“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Rom. 8:1 (ESV) Before Jesus we were judged according to the law of sin. This law meant that because we sinned we had to be declared guilty of sinning – no lawyer could win an argument against that. And since we were guilty there had to be a sentence, a punishment of condemnation. The punishment was spiritual death and separation from God; this was our condemnation. We were condemned to death by our sins. But when we accepted Jesus and his death for our sins then the law of sin was defeated. This was because Jesus took the punishment for our sins. So now there is no punishment of death for our sins. So now there is a great divide between guilt and condemnation. We may be “guilty” of a sin but there is no condemnation of death any more. When we sin the judge strikes his gavel on his bench and declares us guilty in fact but not guilty in law. Jesus fulfilled the law of condemnation for sin. So now we live free from condemnation even when we sin. God still wants to make us aware of our sins; we call this “conviction of our sins.” But there is no sentence with this conviction. We may have consequences for our sins and they may be very painful but we are still not condemned for our sins. We are never under condemnation from God; he only wants us to see our sins and return to walking in his Spirit.
