Power From Romans 8

"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God" (Rom. 8:1-14). Honestly my friend, this mighty passage of scripture from the book of Romans needs absolutely no commentary at all. What IS needed however, is that the reader get outside of the modern Christian mentality and read the passage for what IS THERE, rather than from a modern Christian slant on what is NOT there. But just to show how that the passage merely says what it IS saying, I will summarize it as it is purely written. The only way to escape the condemnation for sin from one’s conscience is to do what the first two verses say; be IN Christ AND walk after the Spirit and DON’T walk after the flesh. It is noteworthy also that one must be baptized with the holy Ghoist to be "in Christ" (I Cor. 12:13). Jesus said that spirit baptismal experience comes with power, and that power is to be able to overcome the carnal nature, cause it to die, and thereby walk after the Spirit without sin (Rom. 6:4,6.7). It really is that simple.

The only way to be without condemnation for having sin is to NOT HAVE SIN! The “Spirit of [divine] life” is able to set us free from the nature [law] of sin, as verse 2 shows. Oh yeah, and that means literally free (Jn. 8:36). You see, Jesus did not come here to suffer, die, and raise from the dead to provide us with a fairy tale religion like today’s Christian traditions would have you accept. Actually getting rid of sin from the hearts of men is what the old covenant was not able to do, as stated in verse 3. But as verse 4 conveys, that is EXACTLY what Jesus DID come to do, as is also so powerfully shown elsewhere: “For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Heb. 9:13,14). Verses 5-9 simply let us know that if we are following after the Spirit, it will show up that way in our lives; and if we are not, well, that will show up as well. Jesus said the exact same thing (Mat. 7:15-20). As it is evident, and as verse 9 states, if we do NOT have the Spirit of God in our life we have no chance at all. Then the next two verses take us a little further to assure us that the ONLY way we will be raised from the dead is by the power of the holy Ghost if we have it. So again it is evident that we have to have the REAL holy Ghost in our life, meaning the one that speaks in tongues when it comes in, and leads into pureness of heart daily (Acts 2:4; I Jn. 3:2,3). Then in verse 13 we are clearly told that following the Spirit into true holiness steadfastly is the only way that we will be saved (Tit. 2:11,12; Heb. 12:14). That is also manifest by the statement that we will die, meaning spiritually, if we follow after the fleshly nature rather than after the Spirit. And finally it is clearly stated in verse 14 that those who adhere to everything that is written before this verse are the only true children of God. So the final point here is that it takes more than initially being born again through the Spirit baptism to be saved. It takes perseverance in staying infused with enough power to keep sin out of our hearts and our lives, and to bear forth the fruit of God’s holy love till the end (Rom. 5:5; Eph. 5:1,2). To all of these things Jesus fully concurred: “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved” (Mat. 24:12,13). And all I can possible say, is Amen.