One of the most encouraging passages in all of the New Testament is found at the beginning of Romans 8.  It reads as follows:

Romans 8:1-2 (NKJV)
¹  There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. ²  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

According to Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, the word condemnation means, “a damnatory sentence.”  This is the fate of all who die outside of Christ.  However, those who are in Christ will escape such a sentence.  Paul said earlier that, by the blood of Christ, we have been saved from the wrath of God” (Romans 5:9).

When is there no condemnation?  Paul said “now.”  The moment we obeyed the gospel our sins were washed away by the blood of Christ, and we were set free from the captivity of sin.

We have been made free by the “law of the Spirit of life.”  The law of the Spirit of life is the gospel.  The gospel is “the law of the Spirit” because the Spirit revealed it (1 Corinthians 2:12-13; Ephesians 3:1-4).  It is “the law of the Spirit of life” because the gospel is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16).

The gospel is the story of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ (1 Corinthians 15:14).  Our Lord’s sacrifice on the cross is what allowed us to be free from the wrath of God.  On the cross, Jesus condemned sin in the flesh (Romans 8:3), allowing us to be in this state of no condemnation.

The beauty of this for us is that we now appear before God as if we have not sinned.  Romans 8:4 is the key to understanding this.

Romans 8:4 (ESV)
⁴  In order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Paul is explaining why God sent His Son to condemn sin in the flesh.  It was so that we might fulfill the righteous requirements of the law, which was moral perfection.  The law required sinlessness because it could not forgive sins (Acts 13:38-39).  While we are all sinners (Romans 3:23), having been cleansed by the blood that Jesus shed on the cross, the requirement of the law has been fulfilled in us, putting us in this state of no condemnation.

This blessed state of being is not unconditional.  Yes, we have it by the grace of God (1 Corinthians 15:10), but to maintain it, Paul said we must walk according to the Spirit (vers. 1, 4).  What does this mean?

To walk according to the Spirit simply means to follow His instructions.  Those instructions are found on the pages of our New Testament.  Remember, the gospel (the law of the Spirit of life) was revealed by the Spirit.  The evidence that we are doing this is found in the fruit that we bear.  Paul said, “…walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). 

Are you bearing the fruit of the Spirit or the works of the flesh?  Paul gives us a detailed description of both so that we can immediately know whether we are walking according to the Spirit or the flesh (Galatians 5:19-23).  Do not forget that God will not be mocked.  We shall all reap what we sow.

Galatians 6:8 (ESV)
⁸  For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.