As we just learned in the previous chapter, slavery to sin is the condemnation that Paul says no longer exists for those who are in Christ Jesus. Properly translated, Romans 8:1 should read, “Therefore there is now no enslavement to sin for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

This is strongly supported by Paul’s discourse in Romans chapter six. “For we know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that sin’s dominion over the body may be abolished, so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin, since a person who has died is freed from sin’s claims. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires” (Romans 6:6-7, 12).

Paul continues, “Don’t you know that if you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of that one you obey—either of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness? But thank God that, although you used to be slaves of sin, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching you were transferred to, and having been liberated from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness” (Romans 6:16-18).

  Paul concludes his argument saying, “For just as you offered the parts of yourselves as slaves to moral impurity, and to greater and greater lawlessness, so now offer them as slaves to righteousness, which results in sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free from allegiance to righteousness. So what fruit was produced then from the things you are now ashamed of? For the end of those things is death. But now, since you have been liberated from sin and have become enslaved to God, you have your fruit, which results in sanctification—and the end is eternal life!” (Romans 6:19-22, HCSB).

These verses are all from Romans chapter six. I do not believe that the Holy Spirit writing through Paul could have possibly made it any clearer. As a result of one man’s sin, Adam’s sin, all mankind became enslaved to sin. The only way to be liberated, the only way to be set free from this slavery to sin is by the truth setting us free.

Who or what is the truth that sets us free from slavery to sin? Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.” Jesus is the truth that sets us free from slavery to sin. “So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free’” (John 8:36).

Praise God! As genuine born-again Christians, not only are all of our past sins forgiven, but even more glorious, we are no longer enslaved to sin. Sin no longer has dominion over those that are in Christ. By Christ’s death and resurrection, genuine Christians have been set free from bondage to sin.

We have been set free from bondage to sin leading to death, and have been enslaved to God resulting in sanctification, the end of which is eternal life. We are no longer forced by the sin in our flesh to practice the evil that we do not want to do. Now as believers, we only sin when we choose to, when we are drawn away and enticed by our own evil desires. As James says, “Each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed” (James 1:14).

This is why it is so important that we control what we think about. Paul exhorts us, “Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on the things that are above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:1-3).

Paul continues, “Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable—if there is any moral excellence and if there is any praise—dwell on these things” (Philippians 4:8, HCSB). If we think about these things, we will act accordingly. The thoughts we dwell on lead to the actions we take.

It is because of this truth, those that are in Christ Jesus are no longer enslaved to sin, that we are expected by God to live holy lives. Genuine Christians are no longer slaves of sin. We are now slaves of God resulting in sanctification. Because sin no longer has dominion over us, we are now free to serve God in newness of life. We begin this life of serving God by setting our minds on the Spirit.

We are empowered by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. It has set us free from the law of sin and of death. “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death” (Romans 8:2). We are free, not to live according to the flesh, but to live according to the Spirit. Therefore, we must set our minds not on the things of the flesh, but on the Spirit and the things of the Spirit

Paul explains, “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 in accord with the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are in accord with 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. If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

“So then, brothers and sisters, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— for if you are living in accord with the flesh, you are going to die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons and daughters of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons and daughters by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him“ (Romans 8:3-17, NASB).

Could God have made it any clearer? Christians are expected to live holy lives in obedience to the leading of the indwelling Holy Spirit. John affirms, “This is how we are sure that we have come to know Him: by keeping His commands. The one who says, ‘I have come to know Him,’ yet doesn't keep His commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly in him the love of God is perfected. This is how we know we are in Him: The one who says he remains in Him should walk just as He walked” (1 John 2:3-6).

Peter urges us, “Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written: ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy’” (1 Peter 1:13-16).

Again Paul exhorts us, “Christ has liberated us to be free. Stand firm then and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery. . . For you were called to be free, brothers; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love. For the entire law is fulfilled in one statement: Love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and devour one another, watch out, or you will be consumed by one another.

