by Elyse Fitzpatrick
For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
Romans 8:2

How did Paul answer his “Who will deliver me?” question in Romans 7:24? In verse 25, he said, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Jesus is the One who delivers us from bondage to sin. I wish there were no chapter break between Romans 7 and Romans 8, because Paul went right on and said, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1).
No condemnation. I don’t care what you did this morning. I don’t care what’s going on in your mind right now. You may be sitting next to somebody you really wish weren’t your neighbor. There is therefore right now no condemnation.
The reality is that I deserve condemnation. And so do you. But when we put our trust in Jesus Christ, we are united to Him by our faith and His position becomes our position. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” There is no condemnation for us, because we are in Christ and there is no condemnation left for Him!
There is a righteous requirement of the law, and you’re supposed to fulfill it. But did you? No! Somebody had to fulfill it for you. And He did! “The righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh”—what we were just confessing—“but according to the Spirit” (Rom. 8:4).
How can there be no condemnation? Listen, if God’s law cannot be violated, and He doesn’t lessen it, and He isn’t kidding, and if transgression of the law brings death, how can there be no condemnation? How can it be that the righteous requirement of the law has already been fulfilled in me? Because God has done something the law could never do. He sent “his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin” (Rom. 8:3). The Incarnate Son, Jesus, was sent as a sacrifice for our sin, by paying the penalty for all our sin, by dying on the cross in our place.

Thought to Remember for Today

Here’s good news: Jesus Christ has already paid the penalty for your sin by dying on the cross. He took that cup of the righteous anger of God’s wrath, and He drank it down to its dregs for you “so that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled” in you, and all the penalty you owe for every single unkind word, every single selfish thought, has been paid by Him on the cross in your place.

Fitzpatrick, E. (2016). Grace untamed: a 60-day devotional. Colorado Springs, CO: David C Cook.