WHO CONDEMNS US?
“Who is he that condemns? Shall Christ, that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us?” (Romans 8:34).
Still continuing his legal appeal, Paul asks the question who is it who is going to condemn us for our sin. He is, of course, speaking to Christians who have accepted Jesus Christ’s substitutionary death for their own sin. Once that’s been accomplished, who now has power to judge us?
Jesus said, in John 5:22, “For the Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment to the Son“. If Jesus is in charge of judging, how will He condemn us? He then leads us down a journey of obvious answers; four things that Christ, the Judge, has done for us that are contrary to us feeling condemned.
1) Will “Christ that died” for us condemn us? The answer is obvious. He paid the price of sin (death) so we could live.
2) Will “Christ…that is risen again” condemn us? Of course not. He rose from the dead so that we could have hope of life after death. That’s why we’ll celebrate Easter in two weeks.
3) Will “Christ…who sits at the the right hand of God” condemn us? No way. No one is closer to Father God than Jesus. And He died for us.
4) Will “Christ…who also makes intercession for us” condemn us? How absurd to think that Christ would be praying for us on the one hand while He condemns us on the other.
So, if there is no one to condemn us, then we are free from condemnation. That takes us full circle back to Romans 8:1 when Paul introduced this whole topic by saying: “There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus“. We now see that the whole of Romans 8 was really an explanation of how we stand with God and what we can expect from Him. Powerful revelation of the impact of our salvation. We’re not condemned, so we are wide open to the blessings of God in our lives. Receive and live.
Tags: condemnation, judgment
Leave a reply