Location determines reality, and when you are in Christ, you do not have less condemnation, or delayed condemnation. You just have none.
“No condemnation” is the conclusion of the first half of Romans, and it is the theme of your sermon on this week’s epistle. This is a great note to strike on the final Sunday of Lent prior to Palm Sunday and Passion Week. In fact, Judica Sunday doubles down on the restraint of our joy in anticipation of the resurrection. Many churches veil the cross and omit traditional liturgical elements like the Gloria Patri (Glory to the Father) starting on this Sunday. But this epistle reading, and the attendant Old Testament and Gospel lessons, will not allow us to omit the glorious proclamation of life from death, which should be the center of your message this week. Notice the death and life talk in this first quarter of Romans 8 as you study the text this week. Pay attention to what is condemned and what is not. Consider carefully what the Spirit’s role is in all of this. Draw connections between Ezekiel’s valley of dry bones and Jesus’ weepy and wonderful “Lazarus come forth” of John 11. And thank God for the privilege to announce, once again, to His people, your hearers, that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ.
In Christ, is the most important prepositional phrase of the entire scripture. It follows the first rule of real estate: Location, location, location. “In Christ” is a location, and you are in or you are not in. Lessons abound on this throughout the scripture, but the one that comes to my mind immediately is the “abide with me” chapter of John’s gospel, John 15. The lesson there translates everywhere you find the phrase, and that is the decisive phrase in Romans 8 as well: In Christ. Location determines reality, and when you are in Christ, you do not have less condemnation, or delayed condemnation. You just have none.
And this happens to be resurrection language because Paul follows hot on the heels of that statement to back it up with a reason to say it: For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of Sin and Death. I am capitalizing those powers because Paul has given them such agency throughout the letter so far. We are meant as readers and hearers to perk up our ears at the naming of these powers once again and recall what Christ has done about them (a brief word study on “sin” and “death” in Romans 1-7 will run you through the paces fruitfully!). “No condemnation” (Romans 8:1) only makes sense if something decisive has happened to Death and Sin. These are not just abstract, theoretical notions. They are existentially significant and as real as the “body of death” Paul mentioned in the last breath before saying this line (Romans 7:24). “To set the mind on the flesh is death” (Romans 8:6). Paul is not talking about the future; he is describing the present reality. It is flesh as opposed to spirit (refer to John 3:6), flesh as the incurvatus in se, inwardly curved human sinful existence, cut off from God, and animated by fear and death.
Death is active apart from Christ. But the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of Sin and Death (Romans 8:2). Be careful, preacher, that you deliver the truth about freedom to your hearer. Freedom is not moral improvement. Freedom is liberation from a ruling power. In the middle of a season where so many Christians piously and encouragingly devote themselves to penitential discipline, this is a good place to remind your hearer that structure and discipline, religious performance and personal piety, these things are certainly fine outward training, but they do not equate to life. Life only comes from the Spirit, the one who liberates from Death.
Freedom is not moral improvement. Freedom is liberation from a ruling power.
Paul describes his readers and listeners. Describe your own in his words and recognize that biblical preaching proclaims God’s promise to those who grip that promise in faith. You do not need to prepare a lecture on these words. You need simply to say them: “You are not in the flesh. You are in the Spirit since the Spirit of God dwells in you” (Romans 8:9). Do not pull the punch as if trying to offer good advice and say “You should try to be in the Spirit. You should try not to be in the flesh.” Do not burden your hearers with prescriptions like, “Work toward becoming in the Spirit,” or similar balderdash, when the text is obviously descriptive. You are in the Spirit. You are not in the flesh. God’s Spirit does not hover aloof, waiting for your hearer (or you!) to clean up your act, to “get right before you get left,” by running through the paces of works and what you do. The Spirit dwells, the Spirit abides, the Spirit takes residence. The Spirit makes alive.
The Law cannot do that. It is too weak. That is why Paul says, “God has done what the Law, weakened by the flesh, could not do” (Romans 8:3). By sending His Son, He condemned Sin in the flesh. This is an important distinction to make clear for your hearer this week: What is condemned is Sin. But there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. It is not as if condemnation disappears. It does not. It simply lands where it belongs: On the cross of Christ.
The cross, once again, as in all biblical preaching intent on saving some, the cross is the centerpiece of the sermon. Christ dead, Christ raised, Christ alive forever with the scars that prove how He won the salvation of your hearers and you. Preach the cross this week, and Christ’s resurrection, as legal reality. “No condemnation” is not some kind of emotional reassurance, as much as I may sympathize with feelings. No, it is on the contrary a legal declaration, grounded in the crucifixion and resurrection of God’s Son. Paul underscores this point frequently, of course, in regard to the cross (refer to Colossians 2:13-14, Romans 3:25-26, Galatians 3:13, and 2 Corinthains 5:21). See that the resurrection of God’s Son does the same in this pericope: The Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you (Romans 8:11). Make it real for your hearer that if the Spirit dwells in them, then resurrection has already begun. It is not symbolic or merely internal, but bodily, material, real.
This is the miracle of no condemnation. The Spirit lives in ordinary bodies. Your hearers will respond positively to this reminder, because, preacher, they are tired saints. They live in mortal flesh. That is why the promise of Romans 8 is so important for them (and for you). Even when we feel our mortality, when our weakness is obvious, even when sin inevitably whispers and shame knocks on the door, the fact remains: There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.
If you are in Christ, then Christ is in you too. And check it out: “If Christ is in you... the Spirit is life because of righteousness” (Romans 8:10). Not your righteousness, of course, and not the righteousness of your listener. Christ’s righteousness, alien righteousness, exchanged righteousness, the sweet swap, all of what is Christ’s is yours, and all of what was yours is His. His righteousness is now your own; given, shared, breathed into you by the Spirit. Where Christ dwells, no other power can have any say. Sin has no dominion. Death has no claim. Condemnation has no vacancy, because it can only stay where it belongs: On the cross of Christ.
The best word to leave your hearer with this week as you preach Romans 8 is the reminder that they are not commanded to fix themselves. They are not instructed to resurrect themselves. None of these things are advisable because they are impossible, futile. Rather, listen to the Word that describes and the Word that encourages one thing only: To live. Live because Christ has died, Christ has risen, and His Spirit dwells in those who cling to Him, who abide with Him, who are in Christ. There is, therefore, no condemnation.
God bless your hearers this week and you as you deliver the Christ who abides!
Additional Resources:
Craft of Preaching-Check out 1517’s resources on Romans 8:1–11.
Concordia Theology-Various helps from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, MO to assist you preaching Romans 8:1–11.
Lectionary Kick-Start-Check out this fantastic podcast from Craft of Preaching authors Peter Nafzger and David Schmitt as they dig into the texts for this Sunday!
The Pastor’s Workshop-Check out all the great preaching resources from our friends at the Pastor’s Workshop!
