Wasson: No condemnation

Have you ever felt like the Apostle Paul at the end of Romans Chapter 7? In this section of Scripture, he details his struggle between his spirit and his flesh.

Beginning at verse 14, Paul writes, “For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.”

Do you see Paul's struggle with his sinful nature? He does not condone sin or make excuses for living a life of disobedience. He is holding himself to a standard of sinless perfection and realizing that he cannot maintain a sinless life.

Many of us know someone who struggles with drug addiction. One time, you will talk to the person, and they will be quoting the Bible and talking about religion, and then the next thing you know, they are using drugs again. The cycle may continue until the person dies or ends up clean.

The self-aware Christian knows to limit access to certain things that would lead them into self-destruction. While the world may ridicule the churchgoer who does not drink alcohol or the Christian teen who is saving his or her purity for marriage, these are the people who are avoiding the built-in punishment of sin.

If you recall Paul’s background, he is a highly educated religious person. He is passionately opposed to Jesus and his new teaching. In Paul’s view, this is heresy, and he strives to defend and protect traditional Judaism by censoring, arresting, and even putting to death anyone who follows Christ. Then, as Paul is traveling, he is miraculously met by Jesus, who confronts him for his persecution. Paul is converted, and his zeal against Christianity becomes zeal for Christianity.

Paul depended on the Law of Moses to provide a relationship with God. As he is transformed by the power of the gospel, he understands that the law was given to point out sin but not to serve as a remedy for sin.

He goes on to write, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.”

You may have learned that chapters and verses were added later to help is find things in the Bible. There is a transition from this point of frustration to a positive statement about the Christians’ hope.

Chapter 8 continues, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

Read John 3:16-18. Jesus did not come to condemn the world. Sin has already condemned all people; Jesus came to free us from condemnation. You can be forgiven.

We have a choice: either give in to the flesh or be controlled by the Spirit. Followers of Jesus choose to live according to the Spirit.

Shawn Wasson, D.Min., is the pastor of Bethany Baptist Church.