1 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. 2 For the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you through Christ Jesus from the power of sin that leads to death. 3 The law of Moses could not save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. But God put into effect a different plan to save us. He sent his own Son in a human body like ours, except that ours are sinful. God destroyed sin’s control over us by giving His Son as a sacrifice for our sins. 4 He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.
5 Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. 6 So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. 7 For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. 8 That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.
9 But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them are not Christians at all.) 10 And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. 11 The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.
12 Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. 13 For if you keep on following it, you will perish. But if through the power of the Spirit you turn from it and its evil deeds, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.
You’ve been acquitted. You are no longer guilty of the crime. The judge said that you are free to go. You’re not sure that you understand what just happened. You turn to your attorney and ask, “How can this be?” You know in your heart that you committed the crime. The evidence against you was overwhelming. You fully expected to be sentenced – and, given the severity of the crime, sentenced to death. It’s impossible. It doesn’t make any sense. Your attorney whispers, “It appears that someone else has volunteered to take your sentence for you.” “Who would do a thing like that?” you ask. The attorney points to a man standing in the corner, surrounded by deputies. He’s beaten and bloody. He can barely stand on his own. You think to yourself, “Why would the judge accept this man over me? He’s barely alive. How could his death make up for what I did?” You ask your attorney, “Who is this man?” The attorney replies, “He’s the judge’s son.”
The entire human race is on death row. We’ve all broken God’s law and are guilty. As Paul pointed out earlier, the harder we try to keep the law, the more apparent it becomes that we can’t. We are doomed. We try to ignore the fact that we are guilty. We justify our actions by pointing out that we are not as bad as some. And, just like a convicted felon on death row, we hold out for the hope that we might be let off on a technicality. But there is no technicality. We are guilty.
But, wait… there is hope. And this hope comes to us in the form of the Holy Spirit. This same Holy Spirit that brought Christ back to life can do the same for us.
When we put our faith in Christ, and accept His free gift of salvation, our sinful nature dies with Christ. But, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we are raised to a new life with Him. “What this means is that those who become Christians become new persons. They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone. A new life has begun!” (2Corinthians 5:17 NLT)
“So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1) Our sins have been forgiven, and now the indwelling of the Holy Spirit has freed us from the power of sin in our lives.
We hear too often that all roads lead to God – that all religions are the same. But, that is just not true. All other religions in the world ask that we do something in our own power to be right with God. Christianity says that we absolutely can do nothing in our own power to be right with God. It is only through the real presence of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the believer that we can be free from the power of sin in our lives. If you have ever been around a person who has truly given their life to Christ, you will have noticed a dramatic change for the better. Maybe not better by our world’s standards, but better by God’s standards.
The Law of Moses couldn’t save us. Our inherent sense of right and wrong only proves that we can’t do it on our own. Why? Because of the weakness caused by our sin nature. We don’t have the strength to overcome sin in our own power. The best that we can ever hope for is to avoid sin as often as possible. We can never conquer it on our own.
But, God had a better plan from the beginning. He knew we would rebel, and He knew we would be separated from Him by our sin. So at just the right moment in time, He sent His Son to pay the price.
The Old Testament sacrificial law required that a perfect lamb be offered as a sacrifice for the sins of the people. But this sacrifice could never conquer sin – it had to be repeated over and over again. It was an exercise in futility – they would run out of lambs before they would run out of sin. The sacrificial rites were never given as a way to be made right with God, but to help the people realize the hopelessness of their situation. They needed a savior.
If the only requirement was that Jesus had to die on the cross, He could have just appeared as an adult human, climbed up on the cross and died. He would have been raised three days later and been back in heaven in less than a week.
But that would not have fulfilled the righteous demands of God. Christ had to be the perfect sacrifice. He had to live a perfect life in order to be the spotless Lamb of God. He had to live our lives for us in order that He could die in our place. This was God’s plan all along, and this plan was revealed through the writings of the Prophets.
So by the power of the Holy Spirit living in us, we are free to live in a way pleasing to God. Does that mean that we will no longer sin? Unfortunately not. This is the struggle that Paul anguished over in our last session. We will always have our sinful nature, and we will always struggle with sin.
So we have a choice to make; do we cling to our old sin nature, or do we grab a hold of the life-giving hand of the Holy Spirit? With sin comes death. With the Holy Spirit – life.
God promises, “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4 NIV)
Yes, those who put their trust in Jesus Christ have His Spirit living within them. And, “…those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.” (Romans 8:5 NLT) The Spirit gives us the strength, the courage, the wisdom, and the confidence to overcome sin and its effects in our lives. We are no longer controlled by our sinful nature. Paul used the metaphor of a slave and his master. Sin is no longer our master, God is. We no longer need to obey sin like we once did. In a more modern vernacular, God is our new boss. We don’t work for sin anymore, so we don’t have to listen to his demands. We moved on. We have a new career. Our new future is looking bright and we are moving forward.
At the end of verse 9, Paul adds a legal disclaimer. The King’s James Version says that if the Spirit of Christ is not in you, “…he (you) is none of His.” The NIV translates it as “…he does not belong to Christ.” And the New Living Translation boldly proclaims, “…they are not Christians at all.” Keeping in mind that Paul wrote this letter to the Christian’s of the Christian church in Rome
Some churches put more emphasis on being a part of the church, being baptized, attending regularly, and confessing sins, rather than emphasizing the fact that we are saved by our faith in Jesus Christ, through the grace of God. All of these other things are important, but only faith in Christ can make you a Christian.
You become a Christian when you believe the gospel message. No one can do this for you. It is not a ritual or a ceremony that makes you a Christian. It is not belonging to one denomination or another. It is faith. Paul made that clear back in Chapter 3, verses 25 – 31. We are saved when we put our faith in Jesus Christ – nothing more, and nothing less.
When we put our faith in Christ, the Holy Spirit of God takes up residence in our hearts. No other religion in the world can say that. And, it is only through His presence that we can truly be free to live the lives that we were created to live. We have the assurance of eternal life. We are free from the obligation to follow our sin nature. We can now follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, and rest in the comfort of knowing that we are God’s children.
Only you can answer where Christ is in your life. Is He front and center, is He off to the side, is He seated in the back row, or is He not there at all? Take a moment and get Him in the front row where He belongs.
Study Questions
Sinful nature or Holy Spirit – which do you choose?
Are you living a lifestyle that is not in alignment with God’s will? We can’t serve two masters. The closer that you are living to your sin nature, the further you are from God and the blessings that He has for your life. How much further would you need to go before you forget about God all together? Stop right now, turn away from your sin, turn back to God, and ask for forgiveness.
Where is your focus?
Is it on Christ first, as it should be, or is it on religious law like it was in first century Rome
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