Reflection on Rom 8:1
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,
who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”
These Scripture verses from the Epistle to the Romans are a continuation of the preceding verses where the Apostle cries out: “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” In chapter eight we read that those are free who are in Christ Jesus. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus makes us free from the law of sin and death. The process of our deliverance in every new situation is accomplished again and again only in Christ Jesus.
The law of sin is a machine against which we are powerless relying on our human efforts. The law of the Spirit of life works in those who “walk according to the Spirit of God rather than according to the flesh” (Rom 8:1).
What does it mean to walk according to the flesh? It means a lifestyle prioritizing a false sense of life. A person indulges in vanity, and accepts and promotes various half-truths and lies. At the same time he stifles the voice of conscience, rejecting the objective truth. He does not want to obey God’s laws and God’s will. It is a false path which ends in destruction.
What does it mean to walk according to the Spirit? It means to enter into God’s presence at least for a short moment time and again, to realize that God sees me and to confess before Him my self-will, selfishness, laziness, unbelief… At the moment we do so the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin (Jn 1:7). After this first step of repentance we can share in an interior communion with Christ who works in us by His power (cf. Phi 2).
We who have believed in Christ have begun to serve the law of God with our mind. Original sin, the source of evil in us, however, causes inward conflict. Even if we want to do good, we do evil. Why? Because our conscience has not been purified and because we do not abide in active union with Christ through the obedience of faith. That is why the law of the Spirit of life cannot work in us and through us. But the law of sin works automatically. We are convinced that when we pursue our own good and our own truth, it is God’s will! But it is not always so. In order to do the will of God, a Christian must enter into Christ’s death by faith. What does it mean? At the cost of renouncing his good will and his truth, he allows God’s Spirit to work. Unless a Christian learns to renounce his own will or, in other words, unless he practises it in interior prayer, he is unable to act correctly in different situations. It is similar to an athlete who wants to win without training. It will be the same with us if we replace interior prayer with mere theorizing about the Holy Scripture or about the quotes of the saints.
The principle of renouncing our will is necessary not only in relation to God but also in interpersonal relationships. Two people, for example husband and wife, cannot be in unity if both of them stubbornly insist on their own truth and their own good. It always provokes a conflict, small or great. Neither of them is willing to compromise for the sake of their common good.
If at the moment of trial and decision-making we enter into union with Christ through active faith and watchfulness, the law of the Spirit works and we win. If we are in our self and only rely on our own efforts, we lose as the law of sin and death works here.
These two conflicting laws – the law of the Spirit and the law of sin – cannot work simultaneously. Only one of them can work. If we are in our self – ego, it is the law of sin that works rather than the law of the Spirit of God. But if we are in Christ by faith, the law of the Spirit works and the law of sin is inactive.
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