Done with Religion

Romans 8:1-9 – Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so,  and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.

The above verses are talking about how in Christ, we are no longer under condemnation and guilt due to sin. Christ came and took our sin and nailed it to His cross. The Old Testament Law, which was a tutor and guide to show us our need of a Savior, was fulfilled, it was crucified and buried with Christ.

When it talks about the flesh, it is talking about those who are not saved and still under the tutor of the Law. They are still under condemnation and guilt because they, in the flesh, cannot please God, whether they try by their good works or don’t try at all. There is nothing they can do to make things right. They are still in the flesh, or another way of saying it, in the spirit of Adam.

Being in the Spirit is to be saved through Christ. You are in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. And we know that if we have accepted Christ’s gift of salvation, the Spirit comes and lives in us. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. We are now living in the Spirit. We are hidden in Christ, seated with Him at the right hand of the Father. Our spirit man is perfect and holy because of Christ. The old sinful nature has been crucified with Christ and we have been raised as new creatures in Him.

Although we still have a body that is imperfect, and a mind that needs to be renewed…our spirit man has been raised up in Christ as a new creature.

Praise God that we are no longer under condemnation, guilt and shame that the Law brought upon us. We are now the righteousness of God. We can now live in the freedom that Christ provided for us.