he has been teaching.
Romans 1-7 Recap:
The letter of Romans can be broken down into three sections so far; The first section of Romans are Chapters 1-3. Here, Paul explains unrighteousness and introduces condemnation for both the Jew and the Gentile. No one can be justified by The Law.
“For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.” - Romans 2:12
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” - Romans 3:23
The second section of this letter directly follows Romans 3:23 all the way through chapter 5. In this section of Romans Paul explains how God IS righteousness and how we are justified by faith alone. Justification by faith is the perfect follow-up to section one, because we cannot be condemned if we are justified.
Justification (δικαίωμα) and Condemnation (κατάκριμα) are two contrasting legal terms that Paul is using here in his letter to better illustrate this concept to his readers. The Greek word “δικαίωμα” (dikaíouma) or justification means, in the theological sense, “the action of declaring or making righteous in the sight of God.” The word condemnation in our passage today comes from the original Greek word, “κατάκριμα” (katakrima) meaning “an adverse sentence, penalty, or final verdict.” In other words, pertaining to sin, it means death that includes total separation from God for eternity (More on that in a moment.) Therefore, if we are justified, we cannot be condemned.
“24…and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” - Romans 3:24-26
Lastly, we reach Paul’s third section of his letter leading up to Romans 8:1, chapters 6-7. Here he explains how the righteousness of God is imputed, or credited, to believers and then he goes on to teach about sanctification, which is God’s transformation of a believer to make them fit for His holy purpose. Sanctification stems from true repentance and justification. Notice again how Paul is using these topics in sequence to show how each follows the other. Sanctification is the follow-up to justification, since sanctification follows true conversion.
Leading right up to our text, we see in chapter 7 Paul explains how we have been released from the penalty of The Law. The aforementioned death and separation from God—for eternity. One might think, “Wow, that’s a pretty weighty penalty for sin!” Well, the penalty for sin is considered eternal because the sin is committed against an infinite God, who is infinitely worthy of obedience, therefore condemning us to an infinite punishment; Eternity and separation from God in hell. To say it more simply, the severity of the punishment reflects the infinite nature of God offended. Eternal.
Why are believers not condemned?
This then begs the question, Why or how are believers released from this penalty? This is because—and ONLY because—Christ suffered that penalty for us on the cross. According to The Law, and in order for it to be fulfilled, a sacrifice had to be made for atonement. This sacrifice had to be perfect and without blemish. (Leviticus 1:3, 1:10, 4:32, etc.) Jesus lived a perfect life, being without sin or blemish, the Son of the Living God, the God-man, the infinitely perfect sacrifice for our sins, qualified as the atonement for ALL the sins of God’s people. (This is what we call substitutionary atonement, or atonement on our behalf.) This very Truth brings us right to the topic of Romans 8:1; because of Christ, we are now released from the condemnation of The Law.
“For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” - Romans 6:5
Just to make sure we are all on the same page going into Romans 8:1;
First, believer’s are NOT condemned because we are justified.
Then, because we are justified, we MUST live holy lives that honor God.
Now we see in our passage today Paul’s summary-statement of the reality we get to live in…
This is the valuable Truth of Romans 8:1:
Believers are NOT condemned.
Oftentimes we think that bad things happen in our lives because of our sin…well then logically the flip side of that statement would be that good things happen in our lives because we deserve them for living righteously. Well, that is flawed logic based on what was previously explained by an eternal punishment for sin against an eternal God. The reality is that “bad things” (or the worst possible thing; eternal separation) are all we ever deserve because of that sin. We can never be good enough to earn grace from God. But…God doesn’t cause bad things to happen as a punishment for our misbehavior. He isn’t following behind us smacking us on the wrist or whoopin’ our behind every time we sin. Sure, there are immediate Earthly consequences sometimes for our actions… However, pay careful attention here, God is not punishing us or condemning us for our sins through these consequences. Justified believers do not step back into condemnation for sin. You cannot pay for your sins. Even in Hell. That is why Hell is eternal because the payment required is eternal. The beautiful reality here is that Jesus already received that punishment on the cross for us. Nevertheless, we must recognize that there is a difference between discipline and punishment. God does still discipline his children as any good father does, as we see in Hebrews 12:7-11:
“7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” - Hebrews 12:7-11
Moving on, let us examine the second half of this verse. “There is now therefore NO condemnation...” for who? “those who are in Christ Jesus.” Once we repent, or turn away from our sins, and put our faith in Christ, we are no longer condemned. We are IN Christ and He has imputed, or credited, His righteousness to us. It is only because of Christ we are forgiven of all our sins; past, present, and future. Therefore being totally justified and at peace with the Almighty God. Colossians 2:13-15 says,
“And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.” - Colossians 2:13-15
Christ came. Christ lived. Christ died. Then, Christ rose again from the dead, conquering death and sin, so that WE could be justified. Our debt was paid in full, in fact Jesus' declaration from the cross “τετέλεσται” (tetelestai) or "It is finished" was a commonly used phrase on receipts for taxes showing that the debt was "paid in full." In saying this, “τετέλεσται”, Jesus was declaring the debt for ALL the sins of God’s people had been paid. THIS is the good news of the Gospel, Christians! HALLELUJAH! Believers are justified through the work of Christ. Therefore, because OUR debt was paid in full, believers are NOT condemned.
Application
So, how can we apply these truths to our walk with Christ?
Rest in Assurance. Find comfort and rest in that you are seen as “in Christ” before God’s eyes. There is no condemnation because of His righteousness imputed to you.
Live in Obedience. Repent and be renewed by the Spirit, and live in ongoing faith and obedience to Jesus Christ because of what He did for our justification.
Conclusion
In conclusion, believers are NOT condemned. We are now seen as justified before the eyes of God and counted as righteous. Because of this, we should live now in ongoing faith and obedience to God, because
“He already forgave you.”