No Condemnation
Looking Back at Romans 8:1–11
This past Sunday at Mission Church, we reflected on one of the most freeing truths in all of Scripture:
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
After all the struggle Paul described in Romans 7, this feels like stepping out of the valley and into sunlight. The weight of guilt and fear is gone, not because we cleaned ourselves up, but because Jesus carried the full penalty of our sin.
Before Paul tells us how to live by the Spirit, he reminds us what makes that life possible. The cross of Jesus removes the penalty of sin, and the Spirit of Jesus breaks the power of sin.
That is the foundation of our freedom.
Freedom in Christ
We often fall into a cycle of guilt, trying to prove ourselves to God or make up for what we have done. But the gospel is not “try harder.” It is “trust deeper.”
God’s love is not like pulling petals off a daisy, wondering, “He loves me, He loves me not.” If you belong to Christ, you are secure. You are not under condemnation anymore.
That truth changes how we live. Conviction is no longer about fear of punishment but about love. We grieve the Spirit not because He will abandon us, but because He never will.
The Spirit’s Power
Paul says the Spirit of life has set us free from the law of sin and death. Tony Evans once compared it to the laws of flight. Gravity says what goes up must come down, but when you step into an airplane, another law takes over. Gravity is still there, but it no longer controls you.
That is what the Spirit does. The pull of sin has not disappeared, but it has lost its control.
The Spirit changes what we love and how we live. The Scottish pastor Thomas Chalmers called this “the expulsive power of a new affection.” He discovered that we do not defeat sin by willpower but by a greater love for Christ.
Every time we choose listening over gossip, humility over pride, or integrity over shortcuts, we see the Spirit at work. He is quietly replacing old desires with better ones.
Life That Lasts
Paul then gives us one of the most astonishing truths in all of Scripture. The same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead now lives in you.
That is not just poetic language. It is reality. The Spirit who hovered over the waters at creation and who called Christ out of the tomb has taken up residence in every believer.
When you resist temptation, forgive an offense, or show patience when you used to snap, those are glimpses of resurrection life breaking through.
And one day, that life will be complete. Paul says the Spirit is God’s guarantee of our own resurrection. The same power that raised Jesus will raise our mortal bodies too. This is not a vague spiritual afterlife. It is real resurrection. Real bodies made new. Real life with God forever.
That truth changes how we face fear, loss, and even death itself.
The Spirit Still Renews
We closed by remembering Martin Luther, a young monk who tried for years to earn peace with God through confession, fasting, and effort. Then one day, while studying Romans, he saw it clearly: “The righteous shall live by faith.”
Luther said, “I felt myself reborn and to have entered through open gates into paradise itself.”
That same Spirit is still bringing people from fear to freedom and from guilt to grace.
Maybe that is what you need today. Maybe you have been trying to prove yourself or earn peace. You can stop striving and rest in what Christ has already done.
If you belong to Him, the Spirit of life lives in you. The power that raised Jesus from the dead still moves, still renews, and still gives life.
Death will not have the last word. The Spirit of life will.