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As there are so many of God's children who go through the experiences described in
Rom. 7:, it is blessedly true to speak of "stepping out of Rom. 7: into Rom. 8:";
but, while this may be true to the experience of many, experience is not the rule of our
faith. It has been said that experience is like the tail-light of a ship; it can only illumine
the past. The experience of Israel was a wandering in the wilderness for forty years
before entry into the promised land; but a true conception of God's purpose would have
seen only the shortest possible interval between the exodus from Egypt and the entry into
rest. While, therefore, we most gladly agree that the glorious words of Rom. 8: 1 do
often follow as God's answer of peace to the wretched man of Rom. 7: 24 (and,
indeed, they could just as well follow on from Rom. 7: 6 or 6: 14), the real transition
is from Rom. 5: 21. The key-word is "condemnation", which in the Greek is katakrima.
While the verb katakrino occurs elsewhere in the N.T., God has used the noun katakrima
only three times--twice in Rom. 5: to tell us how condemnation came in, and once in
Rom. 8: to assure us that in Christ it has passed away. The following will illustrate the
relation of the four chapters:--
THE FOUR QUESTIONS
CONDEMNATION
NO CONDEMNATION
(Rom. 5: 16, 18).
(Rom. 8: 1).
of ROM. 6: and 7:
The question here is so important that we must set out each passage in full:--
"And not as through one that sinned, is the free gift. For indeed the judgment was by
one unto condemnation, but the gift by grace is of many offences unto justification"
(Rom. 5: 16).
"Therefore, indeed, as through one offence judgment came unto all men unto
condemnation, so also through one righteousness the free gift came upon all men unto a
justification of life" (Rom. 5: 18).
Before quoting Rom. 8: 1, we draw attention to the fact that in each case the
alternative to condemnation is a "justification", and that the word so translated is
dikaioma. What this involves we must leave for the moment; we just wish to ensure here
that the fact is noticed and recorded:--
"There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus . . . . . that
the righteousness (dikaioma) of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the
flesh but after the spirit" (Rom. 8: 1-4).
Before we proceed, however, we must look at Rom. 8: as a whole, and discover, if
possible, the underlying structure. At this point the reader may interject: Why spend
time over this when it has already been done by others? We would assure the reader that
we have considered most carefully everything on this subject that has come to our notice.
The pressure under which these articles are written makes us jealous of minutes, to say
nothing of the hours that the structure of a passage like Rom. 8: might cost us. We
seldom speak about ourselves in this magazine, but we desire that every reader should
appreciate the help that a true understanding of the trend of a passage is to its fullest
unfolding.