Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.
I’m still thinking about Romans 8:1-2.
In trying to communicate the gospel to non-Christians, sometimes the language of “Jesus is a person and he loves you and wants to have a relationship with you” falls flat. It doesn’t reach people in a way they understand.
Another way I’ve imagined explaining this verse is: “there’s no condemnation or need to be shameful when you accept Jesus as real, because the Spirit fills you with the assurance of love in spite of all your failings and lack.”
But that’s also sort of intangible.
This verse is so interesting because we talk about “laws.” The law of the Spirit vs the law of sin and death.
The law of death we understand. It is a physical and biological law that our cells die off, our telomeres age and DNA replication erodes, our memory and muscles and joints will fail.
But what other sorts of laws are there in the world?
Political or national law. You can decide which country you want to live in.
Mathematical laws. Intangible, abstract, but very much real.
Law “of the Spirit?” Jesus offers a meta-physical sort of “law.” The law of the Spirit is in the spiritual and moral realm. Like mathematics and political law, you can’t observe them directly as you do biological law (death), only its effects on others and the expressions of it. And Jesus is saying that it will override our biological laws of death, and sin (anything that we see as “wrong” in the world, suffering, evil, hate).
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