“I say then, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit desires what is against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you don’t do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

“Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar. I tell you about these things in advance – as I told you before – that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, we must also follow the Spirit” (Galatians 5:1, 13-25, HCSB). 

This is not saying that genuine Christians cannot or will not ever sin. The sin that dwells within our flesh cannot force the believer to sin. According to James, if a believer sins, it is because he “is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desires. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death” (James 1:14-15, HCSB).

The believer becomes a new creation when he is born again. When the Spirit of Christ comes to indwell the believer, the believer’s spirit is made alive. He is now able to have fellowship with God who is Spirit.

With his spirit made alive, the believer now has two natures within him competing for his attention. He still has the old fallen sin nature, the sin that dwells in his flesh. Now, he also has a new nature, the Spirit of Christ indwelling his spirit. These two natures within the believer are opposed to each other.

Now the born-again believer has a choice, every day, every moment. Will he live according to the flesh, or will he live according to the Spirit? As we saw in the passage above, Paul reminds us, “Walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit desires what is against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you don’t do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”

Our ability to walk according to the Spirit is very much dependent on how we think. We must set our minds on the things of the Spirit. We must not allow our minds to dwell on the flesh and the things of the flesh. We must take “every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).

It is our thoughts, the things that we think about and dwell on, that result in our actions. Our minds are the real battleground of this spiritual war that we are in. What do you allow yourself to think about, the things of the flesh or the things of the Spirit?

Galatians 5:16 is one of the greatest promises in all of scripture, “Walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.” This is how powerfully the Spirit is working within us. If we are walking according to the Spirit, the flesh does not have a chance, we will not fulfill its lusts.

Paul prays for the believers in the church in Ephesus that “The eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the boundless greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might.”

He is praying that we would understand the incredible power of the Spirit of Christ working in us to transform us, to conform us to His image, that we would be enabled to walk just as he walked, being led and empowered by the Holy Spirit to live lives that are pleasing to God.

This corresponds with what Paul wrote to the church in Rome. “For those who live according to the flesh think about the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, about the things of the Spirit. For the mind-set of the flesh is death, but the mind-set of the Spirit is life and peace. . . So then, brothers, we are not obligated to the flesh to live according to the flesh, for if you live according to the flesh, you are going to die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. All those led by God’s Spirit are God’s sons” (Romans 8:5-6, 12-14). 

The believer is no longer a slave to sin. Sin no longer has dominion over him. He has been set free, liberated by the Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. He now has the freedom to choose to be led by the flesh or by the Spirit.

However, if the believer chooses to live according to the flesh, God will not be pleased with him. He will experience condemnation and guilt. Here is where the false teachings from Romans 8:1 come in. They teach that because the blood that Christ shed by His death for us on the cross, our sins have been forgiven, all of our sins, past, present and future. This, they say, is why there is now then no condemnation, no guilt and no blame for those in Christ.

These false teachers claim that a believer should never experience any condemnation, never experience any sense of God’s displeasure with us when we sin. They have taken a term, condemnation, that Paul used in a strictly legal sense and changed it into an emotionally based term. Some teach that there is no need to repent of sin after being saved because all our sins were already forgiven the moment we believed.

Some even insist that God is pleased with us because He is pleased with Jesus whom we accepted as our savior. God loves us, they say, and is pleased with us no matter how we live. He will never condemn us. Because of this twisted interpretation of the word condemnation, they say that if we ever feel any guilt or condemnation for our sins, it is because we are not trusting in Christ’s blood that was shed for us.

The King James Version and some other early translations of Romans include the phrase, “Who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit,” as part of Romans 8:1. In the King James Version it reads, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

Recent translations have removed this phrase claiming that the oldest manuscripts did not have this phrase as a part of verse one. However, this exact phrase appears in verse four. “That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

I believe that the Holy Spirit, guiding Paul in his writing, knew that false teachers would twist and pervert the meaning of verse one and used the following verses to give context to clarify how vitally important how we live and think is. It is not enough just to be born of the Spirit. We must also walk according to the leading of the Spirit. A believer can only experience peace with God when he is walking according to the Spirit.

