His teammates hoisted him on their shoulders and carried him off the field in victory. It was one of the most memorable events of my son’s baseball career. It was made all the sweeter because of the circumstances of their win. They beat a team that had beaten them the year before.
Romans 8:37 tells us, “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” (NIV) It’s an encouraging verse, one we like to throw around when times are hard. It makes for a good meme or social media post, but what does it really mean? More importantly, how can we apply it to our lives? Because, let’s face it, we’re all facing some kind of battle, and we all want to win.
No Condemnation
Paul, the author of Romans, starts Romans 8 with a bang. “There is no condemnation,” he tells the readers. Condemnation is the act of sentencing someone to punishment. We could say, “There is no punishment.” No punishment for what? There is no punishment for anything... for any of the bad, sinful things we have done.
Does it seem too good to be true? After all, even the best of us know our own limitations. We know our sinful hearts and minds. We know the thoughts we have that no one else knows. We know the things we say when no one else can hear. We know the things we would do if we knew we could get away with them. Is there really no punishment?
It’s true. “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
Ahh, there’s the catch. There is a price to be paid for sin; that price is death (Romans 6:23). There is a punishment for sin, but someone else paid the price. That someone is Jesus.
“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.” (Romans 3:23-24)
In Christ
The promise of victory in Romans 8:37 is conditional. It is not something that applies to everyone. It is a promise that is given only to those “who are in Christ Jesus.” What does that mean?
Think of it like this. My son is in the Brown family. He is one of my children. He is mine. If we are in Christ, we are His. We are children of God. Romans 8:9 says, “You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you.” Romans 8:14 says, “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.” If we are part of God’s family, then we are controlled by the Spirit. If we are controlled by the Spirit, we are part of God’s family. As such, we are in Christ, and there is no punishment for those in Christ because He already paid the price for our sins.
But How?
How do we become one of God’s children? Unlike our human children, we cannot be physically born into God’s family. Go ahead and read that again. It doesn’t matter if your grandmother was a Christian. That doesn’t make you a child of God. It doesn’t matter if your daddy was a deacon at the local church. That doesn’t make you “in Christ.” It doesn’t even matter if you have attended church every Sunday since the day you were born. As the commercial used to say, “That’s not how it works. That’s not how any of this works.”
Sin is a great chasm separating us from God. In ourselves, there is no way across and no way around that great divide. Because of our sin, we cannot be united with God now or in eternity--no matter how hard we try.
God, of course, knew this. That’s why He sent His son, Jesus. John 3:16 says, “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” Through His death on the cross, Jesus bridged the gap and made a way for us to have a relationship with God. Because of His sacrifice on the cross, we can be “in Christ.”
Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.”
We become a member of the family of God when we understand our own sinfulness and believe that God paid the price for those sins. That’s what Romans 8:3 means when it says, “God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins.”
This is what the author means when he says in Romans 8:13-14, “But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.”
So then...
In order to be a conqueror, you have to be on the right team.
Romans 8:1 says, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” This verse is important for two reasons. It promises ultimate victory and defines who can cash in on that promise.
If you are in Christ, there is no condemnation. Through Christ, the war against sin has already been won. However, we all know that some battles continue to be waged. As long as we are living in a sinful, human world, we will have sinful, human problems. And that brings us to Romans 8:37.
Romans 8:37 says, ““in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” We all want to have victory in our lives, and we can have it. Celebration comes at the hand of defeat. Someone must lose in order that someone else can win. Satan has already been defeated, but he acts as if he has not. Don’t let him fool you!
Our team has already won.
Check back next week to learn more about how believers can claim this promise and live in victory over people-pleasing, guilt, anxiety, insecurity and more!