Cancelbration (1)
Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1 NASB
No condemnation – Celebrate! The judgment has been cancelled! That sounds great, doesn’t it? You and I are freed from the verdict that hung over us. The penalty that we deserved has been lifted. Joy should flood our lives. What the Messiah accomplished for us is more than we could ever imagine.
So why aren’t we dancing? Why aren’t we singing? Why does the burden of living still cling to us? Maybe we don’t quite realize that this glorious announcement isn’t a courtroom declaration. Maybe our Greek-Roman paradigm is so saturated with legal terms that we have failed to recognize the far-reaching implications of Paul’s statement.
The Greek root of katakrino (“condemnation”) is the verb krino, “to judge.” In Greek, the verb is often associated with a legal context. Therefore, we think “no condemnation” means relief from the legal consequences of disobedience, that is, forgiveness from the penalty of the Law. But the Hebrew background is much, much bigger. The Hebrew word is mishpat. While mishpat is about ruling and judging, the emphasis is not on punishment but rather on restoration of relationship. In other words, legal conformity is not the priority. Relationship is. The entire point of the Law is to enhance relationship, not to produce rule-bound behavior. “Divine mišpāṭ is not just a legal principle or moral norm. It regulates the relationships in a specific society. God is involved with his people. He is concerned both to keep his promise and to enforce the observance of his command. His judicial decisions serve his covenant purpose, which is a purpose of salvation.”[1] Celebration isn’t over the condemnation that is removed. Celebration is over the relationship that is restored! If we focus on the legal side of this statement, we might feel relieved, but that leaves us in a neutral state. Our accounts are no longer in the red, but that doesn’t mean we have positive gains. We are back at zero. This is not what Paul proclaims.
Perhaps we could paraphrase this verse in the positive rather than the negative. “Therefore, there is complete restoration with the Father for those who are followers of the Messiah.” Now that’s worth celebrating! The Hebrew context is not about our legal standing. It’s about God’s continuing covenant promise. Here’s the really good news: God has not given up on us. God has provided a way for rescue and is anxious beyond belief for us to be reunited with Him. God did everything necessary to make us whole again. There isn’t one single thing standing in the way! Jump for joy! This time it’s real.
Topical Index: condemnation, katakrino, relationship, mishpat, Romans 8:1
[1] krino in Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1985). Theological Dictionary of the New Testament: Abridged (470). Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans
Skip thanks for the clarification as to what it means to walk after the spirit and not the flesh.
We need to be in Christ. The restoration or rebirth from God is into Christ. The law chastises us unto Christ. This all so that we do not form relationships based on the fleshly desires or spirit of darkness.
As you keep pointing out the laws are for relationships founded on God’s will.
The gathering of the elect… Calling unto the spirit of light.
The correct choices irrespective of the immediate out come. Not our cognitive pondered actions but our actions based on our reflection of how God would want us to deal with or connect with others…
The problem with starting out lost is that we start out not understanding the problem. We think the problem is that God is angry at us, but the real problem is that He has been separated from us (thank you, Skip!). We are trapped inside the burning building of our own mess and our Father is in a rage to get in and drag us to safety before we pull the whole place down around our ears.
Seeker, I really liked what you said. You are right: we only have one Door. Christ is the channel of the perfecting (reconnecting) Will of the Father. He came to give the gift of His Spirit so that we would know that Will. What we then know He then empowers us to do. Not for nothing are we told that to know (experience) is to do, for that is how that “power from on high” operates. This is why resisting (the experience of) the Holy Spirit is unforgivable, for that Power is the only way through that Door back to the safety (salvation) of that Will. Halleluah!
Brings us to something we can also think about 1st John 2 1 through 2 my little children I am writing to you so that you may not sin but if any one dozen we have an advocate with the father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is there expiation of arson and not for ours only but also for the sin of the whole world. Advocate another judicial term counselor the one that gives you legal counsel in a court of law. In the Christian world I was taught that this was the Holy Spirit walking with me when really it is Yeshua the reality of salvation walk out yourself a shin with fear and trembling but be at peace and do not fear but we should have reverence for his choices are always just and firm. The righteous have a name that they can run into and be safe. Who are the righteous the ones who walk with Yahweh or Hashem the name.
“He has been separated from us”…….
Would it not be more appropriate to say that WE have separated ourselves from Him Laurita? We don’t think our way into sin, we do it and He has nothing to do with the separation. I think His grace is not what saves us but it is our response to His saving grace that saves us.
Hope you survived the big blow OK.
