FAITH RIGHTEOUSNESS; NO MORE CONDEMNATION

“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.” Rom8:1-2

After we have come to an understanding of the righteousness of the believer, one of the most frequent questions that will arise is ‘what about sin? What does God do when I sin, does He just ignore the sin? This is an important question that we should deal with using the scriptures.

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus…” Rom8:1

The best place to begin is always our place in Christ. We have to understand and fully accept that the Christian is in Christ. God has placed us in Christ and responds to us accordingly. He no longer sees us as we were in the past in Adam (fallen nature) but now sees us in the new nature which is exactly like Jesus. Thus He treats us in exactly the same way He treats Jesus.

The word condemnation (katakrima) means an adverse sentence, a damnatory sentence, an expression of strong disapproval; pronouncing as wrong or morally culpable, the condition of being strongly disapproved of, a final judgment of guilty in a criminal case and the punishment that is imposed, denouncement, and denunciation.

Typically today we are taught that this is exactly how God responds to us when we sin. That He strongly disapproves, that He judges us guilty and imposes some form of punishment by making us sick, poor, gets us in trouble etcetera, or that He withdraws His love, blessings, anointing and so many other things until we have paid for our sins (as if we can pay for them). However the scripture says the opposite. It says that there is no condemnation for us who are in Christ. In other words; there is no strong disapproval, or guilty verdict or punishment from God when we sin. There is NO condemnation!

“…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.” Rom8:1-2

Note1: There is a popular counter-argument in some circles that this no condemnation is for those who do not sin (walking according to the flesh), but live holy (walk according to the spirit). That those who live holy are the ones who have no condemnation. However this argument is fallacious and entirely redundant. It ignores the first and most important condition that this scripture sets which is ‘to those who are in Christ Jesus’. Every Christian is in Christ Jesus.

Note2: What would be the point of saying there is no condemnation to people who are not sinning? It is obvious that there wouldn’t be condemnation to a sinless person! You can’t condemn a person that hasn’t done anything wrong. That would be un-just, God is a just God. This is why God does this by mercy and grace; it is because He offers no condemnation to people that deserve condemnation, people that constantly sin and fail. If they are able to believe, His mercy is available to them and offers them no condemnation. This promise is for those who sin.

Note3: This argument is based on religious pride. There is not a single person on this earth that does not sin. Everybody sins! Even the big time preachers and evangelists we all respect also sin. The priests, reverends, bishops, apostles, prophets, pastors and yes the pope too, everybody sins.

If God was to offer no condemnation to those who don’t sin, then nobody is able to receive it. Then we are all under condemnation because we all sin! Do you see that this is a ridiculous argument? That it leads us back into law? That it takes us back to before the Cross? If it is true then Jesus wasted His time and life on the Cross, we are all under condemnation and going to reap the reward for our sins which is death and hell. But of course it isn’t true, we who have received Jesus as our savior have no condemnation, we are under mercy and peace. This is why the gospel is good news.

Note4: Walking in the flesh doesn’t necessarily mean sinning and walking in the spirit doesn’t necessarily mean living a holy life. We shall deal with this later in detail.

As long as you believe in Jesus, there is no condemnation for you regardless of what you do whether good or bad. If you haven’t come to faith in Jesus, there is condemnation for you regardless of what you do whether good or bad, you are condemned already.

“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” Jn3:18

God is not writing your sins in some book


"Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.” Psa32:1-2

There are so many Christians who believe that God is recording their sins in some book which He will open on the Day of Judgment and accuse them and punish them. This concept is openly taught in some religions and fully embraced. However this is not true, God is not recording the sins of the Christian in His book and preparing to punish them. He is doing so for the non-believer but not for the Christian.

“And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.  And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” Rev20:11-15

Notice that this judgment is for the dead! The Christians will not be dead at this time, they shall be with God in heaven while the unbelievers will be in the sea, death and hades. God will judge them and judge death and hades as well and throw all in the lake of fire.
Verse 15 says that those not written in the book of life will be thrown into the lake of fire. These are the unbelievers. The Christian has been written in the book of life.

“I implore Euodia and I implore Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. And I urge you also, true companion, help these women who labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life.” Phil4:2-3

“He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Rev3:5-6.

We shall cover the theme of judgment in more detail during our study on the eternal judgment.

David was able to prophetically see into the future a new type of people that God would cover their sins and not impute their sins upon them. Of course David was not speaking about himself. We can see that God imputed his sins upon him when he committed adultery and murder. And yet even for David who was in the Old Covenant God had mercy on him and didn’t kill him.

“… So David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." And Nathan said to David, "The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die....” 2Sam12:7-15

THE NEW COVENANT; A COVENANT OF MERCY


The person that David described (whose sins would be covered and the Lord would not impute their trespasses against them) is the Christian living in the new covenant. But it is not only David who saw this coming person. Jeremiah the prophet also saw this new creation. Look at what He says

“Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” Jer31:31-34

Jeremiah prophesied that God would forgive our iniquity and remember our sin no more. Indeed after the arrival of Jesus, His life, crucifixion, death, resurrection and glorification we see a fulfillment of these Old Testament prophecies. All these prophesies are fulfilled in Christ and in the Christian who is in Christ. Is there proof of this in the New Testament?

“But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered; Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin.” Rom4:5-8

The word impute is ‘logizomai’ and it means to record, to reckon, to count it as so, compute, calculate, to take into account, to pass to one’s account, to account, meditate on, to attribute or credit to.  This is an accounting word that has to do with counting/regarding as so something that belongs to you or is in your account.

Paul the apostle says that the person who believes in Jesus and not in his own holy living has received righteousness imputed unto them instead of sin. Instead God forgives their sins and lawless deeds and declares them righteous regardless of what they do. This is because their faith is in Jesus and not in their holy living.

“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” Heb8:10-12

This is God’s mission statement for the New Covenant. This is how He promises to treat people in the New Covenant. If you have believed in Jesus, this is how God treats you. He says that He will be merciful to your unrighteousness and He will not remember your sins and lawless deeds.

How does God react when we sin? He gives us mercy and forgets our sins and iniquities! That is what the bible says. Hallelujah. Stop feeling guilty when you sin; feeling guilty means that you don’t believe God’s promise. If you sin, just repent. He will forgive you. No matter what it is that you have done. This is the conclusion of this matter, GOD OFFERS US MERCY, NOT CONDEMNATION!


God is well able to help us overcome sin. However God is not able to help a man under condemnation because such a man is not trusting in the blood of the lamb that took away his sins or in the Word of God that washes him but is instead trusting in the word of satan, the accuser of the brethren.

Far be it from me to trust in my accuser. Far be it from you to trust in your accuser. Far be it from us to trust in our accuser. There is therefore now no condemnation. May God be true and every man a liar.

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