Romans 8:1–4 and the way God actually changes us
This past Sunday I was privileged to begin preaching through Romans 8. Other than the Sermon on the Mount, I’ve probably spent more time studying, memorizing, and seeking to apply this beautiful passage of Scripture than any other. And part of the reason for that can been seen in the very first part of the chapter. For there we see how to really change. And that’s what I want to walk you through below.
Paul’s cry at the end of Romans 7 is painfully familiar,“Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death” (Rom. 7:24)? He is not play-acting. He is describing what it feels like to love God’s Law and yet keep discovering another “law” at work in him—sin crouching at the door, the flesh tugging, the old habits flaring up, the same arguments, the same lusts, the same bitterness, the same self-justifications (Gen. 4:7; Rom. 7:21–23). When he desires to do good evil seems to always be close at hand (Rom. 7:21).
He cries out, asking where deliverance can come from… but then he gives us the only answer, the only source of true deliverance—the Deliverer Himself: “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 7:25)! And when Paul gets to Romans 8:1–4 is not a new topic—it is that same answer unpacked. It is Paul’s explanation of how God delivers real Christians from real sin in real bodies, and how grace produces genuine holiness rather than excuses.
The first weapon in the fight: No condemnation
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1).
Notice Paul does not begin the battle plan with “try harder.” He begins with a verdict. Before you are sent back into the fight, the Judge announces the sentence: none. As the old hymn beautifully puts it:
“No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him is mine!
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine.”
This “no condemnation” is not the denial that sin is serious. It is the declaration that, for those in Christ, the courtroom is closed. The curse has been carried. The penalty has been paid. The accuser has lost his case.
And that “therefore” matters. Romans 8:1 is not for imaginary Christians who never struggle. It is for the Romans 7 Christian who hates sin, grieves sin, confesses sin, and keeps finding sin. The gospel does not wait for you to get cleaned up; it announces that in Christ you are not condemned, and then it teaches you how to walk in newness of life.
But one of the great dangers we Christians often fall into is that when we feel the wretchedness of Romans 7, we often try to fix it with self-condemnation. Even though we don’t say it, we think that if we feel bad enough, if we beat ourselves up enough, God will be satisfied and we will improve. But condemnation never sanctifies. Condemnation paralyzes or hardens. Condemnation either drives you to despair (“I’ll never change”) or to performance (“I’ll prove I’m not that bad”).
But the Spirit’s move is different: He drives you to Christ. And in Christ there is no condemnation.
The second weapon: A new power has entered your life
“For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death” (Rom. 8:2).
Though ultimately this passage is referring to the Torah when it speaks of the Law, “law” is also used here like the way we might say “gravity” or “momentum”—a power at work. Sin and death were not just “bad choices”; they were a dominating force. Outside of Christ, sin is not merely something we do; it is a master we serve (John 8:34; Rom. 6:16).
But Paul announces liberation: the Spirit of life has set you free. Condemnation is therefore slavery to sin, guilt for sin, and all that comes with those. But there’s no condemnation for those in Christ because we have been set free by the law of the Spirit of life. And there is therefore NOW no condemnation. We have been set free. Not “might someday,” not “after you finally get serious,” but the Law of the Spirit of life has set you free. This is why Christian obedience is possible at all. Sanctification (becoming more and more Christlike and thus practically more righteous) is not you trying to become a new person. Sanctification is the Spirit training the new person you already are in Christ.
This is covenantal. God deals with us objectively: He names us, claims us, and marks us as His people. In baptism God puts His triune Name on you; He publicly declares His promise and summons you into a new identity and a new way of life (Rom. 6:3–4). Then, week after week, in covenant renewal worship, He continues to press that identity into you—the Word of God read, prayed, preached, and sung… sins confessed, faith confessed, pardon given and absolution announced, bread and wine received, and then blessed and commissioned out for God’s glory, the good of God’s people, and the life of God’s world.
God changes people the way God has always changed people: by promise, by presence, by covenantal means, by the Spirit, by His ordinary means of grace.
The heart of the answer: God did what the Law could not
“For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh” (Rom. 8:3).
This is crucial: Paul does not say the Law is bad. The problem is not the Law; the problem is the flesh. The Law can name righteousness, but it cannot manufacture righteousness in sinners. It can expose and accuse; it cannot resurrect. Apart from the grace of God and obedient faith, the Law condemns.
So God acted. The Father sent the Son. The Son came “in the likeness of sinful flesh”—truly human, yet without sin. And He came “for sin”—as a sin offering, as the curse-bearer, as the condemnation-swallowing substitute.
God condemned sin in the flesh. He did not merely condemn sinners (though sinners deserve it); in Christ He condemned the tyrant itself. At the cross, sin and Satan’s reign was broken. At the resurrection, death’s claim was shattered. And by the Spirit, that victory is applied—slowly, steadily, truly—in the lives of God’s people.
The goal of the gospel is not lawlessness, but Law-fulfillment in us
“…in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Rom. 8:4).
