“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death” (Ro 8:1–2).
We hold all of scripture to be absolutely true, good, and helpful for training us to be in Jesus, to become like Jesus, and to do what Jesus would do if he were us (2 Timothy 3:16-17). The Apostle Paul wrote the above words full of impactful power to the Roman church many years ago. If all scripture is true, then why is it that many Christians regularly feel condemned? I think there are several reasons why this may be true and I would like to explore some of them here today. My aim here is to help all of my readers find a greater sense of freedom in Christ, so let’s dive in together.
- A Christian may feel condemned because his or her eyes have come off of Christ.
Paul gives us a critical qualifier in verse 1 of Romans 8; “for those in Christ Jesus.” It is not all of humanity which experiences freedom from the condemnation of God. It is those who are in Christ specifically. The fact stands that the world at large, though they have potential to be set free from condemnation through the cross of Christ (John 3:16), stands condemned. The good news is that Jesus did not come to condemn the world, but to save it (John 3:17). As a result God is waiting until a later date to finally judge the world. He is giving the opportunity for as many as possible to be set free in Christ. I think at this point it is important for me to ask you… have you given your life over to Christ? Here’s the deal, if you haven’t then this freedom from condemnation we are discussing cannot apply to you. The freedom from condemnation in Christ is available to all who repent and believe the good news about Jesus, but it is only actualized for those who are in Christ.
So what about those who are in Christ and yet feel condemned? One common reason for Christians to feel condemnation is that we have ceased to look towards Christ to find our identity and we are looking elsewhere. Our world encourages us to find our identity within ourselves, or in what we enjoy, or in a relationship, in fully realizing our preferences, and so on and so forth. It is common for a Christian to fall into this trap and thus turn the eyes of our hearts away from Jesus.
John Calvin famously wrote that “man’s nature is a perpetual factory of idols” and that the “mind begets an idol, and the hand gives it birth.” His observation is an astute one proved time and again by the actions of people. Whatever we seek ultimate satisfaction in apart from Christ becomes an idol for us. Idols distract us from who we are in Christ and when we are distracted from Christ, we forget who we truly are in him. We find ourselves defaulting back into the patterns of our human nature and from those patterns we experience condemnation. We feel condemned because that which we seek after for hope consistently fails us. When our relationships break down, or the new toy isn’t new anymore, or our preferences leave us empty, or a pandemic rolls in and takes our livelihood with it… any of these things and others have the potential to throw us into a state of despair.
Naturally we will feel condemned and hopeless when that which we hope in fails. The solution to this, is to put our hope only in that which can never fail. The only one who can possibly fill this place in our lives is Christ. When our eyes are set firmly on him, we will not experience this sort of condemnation.
- A Christian may feel condemned because they lack confidence in Christ.
Another common source of condemnation is when our ultimate confidence which is meant to be in Christ alone is misplaced and/or lacking. In the first section, we emphasized how people look away from Christ towards something else which is external to us. Here we look at our tendency to look towards our own faithfulness rather than the faithfulness of Christ to make us whole. I doubt there are many, if any, believers who would say that they lack confidence in Christ but there are many who live with a lack of confidence in Christ.
When I was a young Christian, I personally struggled with this. I truly believed that Jesus died for my sins and rose from the dead. I was confident that he saved me but I did not have confidence in Christ’s ability to keep me saved. Because of this I was constantly on edge regarding my faith and my place with the Father. Rather than focusing on the righteousness of Christ for me, I would emphasize my personal righteousness and of course I rarely measured up to my own standard and much less God’s. There were many gaps in my life. Because my confidence was in myself rather than in Christ, I would feel intensely condemned and would feel as if I was not even a real Christian. I so wanted to be yet I lived in perpetual fear that I might be thrown out of God’s family because I was not good enough.
My constant fear and shame showed that I lacked confidence in the work of Christ to not only save me, but to keep me saved. I lived in regular fear and condemnation. The solution for me was realizing that Christ is enough. He is able to save me. He is able to keep me saved. I never came to know him by my own goodness or righteousness and I don’t remain by my own goodness or righteousness either (Galatians 3:1-6). One this became clear to me I was set free to look firmly to Christ and to Christ alone for my righteousness. All that we have is his, and if we are in him then we cannot be condemned because he defeated the source of our condemnation permanently. This is true for all who are in Christ.
- A Christian may feel condemned because of sin.
Very often, when Christians begin to feel a sense of condemnation, it is because there is unrepentant sin in our lives. The Holy Spirit brings conviction about sin for us (John 16:8). He exposes our sin so we can see where we are out of alignment with God and repent so we can live pure, holy, and abundant lives (John 10:10). The Spirit’s conviction is always about doing good for us. He does not convict to destroy, but to restore us in Christ.
Yet when a Christian has become cold to the Spirit through sin and/or neglect, it leaves room for the enemy and our human nature to team up in twisting that good conviction from the Spirit into condemnation. We start to feel bad about ourselves and instead of returning to God and receiving forgiveness, we wallow in our mess. This is often accompanied by self-loathing, believing God must not love us because we are so dirty, and/or thinking we can never return to God.
We must keep in mind that if Christians are feeling condemnation, it is not from God. It is coming from within ourselves or it is the horde of hell exacerbating our sin by pushing us towards condemnation rather than towards repentance. Satan and his minions know that condemnation leads us to stagnation and decline whereas repentance leads us to freedom and growth. If we can be kept under condemnation, we will be kept at bay from making maximum kingdom impact. Trust me when I say that the Devil loves to keep us under condemnation.
The solution to this problem is repentance and belief in the gospel. When we start to feel condemned, we must learn to turn towards God asking, “what unrighteousness are you trying to free me from” rather than turning inward saying “I am too unrighteous for God to love me.” Through Christ we are free from sin. Our chains are unlocked. If we continue to wear them, it isn’t because we have to. It is because we want to. When in shame we hide from God, we perpetuate the sin of Adam and Eve. When we expose our sin to the light of Christ we kill it by clearly demonstrating its utter lack of power over us because of what Christ has done for us and is doing in us (John 3:20-21). Hidden sin has the power to bind us up in shame but when we are honest with God and with other believers about our struggles, it removes the shame off of us and empowers us to rise above it in the freedom we have through Christ.
So about condemnation… it is no longer a thing for the Christian. We are free from it and we can embrace our freedom from it by keeping our eyes on Christ, by maintaining ultimate confidence in Christ alone, and by being immediately honest with God about our sin in repentance and embracing his forgiveness. If we put these things into practice, I have no doubt that every Christian can live in freedom, can grow in holiness, and will be empowered to help others find freedom through Christ from sin and the condemnation that it brings.
