IN CHRIST NO CONDEMNATION – Charles Spurgeon
IN CHRIST NO CONDEMNATION
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Romans 8:1.
You are well aware, dear friends, that the division into chapters has only been made for convenience’s sake and is not a matter of inspired arrangement. I may add that it has been clumsily made and not with careful thoughtfulness, but as roughly as if a woodman had taken an axe and chopped the book to pieces in a hurry! It was a very unfortunate thing that the axe dropped down just here, so as to divide a passage which ought to have been kept entire. We once heard a friend say, “I have got out of the seventh of Romans into the eighth.” Nonsense! There is no getting out of one into the other, for they are one. The field is not divided by hedge or ditch. I thank God with all my heart that since my conversion I have never known what it is to be out of the seventh of Romans, nor out of the eighth of Romans, either—the whole passage has been solid truth of God to my experience. I have struggled against inward sin and rejoiced in complete justification at the same time. Our apostle, after having said, “So then, with the mind I myself serve the Law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin,” goes on to say, without any break, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” The fact is, that believers are in a state of conflict, but not in a state of condemnation, and at the very time when the conflict is hottest, the believer is still justified! When the believer has to do his utmost even to hold his ground, when he feels that he cannot advance an inch without fighting for it, when he has to cry out in the agony of his spirit because of the vehemence of temptation, he may still lay his hand upon the Word of God and say, “And yet there is no condemnation to me, for I am in Christ Jesus!” The man who never strives against the sin which dwells in him, who, indeed, is not conscious of any sin to strive against—that is the man who may begin to question whether he knows anything at all about the spiritual life. He who has no inward pain may well suspect that he is abiding in death—abiding, therefore, under constant condemnation. But that man who feels a daily striving after deliverance from evil, who is panting, pining, longing and agonizing to become holy even as God is holy, he is the justified man! The man to whom every sin is a misery, to whom even the thought of iniquity is intolerable, he is the man who may with confidence declare, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” Souls that sigh for holiness are not condemned to eternal death, for their sighing proves that they are in Christ Jesus!
Observe that the text is written in the present tense. You will lose much of its force and beauty if you leave out that word, “now,” or regard it as a mere term of argument. This “now” shows how distinctly the statement of noncondemnation is consistent with that mingled experience of the seventh chapter which certain good people do not appear to understand. The passage describes a conflict which the unregenerate cannot feel, for they neither delight in God after the inward man, nor do they agonize to be set free from the presence of sin. Every child of God must know this conflict if he knows himself. If it had not been for the fierce debates of former ages, this passage would have been accepted as an accurate picture of the inner life of the struggling believer—and it would have been held up to admiration as a sure proof of the divine inspiration of the Epistle—that with such amazing accuracy it records the secret experiences of a soul struggling after purity—an experience which often puzzles the very people who are the subjects of it. Reading my text in that connection, with an emphasis upon the “now,” my heart sings for joy! With all my watching and warring—yes, with all my fears and trembling—yet will I rejoice in the Lord even now, for “there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.”
I would have you carefully observe our apostle’s change of expression. When he is speaking about the inward contention he writes in the first person and speaks of himself—“I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.” That which might seem humiliating and derogatory, he imputes to himself most distinctly, crying out, “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” But when he comes to write upon the privileges of the children of God, he does not write in the first person, but he speaks of them in general terms—“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” His deep humility thus displayed itself. His very self-remembrance is a self-annihilation—he uses himself as a lead sinker with which to sink his nets, but his brethren he puts into the place of honor and esteem. His is the confession and theirs is the confidence—he extols the glorious company of believers, but he lowers himself! This is the style of his language and the style often reveals the man. He might have said, “There is therefore now no condemnation to me, for I am in Christ Jesus,” and it would have been true. But it would not have been after the manner of the lowly apostle. After these wanderings upon the shores of the text, let us now plunge into its depths and may the Holy Spirit, from whom it proceeded, bless it to our hearts!
