Clearing-the-Fog

July 21, 2026

There are a lot of us running around with self-inflicted wounds, wounds we certainly don’t need to give to ourselves.  And yet we do it all the time. 

We are world-class when it comes to condemning ourselves – we are never good enough, we can’t do anything right, we deserve to be miserable, I’m worthless, nobody likes me, everybody hates me, I’m going to eat a can of worms and die.  We beat ourselves up all the time.

As a follower of Jesus Christ, such behavior is unnecessary.  It really is.

Looking at this promise in the 8^th chapter of the Epistle of Paul to the Romans.  No chapter in the Bible has more tremendous promises than Romans chapter 8.  We will walk through this chapter gleaning these promises over the next several installments in Clearing-the-Fog.

Romans 8:1 (NIV) – “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,”

What a great promise! Because God doesn’t condemn us, we must not condemn ourselves!  If you are in Christ Jesus – that means if you have a personal, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ where He is the Lord and Savior of your life – God doesn’t condemn you. Instead, He calls you His daughter, He calls you His son.

The key to grasping what Paul is saying is found in the little word “therefore” that begins this verse.  “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Folks, any time you see the word “therefore,” you need to ask the question, “What’s it there for?”  In other words, this is a transition word that points back to the previous discussion and simply says, “In light of all we have talked about, this is what needs to happen or this is what you need to think, this is what you must do.”

So what is the context of this promise in Romans 8:1?  I love the book of Romans because it spells out the gospel message so clearly and thoroughly.

Chapter 1 – 3, Paul establishes the fact that everyone is a sinner and falls under the judgment – the condemnation of God – Gentiles – chapter 1; Jews – chapter 2; everybody – chapter 3.  At the end of chapter 3, Paul begins to talk about the fact that everyone should be punished for our sin, but Jesus Christ came to take our punishment for us.  The way in which we take advantage of His death as our substitute is by faith – chapter 4.  In chapter 5 we see that because of our faith in Jesus Christ and His work of redemption on our behalf, we have been put into a right relationship with God.  Once we were helpless, once we were sinners, once we were enemies toward God, but God showed us how much He loves us by giving Jesus as the sacrifice for our sin.

The result of Christ’s death is that we are no longer slaves to sin – chapter 6.  Yes, we still struggle with that old sinful nature that is still present in us, but it is no longer master over us – chapter 7.  In fact, in this ongoing struggle between our old sinful nature and our new nature, we can rejoice because the victory has been assured in Christ Jesus.

Because of the victory that is ours in Christ, we can now stand firm in the truth that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus -chapter 8.  Hold on to that truth, my friends, and quit beating yourself up.  God doesn’t condemn you – don’t you do that either!

In next week’s blog, we’ll continue feasting on the promises of Romans 8.