“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Rom. 8:1
There is probably not any other verse in the Holy Bible (except of course for John 3:16) that is quoted as often by Christians as Romans 8:1. Unfortunately most, including myself, were merely saying what we had heard all our lives. Never trying to think for ourselves what God might be saying. Sadly, this is not a new problem to the body of Jesus Christ. We have, since the apostles, tried to rely on someone else to do the sacrificing that it takes to get the revelations to attain that “high mark,” to delve into “all things, yea, the deep things of God.” (1 Cor. 2:10). God, in His inspired word, takes great pains to point out the importance of self-study and self-sacrifice. Time after time the we are instructed to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil. 2:12) and praises those that “received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so” (Acts 17:11). So with this in mind let us look at today's text.
Here we read a very relieving passage that helps in those times of spiritual weakness. However, there is a very important aspect to this verse that in most quotations and modern versions is left out: “who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” This part of the scripture limits the number of those that have “no condemnation” to those that walk after the spirit (i.e. the will of God) and not after the flesh (i.e. the will of Satan).
I once knew a man that used this verse to say that if you gave your heart to Christ it didn’t matter if you committed adultery, murder, or fornication because “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” See how only quoting the first part changes the entire message of the verse. The “no condemnation” only applies to those that try with all their might to walk in the path of the spirit and not in the deeds of the flesh. We are told later, in the same chapter, that “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. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace . . . So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God . . . For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” (v. 5,6,8,13,14). So then, it is expressly evident that in order to please God, to walk after the Spirit, means to “MORTIFY” the deeds of the body of sin. “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin” (Rom. 6:6). |
