Condemnation No More – Reflections on Romans 8:1-4

Someone should start a Christian rock band called “Condemnation No More” as a deliberate pun on the 90s rock band “Faith No More.”  The phrase “condemnation no more” comes form Rom 8:1 and its a great summary of the Pauline gospel. In fact, Paul’s whole sentence in 8:1-4 forms a perfect summary as any as to what the whole of Romans 5–8 has been getting at: The Spirit gives the life that the law promised but could not deliver. [1] Note that after the speech-in-character in Rom 7:7-25 about the wretched man who is a “slave to the law of sin,” Paul now turns to the subject of deliverance from this plight through Christ’s sin-bearing death and the liberating work of the Holy Spirit. What Paul says in vv. 1-4 about freedom from the law of sin and death bursts upon us like a bright light falling upon captives who have been locked inside a darkened cave. Paul’s words, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (v. 1) are startling and shocking, and just like a prisoner having sunlight beam upon him for the first time in years, we can hardly be forgiven for blinking several times before looking at it directly. The first blink is obviously the question as to how can the tragic analysis of 7:7-25 lead to such a wondrous conclusion? The answer is that Messiah and Spirit have wrought a redemptive work to emancipate believers from the realm that sin and death once occupied. God’s saving work, so lavishly described in Rom 3:21-26, 5:1-11, 6:4-7, and 7:6 is distilled and described here in summative form as no condemnation (v. 1), slaves set free (v. 2), sins dealt with (v. 3), and the law fulfilled (v. 4). In which case, the “reign of grace” (5:21) and the “new life of the Spirit” (Rom 7:6) are rehearsed in vv. 1-4 in terms of a vindication that overturns the law’s condemnation and a vivification that reverses the power of death.