Romans 8:1Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Therefore, previously, as I said, there was in us the possibility, as regards the mind and the will within it, to prefer service to the law.

But the flesh compelled us toward sin, opposing as though with a will of its own. Consequently there was condemnation for those who wished to fulfill the good, but were not yet able to do so because of the tyranny of the passions.

Yet in Christ the condemnation ceased, that is, the violence of fleshly movements.

True, in the New Testament there is justice, just as in the Old there was grace, for the firstfruits of both were in both covenants.

Yet the severity of the justice of the Old Testament subdued every man and subjected him to debt. By contrast, the abundance of grace in the New Testament destroyed and rejected the records of debt for all.

Cutting off such a thought and directing it to the proper conclusion, he says that only those are not subject to condemnation who have humbly acknowledged their weakness and turned wholly away from sin.

They began to live according to the Spirit of Christ. Here the all-powerful grace of the Holy Spirit is given as help to the weak human spirit.

This grace regenerates all human powers and gives them all the higher means for life in accordance with the demands of the spirit.

Thus whoever is with Christ is free not only from condemnation according to the law of sin, but also from all its sorrowful consequences, the first of which is eternal death.

For a Christian, the natural phenomenon of death is nothing more than a transition to a more blessed life.

Other powers and manifestations of sin also do not have over the Christian that enchanting force which they had over the unjustified man.

"The passions still approach," says Bishop Theophan, "but since they no longer have their former supports within, they have no determining force. They are driven away by contempt and inattention alone.

"Sinful sweetness also attempts to draw one away. But it cannot stand for a moment before the remembrance of that heavenly sweetness which grace grants one to feel at the moment of its indwelling.

"Nor can it stand before the thought of the ineffable future rest, or, in case of yielding, of the fearful eternal torments."

The gracious spirit of life changes the whole former life. "In place of selfhood it sets self-denial. In place of self-pleasing it sets the pleasing of God. In place of sweetness it sets readiness for every sorrow and for death, in hope of eternal rest."

Chrysostom speaks on this subject as follows: "By the name of the law of the Spirit, the Apostle here means the Spirit. As he called sin the law of sin, so he calls the Spirit the law of the Spirit.

"Yet he also called the Mosaic law spiritual, saying, 'We know that the law is spiritual.' What, then, is the difference? It is great and immeasurable.

"The one is a spiritual law, but this is the law of the Spirit. How does one differ from the other? In this: one was only given by the Spirit, but the other, to those who received it abundantly, bestowed the Spirit.

"Therefore the Apostle also called it the law of life, in distinction from the law of sin, and not from the Law of Moses.

"By the law of sin is meant the law that wars against the law of the mind. This grievous battle the grace of the Spirit has ended.

"It puts sin to death, makes the struggle easy for us, first crowns us, and then, under strong protection, leads us out to the contest."

He brought all this to mind with one word: “I thank,” and so forth. Now he draws the conclusion from it: therefore, there is no condemnation for us, because we do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit.

Why did he say, “no condemnation,” when one might have expected, “no slavery and servitude to sin”? He immediately says this afterward: “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin” (Rom 8:2). He said it in order to remind us that sin, however it is committed, always draws upon itself righteous condemnation.

From the explanations just offered about what sin dwelling in us is and how it acts, some might derive self-justification in sin. What can one do? Sin overcomes, and one cannot master it. But in fact, though sin deceives and draws, the sinful deed is always done willingly. Therefore it is subject to condemnation, from which one cannot escape by such an empty excuse.

Who is to blame? Why do you incline and allow yourself to be drawn away by the sweetness of sin? The Apostle had not touched this side. He was setting forth only the reality of our sinfulness as it is. But that every sinfulness is liable to judgment he explained in the first chapters, after first setting before them this law of God’s righteousness: “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men” (Rom 1:18).

He now recalls this law, leading us to think: they sin, though submitting to the action of sin dwelling in them, but they are still subject to judgment. We believers, glory be to God, are not subject to this judgment and condemnation, because we have been delivered from the law of sin acting in the flesh. We do not live according to the flesh, but according to the spirit.

Before the coming of Christ, he says, it was so. After His coming, it became otherwise. But this is not for all, as by some law of necessity. It is only for those who are in Christ Jesus, who cleave to Him by faith and love, receive holy baptism, which regenerates unto new life, and receive the grace of the Holy Spirit, which gives strength to live according to the law of this new life.

Those who come to the Lord abandon everything sinful, Satan and all his works. Repenting of it, they establish a firm resolve to live henceforth in holiness, keeping their union with Christ. For this resolve they receive grace and are clothed with power truly to live in holiness in union with Christ.

Such are those who are in Christ Jesus. Therefore they are those who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. The Apostle here neither prescribes a commandment nor reminds us of a condition. He only sets forth the reality of life in Christ Jesus as it is, just as before he depicted the reality of life in sin as it is.

Those who are in Christ Jesus, insofar as they are such, do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. Therefore, as soon as someone does not walk according to the spirit, he is no longer in Christ Jesus. Blessed Theodoret writes: “Now, if we ourselves do not will it, the passions do not overcome us, because we have received the grace of the Spirit of God.”