The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus

Grace Greater than all our sins (PART 2)

Dr. Ronald Powell

Romans 8:1

Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

the last Adam (Christ)

1 Corinthians 15:45Amplified Bible (AMP)

45 So it is written [in Scripture], “The first man, Adam, became a living soul (an individual);” the last Adam (Christ) became a life-giving spirit [restoring the dead to life].

The good news

The good news is that God acquits the guilty. He justifies the ungodly. The foundation of this good news is the death of our Lord Jesus, whose suffering and humiliation for the glory of his Father so honored God that God is shown to be righteous, even though he passes over the sins which belittled and defamed God’s glory.

John 1:29Amplified Bible (AMP)

John 1:29Amplified Bible (AMP)

29 The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God [a]who takes away the sin of the world!

Footnotes:John 1:29 John is referring to the fulfillment of the need for the OT Passover lambs which was now fulfilled in Christ’s sacrifice, the ultimate and final sacrifice for sins.

Romans 8Living Bible (TLB)

8 So there is now no condemnation awaiting those who belong to Christ Jesus.

2 For the power of the life-giving Spirit—and this power is mine through Christ Jesus—has freed me from the vicious circle of sin and death.

3 We aren’t saved from sin’s grasp by knowing the commandments of God because we can’t and don’t keep them, but God put into effect a different plan to save us.

The Law

Think about a mirror. A mirror shows you your hair is a mess, or the dirt on your face, or how skinny or not so skinny you look in that outfit.

But that mirror doesn’t fix your hair or take the dirt off your face does it?

4. Does that mean the mirror is useless? Well of course not, and Paul is not being critical of Yahweh’s law here. He is simply saying that the law was limited because of our flesh.

Those in the flesh cannot obey the law, and here’s the problem. “We are all in the flesh.”

We are all natural people with fleshly desires and inclinations. We have all fallen short from the perfect glory of the Almighty.

So, what’s the contrast then? What the law could not do – God did. The law that God gave revealed our sin, but could not remove our sin, and what the law could not do, Yahweh did do. He condemned sin in the flesh.

Justification is an act of God

Justification is an act of God not man. It is a divine decision to acquit the guilty, to give all the benefits of the children of God to us who deserve hell.

It is based on a transaction that happens outside of ourselves, namely, the death of Jesus Christ in our place.

Romans 8Living Bible (TLB)

He sent his own Son in a human body like ours—except that ours are sinful—and destroyed sin’s control over us by giving himself as a sacrifice for our sins.

4 So now we can obey God’s laws if we follow after the Holy Spirit and no longer obey the old evil nature within us.

5 Those who let themselves be controlled by their lower natures live only to please themselves,

But those who follow after the Holy Spirit find themselves doing those things that please God.

Romans 8Living Bible (TLB)

6 Following after the Holy Spirit leads to life and peace, but following after the old nature leads to death

7 because the old sinful nature within us is against God. It never did obey God’s laws and it never will.

8 That’s why those who are still under the control of their old sinful selves, bent on following their old evil desires, can never please God.

Romans 8Living Bible (TLB)

9 But you are not like that. You are controlled by your new nature if you have the Spirit of God living in you.

(And remember that if anyone doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ living in him, he is not a Christian at all.)

10 Yet, even though Christ lives within you, your body will die because of sin; but your spirit will live, for Christ has pardoned it. 11 And if the Spirit of God, who raised up Jesus from the dead, lives in you, he will make your dying bodies live again after you die, by means of this same Holy Spirit living within you.

12 So, dear brothers, you have no obligations whatever to your old sinful nature to do what it begs you to do.

Romans 8Living Bible (TLB)

13 For if you keep on following it you are lost and will perish, but if through the power of the Holy Spirit you crush it and its evil deeds, you shall live.

Romans 8Living Bible (TLB)

14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

15 And so we should not be like cringing, fearful slaves, but we should behave like God’s very own children, adopted into the bosom of his family, and calling to him, “Father, Father.”

Romans 8Living Bible (TLB)

16 For his Holy Spirit speaks to us deep in our hearts and tells us that we really are God’s children.

17 And since we are his children, we will share his treasures—for all God gives to his Son Jesus is now ours too. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.

Let’s Pray!