I was looking up something the other morning regarding condemnation and I read a great example from D. G. Barnhouse. As an aside, over the years my library has grown and contains the works of a number of mighty men of God. Barnhouse’s exposition on Romans is one of the best at explaining what can be difficult to understand scriptures.
Rom 8:1-2 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. ESV
The key message in this verse is that the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. Barnhouse paints a vivid picture of this fact using the Red Sea, pointing out that the law of gravity was working to keep the waters of sea in their bed. But when the moment came the for the Lord to show His deliverance He stirred up an east wind, blowing all night long dividing the sea and holding the waters back (Ex 14:21). Gravity was still pulling the waters down but the miraculous power of the law of the east wind made the Israelites free from the law of gravity which would have pulled the waters over them, which it did over the Egyptians.
Its the same for us!
The law of sin and death in our lives can pull in one direction. Sin can ever only be sin and anyone in sin can never have anything in life other than sin. Then the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus intervenes and blows its force against the law of sin and death. Immediately, though we are surrounded by death (it is within us by nature) we are freed from its pull and it becomes possible for us to live in triumph over sin… There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
There is still stumbling and falling as we sin but there is no condemnation. Deliverance is already ours in that Adamic corruption can neither incur our condemnation nor bring about separation from the love of God in Christ. That’s the key point. It doesn’t say that there are no faults, no failures, no infirmities, no inconsistencies, no fleshly corruptions. It says that there is no condemnation because Jesus has already suffered all the condemnation. The law of sin continues to pull but there is no condemnation because the law of the Spirit has freed us and set us on dry ground to live a life of triumph over sin. We too have been delivered and led across our Red Sea.