Romans 8:1:
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus….
Condemnation is a sentence of judgment that is pronounced against someone. Now, in Christ Jesus, there is no condemnation. However, we still have an old-man nature that reminds us of our past, our inadequacies, and which condemns us when we make mistakes. By renewing our minds to God’s Word, we can eliminate all self-condemnation and live as superconquerors.
Let’s take some time to investigate our legal acquittal from condemnation by Jesus Christ. We will see how we can bring this into practical living as superconquerors who never need to condemn ourselves. We will begin by looking at what Jesus Christ accomplished for us legally.
God formed, made, and created Adam and Eve to have perfect fellowship with Him, their Creator. As long as they obeyed God’s Word, all of God’s blessings were theirs. However, they chose to disobey God’s commandment. They sinned and the original sin of mankind continues to affect every person born today.
Romans 5:12 and 18:
Wherefore, as by one man [Adam] sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
Therefore as by the offence of one [Adam] judgment came upon all men to condemnation….
Before we receive the new birth, we are born dead in trespasses and sins, without God and with no hope.
Ephesians 2:1 and 12:
And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.
Adam’s disobedience brought a sentence of judgment, or condemnation, to all mankind. That certainly was not what God wanted for man. God did not want man dead in trespasses and sins—without hope and without God in the world. God so loved the world that He sent Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, as a ransom, or a payment, for our sins and the consequences of our sins.
Matthew 20:28:
Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
Jesus Christ gave his life as a ransom, the price paid, to redeem us back to God. He is the mediator between God and man, reconciling man back to God. Once we are born again, we are no longer dead in trespasses and sins. We are no longer without God and without hope. We are no longer under a sentence of judgment, or condemnation. Even when we do make mistakes, Jesus Christ is our advocate, or our defense attorney, with the Father.
I John 2:1:
My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate [a defense attorney] with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
Spiritually, Jesus Christ is our substitute. Our defense attorney has paid the price for our sin and the consequence of sin. This is ours when we believe the Word. God sent Jesus Christ to be the propitiation, or payment, for our sins—not to condemn man, but to bring salvation to man.
John 3:16-18:
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
He that believeth on him is not condemned….
When we believed Romans 10:9 and 10, we were born again of God’s spirit. It is incorruptible seed. We received all that God in Christ spiritually accomplished for us. When Christ comes back for us, we will not be judged or condemned.
II Corinthians 5:10:
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ….
This “judgment seat” is the Greek word bēma, the place from which prizes and rewards are given. In the book Are the Dead Alive Now? Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille wrote regarding this verse, “We appear before the bēma of Christ not to receive God’s sentences of wrath or condemnation, but to ‘have praise of God.’ None of God’s born-again children in Christ will ever be judged as to their standing or anything else for they have already been judged in the person of their substitute and mediator, Christ Jesus.”
We absolutely never need to condemn ourselves. Jesus Christ paid the price. He redeemed us. He bought us back from the bondage of this world.
Galatians 4:3-5:
Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:
But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
When Jesus Christ redeemed us, our redemption was not to bondage or condemnation, but to justification….
This is an excerpt from the May/June 2009 issue of The Way Magazine.
Copyright© 2009 by The Way International. All rights reserved.
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