I. A Refutation of the Old Serpent’s Gospel
“The serpent’s gospel,” you ask, “what is that?” It is another name for the gospel of modern thought—that gospel which casts a doubt upon the threats of the law and even denies them altogether. Quote the first few words of the text and stop there, and this false gospel is before you—“There is therefore now no condemnation.” The serpent promulgated this gospel in the Garden of Eden when he said, “You shall not surely die.” With what greediness, our first parents received that highly advanced teaching which contradicted the declaration of God—“You shall surely die!” The doctrine of no punishment for any man is popular at this day and threatens to have even greater sway in the future. Generally, it comes in the serpent’s favorite form of, “honest doubt”—“Yes, has God said?” Can it be so? Is He not far too merciful? Is it possible that a God of love should condemn and punish His creatures?” The denial of the penalty attached to sin comes out in different ways, but when put into a nutshell, it amounts to this—“There is therefore now no condemnation to any man, however he may live.” Some teach that you may live in sin and die impenitent, but it will not matter, for at death that is the end of you—the soul is not immortal, men are only cooking animals. Others tell us that if you die unforgiven, it will be a pity, but you will come round, in due time, after a purgatorial period—you may take a little longer road, but you will come to the same end in the course of time. In other words, it does not matter how you live, or what you do, you will become perfectly happy in the long run—therefore trouble not yourselves with the exploded notion that there is a Heaven to be lost or a Hell to be feared! The wrath of God and the judgment to come are mere bugbears according to the teaching of our new apostles. This is the gospel according to Satan—a gospel which has already ruined thousands of souls and is now sealing up millions in a stony-hearted unbelief which enables them to sin without fear!
Though these evil doctrines have done incalculable mischief in many places so as to almost paralyze the energies of the Church, yet some professed Christians, boastful of their “culture,” would move Heaven and earth to spread these delusions! Here is Paul’s refutation of this doctrine of a general amnesty—“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” They would be condemned, every one of them, if it had not been that they are in Christ Jesus! And there is now no condemnation to them solely because they are in Christ Jesus. Their being in Christ Jesus is the great method by which, alone, they have escaped condemnation. If Paul had only stopped when he had got as far as “there is now no condemnation,” every drunkard, swearer, and whoremonger would have cried, “Bravo, apostle! That is the gospel for us! Now you speak like a man of thought! You have broken loose from the horrible old doctrine of Jesus of Nazareth and have found for us a ‘larger hope.’ Hurrah for Paul! He is in advance of his age—he is the man for the times!” But Paul was too honest to court popularity by pandering to man’s desire of immunity in sin. He believed the terrible truth of God that the impenitent sinner is under condemnation and, believing that truth, he spoke it plainly. He did not deal out comfort head over heels, catch it who can, but he put it thus—“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.”
It is a work of Almighty and Sovereign Grace to put men into Christ Jesus—by this method they escape condemnation, but by no other. I understand Paul tacitly to tell us that those who are not in Christ Jesus are under condemnation—and this is a terrible truth of God. “He that believes not shall be damned” is as much the declaration of our Lord Jesus as that other divine sentence, “He that believes and is baptized shall be saved.” As many as believe not in Christ Jesus and repent not of sin have, before them, at this moment, “a fearful looking for judgment and of fiery indignation.” It is no pleasant task to us to have to speak of this matter, but who are we that we should ask for pleasant tasks? What God has witnessed in Scripture is the sum and substance of what the Lord’s servants are to testify to the people. If you are not in Christ Jesus and are walking after the flesh, you have not escaped from condemnation!
II. A Description of the Believer’s Position
And now, secondly, we have in the text a description of the believer’s position—he is “in Christ Jesus.” What does that mean? I am not going into any deep theological discussions—I speak very simply and with a view to practical results. He that believes in the Lord Jesus Christ is in Christ. By an act of simple dependence upon Jesus, he realizes his position as being in Christ. By nature I am in myself and in sin and I am, therefore, condemned. But when the grace of God awakens me to know my ruined state, then I fly to Christ. I trust, alone, in His blood and righteousness, and He becomes to me the cleft of the rock wherein I hide myself from the storm of vengeance justly due to me for my many offenses. The Lord Jesus is typified by the City of Refuge. You and I are like the manslayer who was pursued by the avenger—and we are never safe till we pass through the gate of the City of Refuge—I mean, till we are completely enclosed by the Lord Jesus! Inside the walls of the city, the manslayer was secure—and within our Savior’s wounds, we are safe. By a humble, simple, undivided dependence upon Him, we are placed where we are covered by His merits and so, saved!
Noah’s dove out yonder, flying over the waste of waters, is outside the ark—she will never rest the soles of her feet till Noah puts out his hand and pulls her in to him. Then is she secure and restful, but not till then. Judge, then, my hearer, whether you are in Christ. Do you stand before God on your own footing, or do you rest upon Christ and find your all in Him? This is not a baffling problem, but a plain question. Say, is your righteousness one which you have worked out yourself, or is the righteousness of Christ imputed to you? Do you look for salvation by self, or for salvation by Christ? If you can truly say, “I hide in Christ,” then this text plays sweeter music than ever fell from angel lips—“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.”