Of course you are right, George. Perspective. It’s all about perspective. From His end, it matters not how, and it’s only from our end that it appears that confusing. We simply cannot see, from inside our hole, how we got there. It feels like some mysterious hand pushed us for some unknown reason. The truth is that we did it to ourselves -and I am going to add collectively, here, for the choices of others can land me in that ditch, too. Between being tricked and lied to and being stuck with the nuclear fallout of both our choices and the results of the choices of others, we are tempted to sin more and more in response. Blame. Self pity. Addictive attempts to bypass the curse. Revenge. All because we could not see how we got where we are, and so therefore cannot see the only way back out of the mess.
I like the observation that salvation is dependent upon our response. He stands at the door and knocks. We think it is ‘our’ door, but He claims that He is the Door and that we are holding the key. He built Himself into my very structure! This in and of itself deserves a study about the collective reality of being alive and human. When He became human, He wove Himself into the lives of each and every one of us, both sinners and saints. When I sin, I lock Him into my consequences and, with the writer of Hebrews, I “crucify Him afresh”. For my Saviour to voluntarily step into every twist and turn of my life – for good or for bad – is love so far beyond me I don’t even know how to be grateful.
Did it blow bad down there? I was so glad for the rain to recharge ground water and work on filling my pond.
Romans 8:1 was THE scripture for me that rang the bell!
I so vividly recall the streams of revelation that flooded my soul
the moment I first read it.
I went from “old, broken and lost” to “brand spankin’ new” and not a day
goes by without my praise and thanks for the wisdom of His Word and the power
it contains.
This action causes me to think of Isaiah 43. 25 I even I and the one who blots out your transgressions for my own sake I will never think of them again. With a little bit of study I see That to forgive is in a way to forget or look the other way but this verse in Isaiah mentions blotting out which carries the idea of doing away with. Someone gave me this illustration. Taking a fountain pen full of ink and opening the cartridge. When the ink dries forget it they can. Be recovered. Hallelujah
This message as Heschell reminds us is about “God in persuit of man” . Why do we have so much truble letting him catch us? Perhaps Bob Dylan puts it better “Why do we have so much truble letting go of the things we need the least.” ?Things like vanity, pride and as Oswald Chambers puts it , “our right to ourselves ” Such are our limitations and regrettably we get what we chose…Yet the most merciful one ever waits offering us incomprehensible gifts in exchange for our dust and ashes.
To expand on Skip’s explanation of katakrino, the point of a judge’s ruling is not to condemn or punish the offender but to decide how the offender can correct the bad situation that he caused. We understand this well.
If I, through my careless fault, cause damage to another person’s property, a judge will order me to make restitution, not because he wants to punish me, but because it is only just that I correct the damage that I caused. Of course that will cost me time and money but our relationship will be restored to the balance it was in before my error/fault/sin and all will be well.
We have all sinned, we are all guilty, the penalty is death and we will all die, but God, our Judge, has given us the opportunity to restore our relationship through Christ. But to do this, we the guilty, have to “spend the time and money” to correct the relationship. If we do, our life will be restored in the resurrection (and we will gain a deposit on it even in this life.)
Jesus did not pay our debt for us so we get away absolutely free. (And if the penalty for sin is eternal death and Jesus paid it on our behalf, wouldn’t Jesus have to stay dead forever?)
It is most probably for this reason that Paul reiterated that we crucify Christ anew every time we sin.
For in Christ we are doing good deeds God has desired from mankind. Every time we sin we stop doing good deeds and separate ourselves from God. See the discussion on how Saul ended for separating himself and then on how Judas ended for selling Yeshua out. Separation is just as good as suicide.
The question we are then left with is what are the good deeds. Yeshua reminded love God above all and your neighbour like yourself. From these two flow the complete ten commandments and from the ten the just rules of interaction as explained by Moses.
And not the other way round… First do the laws to learn. No first become the lover of souls then you will know when to apply in wisdom all the knowledge of God and through this the power in redemption and Godly freedom will manifest.
WARNING do not let your freedom be a stumbling stone for others as we need to guide them unto freedom not into bondage of obedience…
Skip – can you reveal where in an interpretation or study of the original Hebrew manuscripts mishpat is about our relationship to The Father ? I’m doing an in depth study of Romans 8:1 – 2… And yes I am very careful to not take God’s word out if context.
I would suggest Mark Nanos commentary on Romans. He deals with the proper content of the letter, and, in my opinion, it is not possible to understand what Paul is saying without recognizing that this letter was NOT written to Christians in Rome. Read his work and see if that helps.
Skip, do you mean Nanos’ “The Mystery of Romans: The Jewish Context of Paul’s Letters”?
Yes