WHAT GOD DID

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. —Romans 8:1, 2

As Jesus explained to Nicodemus, His was a mission of salvation, not condemnation (see John 3:17). This was a theme that Paul expanded on in his letters.

The concepts and language can seem complicated, but the key is to remember that Paul was always talking about what “God did by sending his own Son” (Romans 8:3). While Paul’s arguments were about making sense of what God had done in Jesus, his case was built on the experiences with Jesus that he and his fellow apostles were testifying to. “Knowledge of revelation does not always begin with clarity. . . . But under all circumstances, it begins with certitude. Either God has spoken or He has not spoken. If He has spoken, He has done so in such a manner that it is impossible not to heed Him. . . . Doubt and despair, human unbelief, and even a sea of uncertainties on our behalf will not be able to change the certitude of His presence.”* If Jesus was who He claimed to be and who the apostles believed Him to be, we can then believe what He said about God’s love for us and our world, the new relationship we can have with God, and our freedom from sin and death as the ultimate powers in our lives.

Our relationship with God is no longer one of fear, and our common human experiences of fear, doubt, and uncertainty do not reflect or affect this new relational reality. This was the certitude with which Paul lived and that he wanted to share with the new believers to whom he was writing.

* Karl Barth, God in Action (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock Publishing, 2005), 8.