Therefore, there is now
no condemnation for
those who are in Christ Jesus
Bible Rank: 46
What is the first word in today's verse?
Do you know what Bible teachers say about this word? "Whenever you see a 'therefore,' ask what it is There For!" In other words, what is the lead up to this verse?
Up to this point, Romans has been a long, systematic, logical, theological argument. In a legalistic world where everyone assumed that you had to earn your way to God with good works, the Apostle Paul has been systematically showing us how human works are futile (we all sin and fall far short of the glory of God); therefore, it is God who must work to save us ... and God, through Jesus Christ, acts with overwhelming love and amazing grace.
By the end chapter seven -- including the verses that precede Paul's "therefore" -- the Apostle has just cried out in utter human frustration:
"7:24 Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?"
He wants to be holy and perfect and pure. He honestly "delight[s] in the law of God in [his] inmost self." He knows God's precepts are good and right and that they draw him near to him.
But -- as he sadly says -- "7:23 I see in my [flesh] another law at war with the law of my mind." What is this more powerful human law and overwhelming force? It is sin. Paul cries that he is utterly "captive to ... sin." "19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do."
So what is the answer to "24 Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" Paul answers it in the next verse: "25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!"
On our own we are slaves to sin.
Through Jesus Christ -- and his sacrificial death on the cross -- we can be forgiven. We can be free. "Thanks be to God," indeed.
"Therefore" -- and here comes today's verse -- "there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."
·
On my own ... wretchedness and condemnation.
· Through Jesus? ... no condemnation and forgiveness and grace.
Thanks be to God!
In Christ's Love,
a guy who better not be left to be on his own
No comments:
Post a Comment