Christians are a dead people made alive. The moment we realize the truth of Christ’s sacrifice, and accept that truth personally as a gift of grace through faith, we immediately become united with Jesus in his death. Romans 6:4 defines this beautiful mystery as being “buried with him by baptism into death.”
This death is very good news. Because if we die in Christ, then “just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his” (Romans 6:4-5). We die in Christ. We rise with Christ!
Before we were united with Jesus, we were under the law and controlled by our sinful nature, and so “bore fruit for death” (Romans 7:5). The moment we became Christians we “died to the law through the body of Christ…in order that we might bear fruit to God” (Romans 7:4). Outside of Christ, even our most beautiful fruit (deeds) ultimately end in death because God is not glorified through them. In Christ, when we walk in obedience to him, our lives bear fruit that will glorify God for eternity.
The Offense and the Sacrifice
Though we are justified (made right with God), we have not been fully sanctified (made like Christ). In Jesus, we are reconciled to God. And yet, as long as we’re on earth, we will still struggle with sin.
In Romans 7, Paul explains that the law is good because it elucidates our sin. In fact, not only does the law throw light on our sin, Paul says it actually makes sin spring to life!
…if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. (Romans 7:7-9)
Here is Paul, who had been chosen through a personal appearance by the risen Christ (Acts 9), lamenting his wretchedness because of his constant struggle with sin. This, after he was justified! So if Paul the Super Apostle struggled in this way—
We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do— this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who can rescue me from this body of death? (Romans 7: 14-24)
— how do we common Christ followers even stand a chance against such a power?
The answer is, we don’t.
But take heart. Allow the very first line of Chapter 8 to flow over you: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus…”
No condemnation. None. Is it conditional? No. Can you lose this promise? Not on your life— or his. Why? “…because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2).
The law is powerless to save. That is why God sent Christ, his only, beloved, and innocent son, “in the likeness of sinful man” (Romans 8:3). This means Christ became us— a perfect version of us. Perfect, yet he put himself in the place of the offender, essentially becoming the offense, and took on the sentence reserved for us real offenders. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Then remarkably, Jesus, to fulfill the requirements of the law, which demand a sacrifice for the offense, became the sacrifice! John Piper explains,
…as Romans 3:25 says, “God put [him] forward as a propitiation by his blood.” Just as Abraham lifted the knife over the chest of his son Isaac, but then spared his son because there was a ram in the thicket, so God the father lifted his knife over the chest of his own Son, Jesus— but did not spare him, because he was the ram; he was the substitute.
Jesus, the offended, became the offense and the sacrifice! And so we are free.
Reflect
Romans 8:28-37 is so rich with good news that it overwhelms me every time I read it.
Read the following verses in Romans 8, and record each piece of good news. Then reread what you’ve written. Meditate on it. Absorb it into your soul. Amazing Grace!
28:
30:
31:
32:
35:
37:
38-39:
Romans 8:17-18 tells us that “…we are heirs-heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” God is the King of a literal Kingdom. Because of Christ’s work on the cross, we are heirs of that Kingdom. Yes, we are heirs in his suffering here on earth, but also of a glorious inheritance waiting for us when our work here on earth is through.
2. Read the following scriptures. Build a description of what our inheritance will look like.
Pray
Dear Father, how can we thank you for such a sacrifice, such a great love, and how can we grasp the joy that being your child, your heir, and the recipient of your grace brings? Your goodness is overwhelming. Help us to lean into your goodness, to bathe in your grace, and to accept the gift that you have given in your Son. Help us to live lives worthy of the sacrifice you’ve made and the love you lavish on us every minute. Amen.