Romans 8:1-11

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. ² For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. ³ 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, ⁴ 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. ⁵ For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. ⁶ For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷ For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. ⁸ Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. ⁹ You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. ¹¹ If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

When a person is condemned, they are declared “guilty” for their actions.  Thousands of criminals have been declared guilty and sentenced in a court of law. Some of those condemned were put to death for their misdeeds.  One of the biggest arguments against the death penalty is that some of the people put to death were innocent of the crime.  However, here in the 8^th chapter Saint Paul is saying every one of us is guilty before God. Paul says the problem is that “the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.  Those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (7-8).   The person who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not care what God’s Law says.  They may know the Ten Commandments, but the Law is weak through the flesh and since the Law is weak it cannot enforce itself.  Even if someone lives an outwardly righteous life, and people say they are a good person, unless the Spirit of God dwells in them, they are as Isaiah says, “like one who is unclean, and all [their] righteous deeds are like a polluted garment” (64:6).  Jesus says they will be cast out from the presence of God into hell and eternal death, where there is “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:12). 

But for “those who live according to the Spirit” (5b), there is a different destination.  A life in the Spirit looks forward to the future glory of heaven.  They have Jesus’ promise, “Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die” (John.11:25-26). Thanks be to God “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (1), who though without sin, was condemned for our sins. Christ took our punishment upon Himself and carried it to the cross in order to set us free from sin, death, and the devil.  By His death and resurrection Christ Jesus has made us victors in His name.  This is the Good News for all who live according to the Spirit of Christ; when God raises all people from their graves on the Last Day, their mortal bodies will become immortal, and their sinful bodies will be gloriously transformed into the perfect likeness of Christ Jesus to live with Him in the glory of the Father forever.

Grace Lutheran Church

825 North 1^st West

Cheyenne Wells, CO, 80810-0728

Sunday Service begins at 9:00 a.m.