Freedom from the Condemnation of the Law....

On July 4th I started writing about freedom and I had some more thoughts about the freedom we have in Christ. In Him we have freedom from the condemnation of the Law. To completely grasp what that means we have to understand what the law is and why we are condemned by it until we are released from it through a relationship with Jesus.

“Condemnation” is the legal declaration of a guilty verdict and the accompanying requirement of the penalty due. In order for condemnation by law to exist, you have to be bound by the law you break. In other words, you can't be punished by law for breaking a law if you are not under that law!

Suppose you lived in a remote area of the world where almost no one owned an automobile. In this country there would be no laws to regulate traffic, because there would be no traffic. So if you were fortunate enough to have a car, you could drive around the countryside at whatever speed you wanted and never break a law.

But what if you returned to the United States one day and since you were quite accustomed to driving at whatever speed you chose, you flew by a policeman in town at about 80 miles per hour? You would have a problem because you would now be a law-breaker. Was it the act of driving 80 miles per hour alone that condemned you? No, because you had been doing that in the other country with no condemnation because there was no law against it. But in the United States there are laws against such driving and when an action breaks a law, you are condemned by it.

“19. Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 20. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” Romans 3:19-20 (NKJV)

Every person who has not experienced the salvation of God is already condemned by their sin nature. That would have been enough to condemn us, but we are still judged by the law. One of the reasons the law was given was so that no one could ever say they didn’t know what was unacceptable in God’s sight. The law proves all law-breakers guilty and since we are under it from birth, there is no defense against the condemnation (guilty verdict) handed down by God for breaking it.

But trying to attain to salvation by keeping the law is not an option because doing everything required by God’s law is impossible. Just breaking one equates to breaking them all, so every person is condemned and cursed by their inability to keep the law. The law makes us aware of our sin, but keeping the law cannot save us from sin’s penalty. God's law is the way by which His condemnation is imparted.

"For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed (counted against us) when there is no law." Romans 5:13 (NKJV)

Condemnation (a guilty verdict) is not imparted when there is no rule of law. As long as you lived in that imaginary country where there were no traffic laws, you were not a law-breaker when you drove 80 miles per hour.

It is so important that our salvation made sure that we are not under the rule and the accompanying condemnation (guilty verdict) of the law because it is the law by which we are condemned. If we are not under it, then we can't be condemned by it!

“Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law…” Galatians 3:13a (NKJV)

There is that word “redeemed” again. And it goes back to the concept of paying a ransom to set a prisoner free. Christ’s death and our acceptance of His death for our salvation, set us free from the condemnation (guilty verdict) of the law. The law condemned us because we were hopelessly destined to break it, but Christ took us out from under the law so that the condemnation for breaking it would not be imputed to us. Freedom from the law is important to us because we had no hope of keeping the law, therefore we were condemned by it!!

I have been called a "Grace Nazi" because I am so obsessed with making sure the truth about our freedom in Christ is declared. I can't stand to hear a song, a lesson, or any type of declaration that denies our freedom in Christ in even the slightest way. When I hear a teacher or preacher try to put Christians back under the law, I wonder if they realize they are attempting to put them back under condemnation because if we are under the law then we are subject to its condemnation!

One of the greatest blessings of the grace of God is that we are free from the law. There was an old hymn we used to sing when I was a child and it's so true.

Free from the law, oh happy condition,
Jesus has bled and there is remission,
Cursed by the law and bruised by the fall,
Christ has redeemed us once for all.