Romans 8:1 is one of my favorite Bible verses, among many! This one is particularly special because Paul touches on something very important, yet basic. It is a fact that many Christians unfortunately miss, and that is the security of our salvation. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” The word condemnation used here in the Greek is ‘katakrima’, which comes from the word ‘katakrino’. It was a term used in a court of law to refer to someone receiving an adverse sentence or guilty verdict. What Paul is then saying in Romans 8:1 is simply this; there is no longer a “guilty verdict” upon those who are in Christ Jesus! Even the word “in” is indicating something stable and fixed. The word ‘en’, which is translated ‘in’, is a primary preposition denoting a fixed position in place, time or state. Now let’s look at this verse again. There is therefore now no “guilty verdict” for those who are "fixed and/or stable along with" Christ Jesus. This is awesome!
When we accept the gift of salvation, it is a one time deal (as pointed in the previous posting – Salvation Pt 3). God is not an “Indian giver”, like many believers tend to portray Him as such. Once we accept salvation, He will not take it away from us! If we are “in Christ Jesus”, meaning we are joined together with Him, and since Jesus cannot be condemned, then neither can we! “But wait”, you might say, “What happens when we sin? Won’t sinning cancel our salvation and make it invalid?” Good question. And the answer is a resounding “No”! You see we are the true guilty ones. Justice demanded that payment be made for the sins of mankind. What happened at the cross was that Jesus came and paid the penalty of sin, which was death, for all of us! The guilty verdict or condemnation that was supposed to be our sentence was placed upon Jesus and He became the “guilty” one even though He was innocent! He then took that sin and went to the cross with all of our sins and paid the penalty in order for all those sins to be erased and cleared for us! Jesus was the condemned one that died, but then became the one that overcame death and sin for all of us! Upon Christ rising from the dead, salvation became permanent and the condemnation that was once upon us no longer had any validity!
We can look at it this way, suppose you were caught committing a crime. You were given a court date and you stood before a judge. The evidence is presented and you are found guilty, based on the witnesses and evidence presented before the court. You are then sentenced to serve time in prison for a determined amount of time. Before you are taken away to be confined to a cell, the judge being moved to compassion, asks his son, who happens to be sitting in the courtroom, if he would take your place and carry out your sentence instead. The son stands up and agrees to do just that. He will take your place and carry out the punishment that rightfully belonged to you. You are set free and the crime is no longer accredited to you. You still did the crime, but the son did the time. Once the son carries out the sentence, he will be released and the crime will have been paid. We can take it a step further. Since the father is a judge, he can then have the whole thing expunged from his son’s record as if the crime was never committed, both for him and you!
My question to you is for which sins did Christ die for? If you answered all, then you are correct. And all includes past, present, and future sins! If this is true, then there is not a sin that you have committed in the past, are committing in the present, or will commit in the future, that He hasn’t already paid for. And if He’s paid for it, then it will be forgiven…forever!!
3/2/2008
James
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