This is where Paul refuses both legalism and antinomianism. Legalism says, “Keep the Law to get life.” Antinomianism says, “Because you have life, the Law no longer matters.” Paul says, “Christ gives life so that the Law’s righteous requirement is fulfilled in us.”
And Jesus says the same thing from a different angle: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets… but to fulfill them” (Matt. 5:17). Then He warns us not to “relax” God’s commandments (Matt. 5:19), and He demands a righteousness deeper than Pharisaical externalism—a righteousness of the heart (Matt. 5:20). And the Spirit gives us that heart and ability to walk in line with God’s Law.
So the gospel does not erase God’s moral standard. It does something far better: it creates the kind of people who can finally begin to love that standard. Not to earn sonship, but because we have been given sonship. Not to climb into God’s favor, but because we live inside it.
So how do we actually change?
Romans 8:1–4 gives us a simple, sturdy pattern:
Fight from the verdict, not for the verdict
When you sin, the first question is not “Am I condemned?” but “Where do I run?” A condemned man hides. A justified son confesses.
The Spirit trains you to stop using shame as a tool and start using Christ as your refuge. Repentance is not paying God back; it is returning to God.
Name the flesh honestly, but don’t treat it as king
Paul doesn’t minimize “the flesh.” He just refuses to enthrone it. “Flesh” is the old Adamic pattern—the self as lawgiver, the self as judge, the self as savior. The world, the devil, and the flesh all tell us the same thing, “You are not free,” or “You are free to do whatever you want.” Both are lies.
Christian freedom is freedom from sin’s dominion and freedom for obedience (Rom. 6:14–18). Live not by lies, but by the Truth of God’s Word.
Walk by the Spirit through the Spirit’s ordinary means
“Walk… according to the Spirit” is not some mere mystical reality. It is covenantal and concrete. To be sure, we should be praying and reading our Bibles daily, and seeking to trust and obey day by day… but the primary way the Spirit works in our lives is in and through the body of Christ and the Lord’s Service.
In Lord’s Day worship God recalibrates us every week. We don’t just “attend church”; we are re-formed by Word and Table. Each week in confession and absolution we learn, repeatedly, to bring sin into the light and hear God’s promise. Each week when we partake of the Lord’s Supper, Christ communes with us and feeds us, not because we’re strong, but because we’re His. Each week through prayer and Scripture the Spirit works through the Spirit’s written Word, convicting, edifying, encouraging, and the like. And each week through community and accountability we fight sin and pursue holiness. Sin grows in secrecy; holiness grows in the light.
Worship with the church on Sunday is called the Lord’s Service for a reason, because we gather together to be served by God—to draw near to the throne of grace together to receive mercy and grace to help us. If you want change, don’t start by hunting for dramatic experiences. Start by clinging to Christ where He has promised to meet you (Matt. 18:20; Jam. 4:8; Heb. 4:16; 10:19–25).
Replace sins with loves
The Law’s “righteous requirement” is fulfilled in us as love takes root (Rom. 13:8–10). Most sin is not just the presence of bad desires; it is the absence of better ones. The Spirit doesn’t merely tell you what to stop doing; He grows new affections—love for God, love for neighbor, hunger for righteousness, joy in truth.
We must be taught to enjoy what God commands, because God commands what is good. And the Spirit works this in our hearts, leading us to love God and love people, which is the righteous requirement of the Law (Gal. 5:22–23; Rom. 13:8–10).
Make repentance practical
If you know your recurring sins, make your repentance equally recurring and specific:
- If anger flares in the home, repent quickly, ask forgiveness plainly, and practice gentleness as a habit—not a mood. Also, if you struggle with anger (especially if you’re a man) I strongly encourage you to check out this episode of Collars and Calluses by Pastors Bill Smith and Rich Lusk. I found it to be very helpful.
- If lust is the battle, bring it into the light, cut off access, pursue accountability, and fill the mind with better glories.
- If anxiety rules, name what you’re trying to control, and practice daily surrender through prayer and thanksgiving.
- If bitterness sticks, bless your enemy, pray for them by name, and refuse to rehearse the offense like liturgy.
This is not “works-righteousness.” This is what freedom looks like when it starts walking. Get in the fight and make war on your sin.
A final encouragement: the fight itself is evidence of life
Romans 7 Christians are often terrified because they feel the war. But dead men don’t fight. The conflict is not proof you are lost; it is often proof you are alive.
Romans 8:1–4 does not promise instant perfection. It promises something better: real deliverance by a real Savior through a real Spirit, so that God’s Law is no longer an external threat but an internal pathway of life.
So take heart, church. Your wretchedness has an answer. Your sin has been condemned in Christ. Your condemnation has been removed in Christ. And your obedience—imperfect, stumbling, yet real—is being formed in you by the Spirit of life.
Cornelius Van Til said, “The individual believer has a comprehensive task. His is the task of exterminating evil from the whole universe. [But] He must begin this program in himself. As a king reinstated it is his first battle to fight sin within his own heart. This will remain his first battle till his dying day…”
This is your mission, Christian. And in Christ you are free to live it out. Indeed, you are free. Now live like it.
In Christ’s service and yours,
Nick Esch