In Christus
ROMEINE 8:1-4 AFR53
“DAAR is dan nou geen veroordeling vir die wat in Christus Jesus is nie, vir die wat nie na die vlees wandel nie, maar na die Gees. Want die wet van die Gees van die lewe in Christus Jesus het my vrygemaak van die wet van die sonde en die dood. Want God het — wat vir die wet onmoontlik was, omdat dit kragteloos was deur die vlees — deur sy eie Seun in die gelykheid van die sondige vlees te stuur, en dit ter wille van die sonde, die sonde veroordeel in die vlees, sodat die reg van die wet vervul kon word in ons wat nie na die vlees wandel nie, maar na die Gees.”
The difference between an unbeliever sinning and a Christian sinning is the difference between a man transgressing the laws of the State, and a husband who has done something he should not do in his relationship with his wife. He is not breaking the law, he is wounding the heart of his wife. That is the difference. It I sno longer a legal matter, it is a matter of personal relationship and…love. The man does not cease to be the husband (legally in that instance). Law does not come into matter at all… In a sense it is now something much worse than legal condemnation. I would rather offend against a law of the land objectively outside me, than hurt someone whom I love… (In that case) You have sinned, of course, but you have sinned against love… (so) You may and you should feel ashamed, but you should not feel condemnation, because to do so is to put yourself back ‘under the law’. Martin Lloyd-Jones
We are set free from the law as a way of acceptance, but obliged to keep it as a way of holiness. It is as a ground of justification that the law no longer binds us… But as a standard of conduct the law is still binding, and we seek to fulfill it as we walk according to the Spirit. John Stott