Thursday | 09 December 2021
Paul declared, ‘There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.’ Rom 8:1. When Paul used the term ‘condemnation’, he was not referring to an emotion that a person experiences when their conscience condemns their poor attitudes or behaviours. He was referring to the situation where a person has been tried in a court of law, the sentence has been passed, and the judgement is ready to be executed.
We are not living under condemnation, because the law of the Spirit of life, in the fellowship of Christ’s offering, has set us free from the law of sin and death. Rom 8:2. We have the Spirit of life when Jesus Christ comes into our heart, and then gives us the Holy Spirit so that we are born of the Spirit. Rom 8:15. The apostle Paul proclaimed that if the Holy Spirit dwells within us, we are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. Rom 8:9. We are a son of God who possesses the firstfruits of the Spirit in our mortal body.
As a son of God who is not in bondage to the law of sin and death, we are free and accountable to choose whether we will set our mind on the things of the Spirit or on the things of the flesh. Rom 8:12. We set our mind on the things of the Spirit by continuing to embrace our unique participation in the fellowship of Christ’s offering and sufferings. In the fellowship of Christ’s offering, the resurrection life of God that was in the blood of Christ is becoming our life through the Holy Spirit who dwells within us.
Further Study:
JOHN 3
Daily Proverb:
References:
Rom 8:1-2
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
Rom 8:15
For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’
Rom 8:9
But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.
Rom 8:12
Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.