Four verses from Romans 8
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
No other segment of scripture says it so directly, "there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." To the first recipients, the Roman Christians receiving this message, and to us, the boldness of the inspired writer, Paul, lets us know when we are in Jesus Christ, we will not be condemned. The world may despise us, anti-Christian groups may hate us, individuals and masses may try to do away with us, and even the legalist which may rise us among us will say it's impossible, but God, the one that counts, tells us there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
To support the statement, Paul continues, "because through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death." Shortly before Jesus' death on the cross, he told his followers about the "Comforter" he would send. This Comforter was none other than the third personality of our triune God, The Holy Spirit. Followers of Jesus were promised the presence of the Spirit who would guide them, lead them, comfort them, empower them and even live inside them. Now Paul lets us know it is this Spirit that delivers us from the law of sin and death.
More supportive scriptural information is in the verse that follows, "For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering." The law could establish principles by which we should live, it could serve as a standard for dealing with others, it could even place God as the one true God for us to serve. But like our scripture under consideration says, what the law was powerless to do, weakened by the flesh, God did when he sent Jesus in the flesh to be our sin offering.
To summarize, " And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." Paul supplies in his teaching the proposition we are not condemned in Christ, supported his claim by showing us the law of the Spirit, continued supporting this truth by telling us how God did it, ending by saying we no longer live according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
My closing is to tell you the most important two words of that section of Scripture. Care to guess? They are the words found in verse 3, "God did." They are the most important because you cannot save yourself, but you can enjoy the blessings of salvation because of what God did. Because of what God did, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
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