News: See below :-)
Favorite nugget: I'm beginning a verse-by-verse study of Romans 8. So far, in 3 days, I've made it 6 words in :-). "There is therefore" (2nd and 3rd days) "now no condemnation" (1st day-then I backtracked).
First, the full verse: "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 8:1, NIV*).
When you read Romans 7, "therefore" is a very strange word for Paul to use. In every verse of Romans 7, Paul speaks of his wretchedness and confusion-he is a Christian, he wants to do the right thing, but he can't! Yet because of this he says there is no condemnation? No! Romans 7:24-25, selected (NKJV*):
"Oh, wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
I thank God - through Jesus Christ our Lord!"
Jesus delivers us!
Nevertheless, the context of all of Romans 7 does tell us something: what kind of condemnation we are talking about. This is not specifically condemnation to eternal separation from God. This is the condemnation we experience as we go about our everyday lives, sin, then struggle to know God's forgiveness and our utter blamelessness before Him. When that happens, this is our promise: there is now no condemnation - none whatsoever. But what is condemnation?
Condemnation: the act or process of condemning someone or something
Condemn: to pronounce someone guilty of a henious crime involving serious punishment after full appraisal of the evidence
to justly blame
to declare someone or something to be unacceptable, bad or wrong
Synonyms: censure, blame, disapprove, denounce, criticize
How righteously could Christ condemn us! Yet He promises...
no guilt
no blame
We are, through Christ...
acceptable
good
right
praiseworthy
approved
announced :-)
commended
No way! :-)
But He says: "With God all things are possible."
*You'll find that I switch back and forth between NIV and NKJV a lot in this particular study (which you'll probably be hearing a lot about :-) ). NIV is Mom's Bible's translation, which we memorized out of for years (including most of Romans 8); NKJV is my Bible's version, which I like better :-).
1 comment:
I like that you are taking it slow...there is a lot of beautiful truth in those verses, and it can take a bit of time to grasp further.
Praise God--we have no condemnation anymore through Christ Jesus!
I only have a small addition: like you mentioned, in ch.7 Paul mentions that though his mind wants to do right, the sin nature in him wishes to cause harm. And in ch.8, Paul states that those who are in the Spirit have their minds set on the things of the Spirit, but those who are in the flesh have their minds on the things of the flesh. two things here:
a) if we truly are saved, and are transformed by the renewing of our minds, we will have our minds set on the things of God rather than of man, and the merciful freedom we have in Christ because of His taking away our condemnation will be used for His glory, because our minds have been renewed, and we will desire to do what Christ wants. Ever heard: " I want to be free to do whatever I want!" Well, as Christians, we /are/ free to do what we want; but if we have been redeemed, what we want would be what God wants.
b) But it does not end with the renewing of our minds; if this were the case, it would be just as Romans 7--we would desire to do right, but our flesh would cause us to stumble. So more than freedom from condemnation, more that a renewed and redeemed mind, we need /power/ to fight our sin. And He does give it! We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us, and He delivers us from "this body of death"; Christ has conquered, and we are more than conquerors because we are in Christ! (oops, getting ahead of the passage here...ah, well.)
So praise the Lord!
--Josiah C.
P.S. Ah yes, your Bible version. I did not get to ask you about that(why you like it better, etc.) at Bible study...would you mind explaining it now, or will you do that in a post later?
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