Chapter # 8 Paragraph # 1 Study # 1
December 18, 2016
Humble, Texas
(058)
1769 Translation:
1 [
There is] therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
6 For to be carnally minded [
is] death; but to be spiritually minded [
is] life and peace.
7 Because the carnal mind [
is] enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
10 And if Christ [
be] in you, the body [
is] dead because of sin; but the Spirit [
is] life because of righteousness.
11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
1901 ASV Translation:
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death.
3 For what the law could not do,
in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
4 that the
ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
5 For they that are after the flesh mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
6 For the mind of the flesh is death; but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace:
7 because the mind of the flesh is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be:
8 and they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 But ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. But if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the spirit is life because of righteousness.
11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwelleth in you, he that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead shall give life also to your mortal bodies
through his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
- I. The Elimination of "Condemnation" For "Those Who Are In Christ Jesus".
- A. The first issue is the fact that this is the third "ara" phrase in this context (7:21; 7:25; and, now, 8:1). This means that the statement to follow is the third "conclusion" that Paul is drawing from the "reality" of both "The Indwelling Sin" and the impotence of "The Law of The Mind".
- 1. The first "ara" phrase claims that we must draw this "conclusion": there is this "reality"; for the believer who has a "do good" desire, The Evil is (dominatingly) present.
- 2. The second "ara" phrase claims that we must also draw this "conclusion": there is this "reality"; believers serve the law of God with their minds, but the law of sin with their flesh.
- 3. And, now, the third "ara" phrase claims that we must also draw this conclusion: there is this "reality"; there is no condemnation to those [who are] in Christ Jesus.
- B. The second issue is the Authorized Version's (following the Textus Receptus) addition of the phrase "who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit". Textual critics point out that this addition is found to have developed in two stages; first, the addition of "who walk not after the flesh", and then the later addition of "but after the Spirit".
- 1. There is a significant distinction in Paul's theology between being in Christ Jesus and walking by the Spirit of Christ Jesus. Paul pointedly accused the Corinthians of walking according to the flesh while being in Christ as babes (1 Corinthians 3:1-4).
- 2. There is also a significant distinction in this paragraph between "being" in the Spirit, but not, necessarily, "walking" by that Spirit.
- 3. This addition was apparently made by copyists who had a higher interest in pushing their theology than in transmitting the text from which they copied. This strain of "no one but those who live their theology are 'true' believers" has always been with us and will be until Jesus comes and corrects all things theological.
- 4. If there is yet "condemnation" to come upon those who are "in Christ Jesus" but who are not "walking after the Spirit", there will be no "believers" in heaven after all.
- a. Paul, alone, used the word translated "condemnation" in the New Testament and he only used it three times, all of which are found in this letter to the Romans. The uses are instructive: two of them are in chapter five (5:16 and 5:18) and both uses there indicate what happened to mankind because of Adam's transgression. Thus, this final use cannot escape the association with these texts: no one under Adam's condemnation impact will be in heaven.
- b. It is absolute lunacy to insist that only those who are "walking by the Spirit" will escape this "Adamic" impact. Romans five is insistent that only Christ Jesus can nullify Adam's impact, and those "in Him" obtain this grace from God.
- c. There are those who insist that only those who "walk by the Spirit" are exempted from condemnation, but those very ones who so insist go through many of the hours of every day "walking after the flesh" while blind to their own hypocrisy and, thus, are headed to condemnation simply because of their proud blindness. Those most consistent in "walking by the Spirit" are those who clearly see their "works of the flesh" as the hours of the day pass and turn in genuine repentance to the promise of God for forgiveness to those who walk in humility and confession. Either Christ died for our sins, or He did not. Condemnation is only for those who do not believe that He did. The disappointing truth is that Christ's death for our sins does not, itself, deliver us from the law of The Sin in our members; that is for the Spirit of Christ within us to address, and His first step of "address" is to convince us that we are not headed for condemnation if we have trusted in Christ.
- B. This exemption from condemnation is rooted in "the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus".
- 1. The critical word here is "in".
- a. This is a "position" word that indicates that those "in" Christ are "out" of Adam.
- b. The issues of the post-in-Christ reality include the subsequent possibility of "walking" by a totally different and new reality: the indwelling Spirit of Christ Jesus.
- 2. There are two opposing "principles" involved.
- a. There is the "principle" (translated "law") of "The Sin and The Death" that dominates everyone, believer or unbeliever, who does not move into the other principle.
- b. This "other principle" is "The Law of The Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus".
- 1) Those who are moved "into Christ" by grace through faith are moved "into" this new reality of a more powerful "spirit" whose task it is to produce the "walk".
- 2) This "Spirit/spirit" reality is at the very heart of all who "walk". No one "walks" without an empowering "spirit" and there are only two options: the "spirit who works in the sons of The Disbelief (Ephesians 2:2) and the "Spirit" of God given to all who believe in the "Son" of The God.