Inasmuch as you have believed in Him, you are in Him. “He that believes on Him has everlasting life and, “shall not come into condemnation”—these are our Lord’s own dear words—treasure them up in your spirits and rejoice in them forevermore!
III. A Description of the Believer’s Walk
Now we come to the third point, upon which we shall speak briefly, because this part of my text is not a true portion of Holy Scripture. We have before us in this verse a description of the believer’s walk—“who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” You who have the Revised New Testament will kindly look at it. Do you see this sentence there? To your surprise it is omitted and very rightly so. The most learned men assure us that it is no part of the original text. I cannot, just now, go into the reasons for this conclusion, but they are very good and solid. The oldest copies are without it—the versions do not sustain it and the fathers who quoted abundance of Scripture do not quote this sentence! We must admit that it is an opinion inserted in later copies by some penman who was wise enough, in his own conceit, to think that he could mend the Bible! Do you ask me, “How did it get into the text?”
Remember that there always have been many divines who have been afraid of the doctrine of free justification. They have been half afraid that sinners should get comfort by faith and should not see the necessity of a change of life. They have questioned the wisdom of ascribing salvation wholly to a man’s being in Christ and so they have guarded the more open passages whenever they have seen a chance of so doing. In so doing they stated truth, but they stated it out of season and from motives which were unsound. Probably the sentence now before us was put in and allowed to remain, by general consent, in order that the great truth of the non-condemnation of those who are in Christ Jesus might be guarded from that Antinomian tendency which would separate faith from good works. But the fear was groundless and the tampering with Scripture was unjustifiable. We are greatly obliged to our revisers for leaving out the sentence, since it should not be there and, without it, the doctrine of justification in Christ is made more clear than in the Authorized Version.
IV. The Absolution of the Believer
And so I come, in closing, to notice the absolution of the believer—“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” What a grand sentence! I call upon you to notice it. You may have seen a well-painted picture called, “Waiting for the Verdict.” What interest is displayed on every face! What fear and trembling upon the countenance of the prisoner! In his wife and the friends around him, what anxiety is seen! “Waiting for the Verdict” is a sad picture, but what another might be drawn of, “The Favorable Verdict Received.” The prisoner is acquitted! Oh, what joy! It is not possible to bring in a verdict of, “Not guilty,” for you and for me, for we are undoubtedly guilty, but yet it is possible, by the processes of substitution and divine grace, to bring in a just verdict by which it is witnessed that, “There is now no condemnation.”
Notice, first, that this is a bold speech. “There is no condemnation.” “But you said just now that the thing you would not, you did.” Yes, but there is no condemnation! The same lips which made such a humble confession and revealed such a troublesome experience now assert positively and joyfully, “There is no condemnation!” Free grace makes men speak bravely when their faith has a clear view of Jesus! Though it is a bold assertion, it is proven. Whenever a man has a “therefore” at the back of what he has to say, he may say it without stammering. “There is therefore now no condemnation.” Paul is always a reasoner and a great logician. Here he seems to declare his certainty. “What I say I can prove. There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus and I can prove it to a demonstration.” Brothers and sisters, the demonstrations of mathematics are not more clear and certain than the inference that if we are in Christ and Christ died in our place, there can be no condemnation for us!
What a broad assertion it is!—“There is no condemnation.” No condemnation on account of original sin, though the believer was an heir of wrath even as others. No condemnation for actual sin, though he greatly transgressed and came far short of the glory of God. He is in Christ and there is no condemnation of any sort possible to him! No condemnation, no, though he humbles himself and weeps and groans before God because in thought and word and deed he still offends. No condemnation, though he feels that he has not yet attained to the excellence which he labors after. The devil says there is condemnation and, therefore, he accuses us day and night. He was a liar from the beginning and the father of lies! Conscience sometimes censures us, for even conscience, itself, needs to be enlightened and to be purged from dead works. But when conscience understands the plan of free grace and sees things in the light of the truth of God, it, also, bears witness and the Spirit of God bears witness with it, that we are the children of God! “No,” says the apostle, “there is no condemnation.” What a broad sweep these words take! If you read to the end of the chapter you see how unreserved Paul was in his statement, for there he mounts the high horse and cries, “Who shall say anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifies. Who is he that condemns? It is Christ that died, yes rather, that is risen again.”
