WE take these words in their plain and obvious meaning, just as any simpleminded man would take them. They seem to us to state a fact—absolute and unconditional, and fenced about with no kind of stipulation whatsoever. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” And there the verse should end. The qualifying clause, “who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit,” finds its fitting place in verse four—not here, and the Revised Version rightly leaves it out. It is indeed no part of the Scripture as originally written. So the words stand out before our eyes in all their native beauty. They are God’s words, full of gladness and of summer sunshine. And they wait to be received into the believing heart. No condemnation! Far, far beyond its reach have we been placed—high up on a rock where no threatening wave nor rising tide can ever come.
The very form of the phrase, “in Christ Jesus,” carries our thoughts to heaven and fastens them on the person of our Saviour there. He has been received up into glory.
Can anything in the nature of judgment or condemnation ever overtake Him in those blest abodes? Is He not in the place of honor—in the full and cloudless favor of His God and Father, and the blessed and worthy Object of His delight and love? Think, then, O my soul, of this―thou art in Him there! He is thy Representative in the Heavenly Courts—the last Adam, the Head of a redeemed family, the Giver of eternal life to all who believe in Him (Rom. 5:2121That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 5:21)).
The sin of our first parent Adam to say nothing of our own sins—brought all his family into a path that leads to judgment and condemnation. But the obedience of Christ, even unto death, delivers from this and brings all who are His into a place of life and favor. This is clearly stated in the latter part of chapter 5. Christ, risen and in glory, is the One in whom we now stand. All that He is —as the risen and accepted Man—we are, for we are one with Him. Condemnation, then, there is none, nor can ever be for those that are “in Christ Jesus.” Well may our hearts rejoice and be glad.
How many of God’s dear people have yet to be led into the knowledge and enjoyment of their place “in Christ Jesus.” They cling to the cross, they lie at the foot of it—suppliants there—and think it is the only true and proper attitude to take. “God be merciful to me a sinner” is their constant cry. Hence their life is like a cloudy day with but fitful gleams of sunshine—there is but little joy and peace and triumph in it. They need to pass over to the other side. The Ark of the Covenant that went down into Jordan when that river of death overflowed all its banks is no longer there (Josh. 4:10, 1110For the priests which bare the ark stood in the midst of Jordan, until every thing was finished that the Lord commanded Joshua to speak unto the people, according to all that Moses commanded Joshua: and the people hasted and passed over. 11And it came to pass, when all the people were clean passed over, that the ark of the Lord passed over, and the priests, in the presence of the people. (Joshua 4:10‑11)). Christ is risen and in glory. Our sins have indeed been borne away, and if sought for shall never more be found. They are gone forever, like a stone cast into the mighty sea, buried beneath the waves of everlasting forgetfulness (Heb. 10:1717And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. (Hebrews 10:17)). But more, far more than this. We have died with Christ. Our life, as of Adam’s fallen race, has been brought to an end judicially in His death of shame upon the cross, and now we live of that life of which He is the source. “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. 6:2323For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)).
Oh, that we could induce the many timid fainting, yet believing, hearts to look up and see Christ in glory—to pass over to the other side of His cross, the resurrection side of it, and to wake up to the glorious fact that they are evermore identified with Him. Would that they knew that His standing before God was theirs, His acceptance theirs, and that they are as clear from all charge as He is clear—His Father their Father, and His God their God.
And if these blessed truths are all revealed in the Holy Scriptures, how is it that they are not great realities to the souls of so many? Is it not because they are continually thinking of their own worthiness, the feebleness of their faith and their little love to Christ? Self, in one or another of its insidious forms, fills their minds to the exclusion of all else. The shutters are closed and though the golden sunshine is flooding the scene without, none of it enters their dark and dreary room. Are you not sick of self? Are not your efforts to improve it miserable failures? Are you not quite in despair of ever being any better? Oh, that you could but see how God has dealt with that wretched self—so hopelessly unmendable and evil! He has set it aside in the cross and death of Jesus. “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him.” Why, then, should “our old man”— that unhappy, depraved self—be ever thought of more? Look up and see Christ in glory, and know that not only has He put your sins away, but that He is your life and righteousness there.
“Then let our souls in Him rejoice
And sing His praise with cheerful voice;
Our doubts and fears forever gone,
For Christ is on the Father’s throne.”
W. B.