I. The Word: Romans 8:1-4
1Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
II. Reflection Questions:
1. Are you still living in bondage to sin?
2. Have you been set free from the law of sin and death?
3. There is no condemnation for those who are “in Christ.” Are you living “in Christ”?
The chapter divisions in the New Testament are not part of the original text. The modern divisions we see today were made by the Archbishop of Canterbury between 1244 and 1248 A.D.. I mention this because I think it may have made more sense to end Chapter 7 with the verses designated as Romans 8:1-4. Romans 8:1-4 is essentially a restatement of Romans 7:1-6, and it begins with a “therefore.” What falls in between these bookend passages is an explanation of what it follows and what it precedes.
In the March 27, 2017 Starter post, I wrote about Paul’s use of the metaphor of marriage in Romans 7:1-6 to describe our relationship to the law, i.e. we were married to the law and the law stirred up sinful acts in our old man through that marriage, but we died and were freed to remarry. We now have been joined with Jesus, and that union stirs up good fruit, and that good fruit fulfills (or meets) the standard required by the law. Romans 7:1-6 and Romans 8:1-4 make perfect bookends to the well-known and much debated Romans 7:14-25 (the “waging war” passage).
As Ji Yun mentioned in his commentary on March 31, 2017, there are at least two ways to interpret the waging war passage: 1) that in it Paul is describing his struggle as a believer; or 2) that he is describing his struggle prior to becoming a Christian. As Ji explained, others, like Martin Lloyd-Jones approach this difficult passage more obliquely. The bottom line: good, reasonable, intelligent, Jesus-loving theologians can disagree over which interpretation is correct. Even Augustine, perhaps the greatest theologian ever, changed his view over the course of his life as to whether the waging war passage was referencing Paul’s pre-Christian life or his Christian life.
I have an opinion as well, but that is all it is, and I will not share it here because I have been tasked with addressing Romans 8:1-4, not the waging war passage. All I am sure of is that whatever the waging war passage means, Romans 8:1-2 reaffirms that it should not be interpreted as meaning that we, as believers, are in any way in bondage to (have to give in to, or obey) sin. We have been set free. (v. 2). The law could not conform us to the image of Jesus, so Jesus came, fulfilled the law, to free us from the condemnation that resulted from our inability to comply with the law and the disobedience it stirred up in our old man. (v 3). And, reiterating what Paul said in Romans 7:1-6, Jesus did this so we could fulfill the law by joining ourselves to Jesus and walking in the power of the Holy Spirit. (v. 4).
City Life Starter 
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