Paul makes all Heaven and earth and Hell to ring with his daring challenge, “Who is he that condemns?” In the broadest imaginable terms, he declares that there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus! Where there is no condemnation there is no wrath, no guilt, no punishment! On the contrary, there is acceptance, favor, and bliss! This, beloved, is an abiding statement, a standing assertion. It was true of me, 30 years ago, as a believer, and it is just as true of me now. It was true in Paul’s day and though centuries have passed away, it is just as true at this moment. If you are in Christ Jesus, there is now no condemnation. That living “now” goes singing down the centuries—in life, in death, in time, in eternity—there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus! What a joyful statement it is! It makes one laugh for joy of heart. If you have ever been burdened with a sense of sin, you will know the sweetness of the text. You that are not sinners—you good respectable people who are sailing to Heaven in your own ship—there is nothing in it for you! Gospel assurances are not for you—you would not prize them and, therefore, you have neither part nor lot in them. For Jesus Christ came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. But you that have been whipped of the devil and dragged at the heels of your sins—you that have been broken and crushed as in a mortar, with a pestle, till you are ground fine under the hand of conviction—you are the people that will leap for joy as you hear the silver trumpet ring out the note of “no condemnation!” Come, let us be glad! Let us rejoice together because there is now no condemnation to us! When Giant Despair’s head was cut off, Mr. Bunyan says that the pilgrims danced—and well they might! Mr. Despondency and Miss Much-Afraid took a turn and even Ready-to-Halt, with his crutches, joined in! I guarantee you he footed it well! When he saw the monster’s head upon the pole, he could not help being merry! This text sticks the giant’s head up on the pole for us. “There is therefore now no condemnation.” Oh for the loud sounding cymbals! Now for the maidens and their timbrels! Let us have holy merriment over this! Poor prodigal sinners have fled to Jesus and hidden in Him and there is now no condemnation to them! Poverty? Yes, but no condemnation. Depression of spirit? Yes, sometimes, but no condemnation. Infirmities and weaknesses and things to grieve over? Yes, plenty of them, but no condemnation! “O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise to the Rock of our salvation!”
“All very well,” says one, “but we would like something Practical.” Practical? This is the most practical thing that ever was because the moment a man receives this assurance into his soul, his heart is won to his loving Lord and the neck of his sinfulness is broken with a blow! There never was, no, never can be, a man that has realized, by the witness of the Holy Spirit that he is free from condemnation, who will ever go to love sin and live in it. While I am condemned I say, “Well, if I am to be sent to Hell for my sins, I may as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb and, therefore, I will continue in sins and get what pleasure I can out of them.” Do you not know how the guilty man often feels, that since there is no hope for him, he may as well harden his heart and enjoy himself? A mouse was caught in a trap, the other day, by its tail, and the poor creature went on eating the cheese. Many men are doing the same—they know that they are guilty and they dread their punishment—but they go on nibbling at their beloved sins! They remind me of the soldier in the old classic story. The army marched through a certain country and the commander-in-chief ordered that there should be no plundering. Not a man must touch a bunch of grapes in going through the vineyards, or he should die for his disobedience. One soldier, tempted by a bunch of grapes, plucked it and began to eat it. He was brought before the captain who declared that the law must be carried out and the thief must die. He was taken out to die and though he knew his head would be cut off, he went on eating the grapes as he walked along. A comrade wondered that he should do this, but the condemned man answered that no one ought to grudge him his grapes, for they cost him dearly. Such are the bravados of sinners. The breasts of wicked men are steeled rather than softened by a sense of condemnation, but once let the Holy Spirit remove the burden of their guilt and they will be dissolved by love! Free pardon is a great conqueror. The love of Jesus soon makes men turn from sin with burning hatred. Forgiving love is a main instrument in transforming men from rebels into friends. You may preach the demands of the Law as long as you like and tell men that they must merit salvation—and you will only make them worse and worse. But go and proclaim the dying love of Jesus! Tell them that free grace reigns and that undeserved mercy saves the sinner through faith in Christ—and that the moment he believes in Jesus there is no condemnation to him—and you shall see miracles accomplished! In the experience of free grace you have something to work upon. You have put a new affection into the man and it will drive out his base affections. A life force is communicated to him which will cause him to forsake his old ways and turn unto the Lord.
“How do you know?” asks one. I know by experience and by observation. I could point you out many specimens of the power of divine grace in this assembly, but I will not do so. If I were to say, “Brothers and sisters, you who once lived in sin but have escaped from it through free grace and dying love, stand up!”—What an exceedingly great army would start to their feet! Yes, we know it is true, for the lips of many witnesses declare it! They say, “Jesus saved us from the worst of sins and made us His friends by His free grace, and now we rejoice to love and serve Him.” So shall it be with you, dear hearer, if you, also, believe in Jesus. The text shall be true of you, also—“There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.” God bless you! Amen.