“For those who live according to the flesh think about the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, about the things of the Spirit. For the mind-set of the flesh is death, but the mind-set of the Spirit is life and peace.” 

If we walk according to the flesh, fulfilling its lusts, God will not be pleased with us. He makes this perfectly clear in verse eight, “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” God is displeased with believers whenever they are walking according to the flesh. May I go so far as to say that God is angry with us when we are walking according to the flesh.

Whenever we are walking according to the flesh we should experience conviction, condemnation, guilt and blame. We should feel shame. We should feel guilty of, at the very least, disappointing our heavenly Father. Whenever we are walking according to the flesh, we should be keenly aware of our Father’s disappointment with us. We cannot have peace with God until we repent and turn back to Him.

These false teachings are deceiving God’s people, telling them, “Peace, peace!” when there is no peace. These false teachings are Satanic, straight from the enemy. As Jesus said to Peter, ““Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me because you’re not thinking about God’s concerns, but man’s” (Matthew 16:23, HCSB). This is exactly what these false teachers are doing. They are thinking about the concerns of man, not about God’s.

The apostle John wrote to believers in 1 John 1:5-2:2 saying, “Now this is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in Him. If we say, ‘We have fellowship with Him,’ yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. 

“But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say, ‘We have no sin,’ we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say, “We don’t have any sin,” we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

“My little children, I am writing you these things so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ the Righteous One. He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world” (HCSB).

John continues writing to believers in 1 John 2:3-6, “This is how we are sure that we have come to know Him: by keeping His commands. The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” yet doesn't keep His commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly in him the love of God is perfected. This is how we know we are in Him: The one who says he remains in Him should walk just as He walked.”

God expects us to live holy lives, pleasing to Him, worthy of the kingdom. He did not send Jesus into the world just to die on the cross so that our sins would be forgiven. Forgiveness of sins was available before Jesus came, even before He shed His blood dying on the cross for us.

Much more than this, God sent Jesus into the world to set us free from bondage to sin. God sent Jesus into the world to deliver us from Satan’s power, to set us free. He set us free to serve Him. We serve Him by allowing the Spirit to lead us and empower us to live lives free from sinning.

Remember Paul’s words in Romans chapter 5, “For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by His life!” This is the much more! We are not just forgiven, we are saved, delivered, set free from the dominion of sin. We are saved by the power of His life indwelling us as the Holy Spirit in our spirit.

If a Christian should happen to fall into sin, as soon as he realizes the error of his way, he must stop sinning and repent. He must confess his sin and turn back to God trusting in the power of the blood of Christ to cleanse him from his sin. If we refuse to acknowledge and confess our sin, “we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

If we sin, we must repent. Sin must be dealt with in a serious and thorough manner. God hates sin. God is not pleased with anyone that is living in sin. That does not mean that God has stopped loving us. It does mean that God is not mocked.

Do not deceive yourself. Do not be conceited. You will reap what you sow. God takes sin seriously and He judges sin severely.

Paul warns us, “Do not be conceited, but fear; for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either. See then the kindness and severity of God: to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; for otherwise you too will be cut off” (Romans 11:20-22).

Again we are warned, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a person sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will reap destruction from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit. Let’s not become discouraged in doing good, for in due time we will reap, if we do not become weary. So then, while we have opportunity, let’s do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith” (Galatians 6:7-10).

Writings By Jon von Ernst

The Lord of All Things Series - A Trilogy of Truth 
Books in this series:
Book 1 - The Gospel of the Kingdom
Book 2- The Victorious Christian
Book 3 - Walking in the Light  -  Following in His Steps

*- Audio of these books are available free of charge at thepureword.net.