Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
Romans 8:34-39
“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8 is Paul’s plea to the Church in Rome to embrace a Spiritual view of their lives, no longer laboring in the flesh toward an inevitable death but living as free people in the Spirit awaiting eternal life.
Present day Christians also need this lesson; we can’t go around in fear of being found guilty of sin when there is no one to condemn us once God has forgiven us. We are not being punished by going through the sufferings of the present time, but instead we are waiting for the time in which creation itself will be set free as we have.
This perspective is crucial to the future of the Church. We need to step into our full potential as Spiritual beings, called to become conformed to the image of Jesus, not being dragged back into mindset of bondage to sin but the transformative freedom we have in Christ.
This message is for believers. How can we possibly start to convince people that Jesus has saved us from sin if we continue to live under the fear of punishment from God? No, the good news is that Jesus saves us, not that God punishes. Our attitude must reflect that.
Ethan Kirl
Paula
“We need to step into our full potential as Spiritual beings, called to become conformed to the image of Jesus, ”
Great quote! This is an outstanding message.