Justified in Christ Jesus

Romans 8:2 tells us that we have been justified, or set free from sin in Christ Jesus: "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death." "For" (v. 2a) means "because" and introduces the reason there is "no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus" (v. 1). For believers, "law" (v. 2a) here refers to a principle of operation, just as it did when Paul earlier spoke of "a law of faith" (Rom. 3:27), and in Galatians when he speaks of "the law of Christ" (Gal. 6:2).

Here in verse 2, "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" is set over and against "the law of sin and death." The thought is this: Those in whom the Holy Spirit dwells, those who believe in Christ Jesus, are set "free from," or are delivered from the condemnation their sin required. In Christ you are set free to live the life of the Spirit as God intended.

This is justification—delivered from sin and set free to obey Christ. True salvation will always lead to true obedience. True salvation by faith in Christ delivers us completely and permanently from sin's power and penalty. But it also gives us the ability to obey God.

Paul told Titus, God "saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior" (Titus 3:5-6). When you place your trust in Jesus, it is the Holy Spirit who gives you life in Christ and who enables you to live the spiritual life in Christ Jesus as God intended you to live.

As a believer, you are no longer a slave to sin. You are no longer under sin's control. You are free from its bondage and its ultimate penalty—death. Satan and the influences of the world around you, even your own humanness, can cause you to falter and fall back into sin in some way or another, but they cannot destroy you because your new life in Christ is the life of God's Spirit within you. He has set you free to obey God! That is the refreshing message of Romans 8:2. Amen.