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One of the rules of Bible interpretation is that when a sentence starts with “therefore,” we must see what it’s there for. Chapter eight of Romans begins:

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Re-read that verse until it sinks in. Since chapter headings were not in Paul’s letter, the “therefore” is joining the theme of chapter eight with the previous chapter. Last week was a doozie where the Apostle himself revealed how he lives in tension between the law of sin in Paul’s flesh with the law of the spirit in Paul’s mind. (7:21). Paul’s framework is not binary, but more of a wave form where, just like breathing, we can perceive ourselves operating in both the flesh as well as the spirit.

World religion has been trapped in binary of “this or else”, threatening consequences for the disobedient. Paul’s Gospel (which I claim has been partially obscured by church history) is far more inclusive than religion likes. To this day, the Evangelical gospel is essentially a threat, to come to the marriage bed of God at gunpoint. While it’s front loaded with the Grace which is evident throughout scripture, the backend is a threatening if a person will not convert to the Christian religion.

The English translators have written chapter eight as if Paul requires a contingency. For example, translating the definite article (“toi“-plural of “the“…these, them, their, those things) exclusively as “those.” We’ve seen how definitions matter with the term (logizomai- count, consider) and how it sets a course for interpreting the rest of the book. Chapter 8 is similar, so I want to say, that while I don’t disagree that Paul is making a comparison between what it means to be “in Christ” and “not in Christ”, we must be aware that our modern ears will hear the term “those in Christ” and never consider that Paul is speaking more inclusively to “these in Christ”.

Since chapter eight joins Paul’s reality of living both in Christ and in the flesh (v. 25), it does comport with his inclusive framework from the beginning (under wrath and under grace, sinner and justified). Why would Paul switch to an “innie” vs “outie” binary all of a sudden?

“For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” (v.2-4)

Paul continues that in Christ we are free from the law of sin. I’ve shown that doesn’t mean sinless lives, rather that now we are able to see our sin, and struggle against it as the spirit awakens us. Since the Christian religion did not exist at the time, Paul could not be advocating for conversion to a religion. Textually, Paul has been arguing that “all who have sinned, ARE also justified (dikaiosune)(3:23-25). If true, then the “in Christ” aspect is the (logizomai-consideration) of what God has done in love through Christ.

Paul explains precisely how all people are made (righteous/justified) in Christ Jesus. There is no sinners prayer. No pamphlet. No altar call. No subscription to religion. Jesus lived a sinless life and fulfilled the moral obligation of the law, but was punished as a transgressor of the law. This is called substitutionary atonement. Jesus substitutes his life for ours and vice-versa. He gets our condemnation, and we get his justification. Jesus subverts the law in death, and makes righteousness a gift to all people. The “in Christ” part of this is the receiving of this gift, or (logizomai-considering) our selves dead to sin and alive in Christ (6:11). It’s not a feeling. It’s not a ritual. It’s a framework for reality, held by faith, not merely a belief.

We can test if Paul’s “in-Christ” framework is true. Is there any person living who if he or she genuinely “considered” themselves the recipient of this gift, would not actually receive this gift of grace? Wouldn’t such grace have already been bestowed? Thus, we don’t need all our questions answered in this moment. We don’t need to fully understand precisely how it all works. We only need to open the gift which brings forth answers and understanding. Thus a person can receive Jesus’ righteousness without ritual, obedience, or even belief in a particular religion…it only requires faith, just like Abraham.

Can you now see what religion has done to this doctrine?

Many of you found yourselves stuck after last week’s post. I’d like to pause and address the common question because Paul is about share a new way to live, now that we are released from religion (7:6), and set free from sin into an alternative slavery to God in His righteousness (dikaiosune) (6:18). We each have two opposing laws (spirit and flesh) working within us. Recognizing this tension, is proof of the gift of grace. Everyone understands our capacity for good and evil, everyone receives this Amazon package on our porch, faith is the exploration (Abraham), faith is opening what’s inside.

Can you see how binary religion has coopted this Gospel?-(glad tidings) Can you see how institutional power (which Jesus rejected in his temptation- Matthew 4:8) has reworked this doctrine of grace into a transaction, so that only those in a particular religion, or denomination, or system of belief, can access this. If we fall prey to this old propaganda, our hearts bloat with pride and certainty, and we feel justified by God to diminish others or hate the enemies who don’t convert to our team. Religion appeals the our unregenerate heart, or the law of the flesh.

Self-righteousness fills pews, but not God’s presence.

Faith in Christ, or what I call Christ following, is simply the exploration and discovery of this anointed one within all human endeavors to find and know God (ex: Russel Brand). Abraham and his descendants followed this ‘something other’, and much of human history has recorded this exploration in the Bible. The New Testament is a subversive message to become free from institutional overreach, whether it is John the Baptist(Matthew 3:1), Jesus leading a counter-pilgrimage from the temple into the desert (John 6:1), the disciples leaving everything to follow Jesus’ call, and now Paul who gave up being at the top of religion in order to help others get out. Thousands of years and billions of people have now all heard this call from within their own history, family, tribe, religion, and circumstances, and now we are hearing it again today.

The Gospel of grace is not how we get into religion, it’s how we get out. There remains no Biblical example where the Gospel resulted in people joining a religion. So why does this mutation exist in the Gospel today? Christ following is “that part of us” which is free enough to trust that we are not condemned, by exploring if it’s possibly true.

If there is “another Gospel” other than Paul’s, such as Evangelicalism’s, do you really want it? Which do you suppose is the anathema? Is this why Paul’s Gospel is so hard to understand now? The struggle to understand this, means the Church is failing in its mission and needs our engagement.

Prayerfully consider this and prepare to learn how to live in the freedom of knowing that “there is now no condemnation for THESE (beloved sinners) who are in Christ Jesus.”