Understanding Condemnation in Romans 8:1

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Romans 8:1 Analysis

Two Age Board Description
June 13th 2021

We left off at verse 1 which is a beautiful continuation of chapter 7’s personal message from Paul. At verse 1 he says,

Therefore, there is now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.

And we talked about that direct message without any qualifiers or disqualifiers. We pointed out that there are two segments Paul attaches to believers not being under any condemnation. Remember?

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are . . .

in Christ Jesus, and then the second that Paul adds is

who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Now, what I am about to teach is admittedly dicey relative to most of the Christian community. It’s part B of this verse but I would be remiss if I passed over this passage about condemnation without mentioning it.

Remember, two judgments faced “that world or that age” when Paul was writing. The first was the judgment of physical destruction of the former age of material religionThe biblical era of temples, laws, and rituals—ended in 70 A.D. to make way for spiritual freedom. which was carried out by the Romans when Jerusalem and her inhabitants were wiped out. John the Baptist came and said that “the axe was laid at the root of the tree” and that that tree was going to be cast into the fire.

That was the physical judgement that was going to fall upon Israel. And who would be destroyed? Whomever did not receive and believe that Jesus was the Messiah sent to save them.

The second condemnation everyone faced at that time is called the Great White Throne judgement. This judgment would occur when that age ended and would be signaled hell opening up and giving up her dead and then dead, small and great would go before the throne of God and if their names were not found in the Book they would be cast into the lake of Fire. Revelation points out that once this occurred, we would enter into a new age or a new economy, one where everything about the Kingdom is spiritually based – and there would never be an end to it.

So, when Paul says at verse 1

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

We have to talk about condemnation today, from God, in the lives of those who are His human creations.

The Meaning of Condemnation

The word “condemnation” is taken from the Greek is KATAKRINO – which is a compound word made up of Kata and Krino. Let’s first take the word “krino.” It means to “try someone as in a court of law, to decree, determine, esteem, judge, call into question or sentence.” Whenever we read the word Judge in the New Testament that is the word used – Krino. That in and of itself is a powerful word. But by adding kata, which means down to it as a prefix, we get the combined meaning of katakrino as “down-Judged.” Meaning an “adverse adjudication,” a down sentence or verdict, “a condemnation.”

Now, most people believe that down-judgments or condemnations from God upon us have been happening since Jesus ascended on out to this very moment and that God is and will forever more sending condemned people to hell – fiery, eternal and endless. Listen, this was certainly the case for all souls since the fall all the way out to Paul’s and even beyond. So, when Paul wrote this to the church at Rome what he said was absolutely true BECAUSE there was awaiting the two coming down-judgments as had been promised in scripture – the material down-judgment on Jerusalem and the Great White Throne down-judgement on the souls of all who died without Christ afterward.

Fulfillment of Scripture

Unique to my understanding of scripture (and others) is that I maintain that all the passages in scripture have been fulfilled and the age to come, which has been described in places by Jeremiah, Isaiah, the writer of Hebrews, and John the Revelator (in Revelation 21-22) and therefore the world’s inhabitants are no longer facing a wrathful condemnation to come NOR is the Great White Throne judgment going to happen in the future. From what I can see the finished victorious work of Christ bathed the heavens and earth in Him and His power in that day and all things in heaven and earth were placed under His feet but His Father. There are ten thousand ways to Sunday that the model I am about to share with you answers some chronological issues with what

Assessing the Nature of Afterlife According to Scripture

Christians have maintained, but they require more than just easy answers. For instance, I am doing a funeral for a man who was not religious but sought God and died tragically at his own hand. The standard response Christians would have to give his grieving mother is he is in hell. Some might say that right before he took his own life he asked Jesus into his heart thereby escaping hell altogether.

But the one that doesn’t make sense relative to scripture is what Christians say about Christians who die today. Do you know what they say? They say absent from the body present with the Lord. They say people go straight to the loving arms of God. That’s all great stuff… but it’s not biblical. Not biblically chronological.

Understanding Biblical Chronology

What the Bible describes is going to God in heaven after the Great White Throne Judgment not before. Before the Great White Throne judgment, people die and go to either hell or paradise and wait to be judged at the Great White Throne. Then the heavenly destinations are meted out for everyone. I mean it makes no sense for people to die in 522AD, go to heaven and live with God, only to be taken before him in the future and judged as to whether he belongs in heaven or not.

Examining Current Beliefs

So, relative to this passage, we have to ask ourselves, is God still DOWN JUDGING the world? Instead of simple fix-it answers, we are going to use the whiteboard and present ourselves with another heuristic.

Models of Understanding

The FIRST Unfortunate Model The SECOND Unfortunate Model (Gospels out of context)
Old (material) and New (spiritual) together Fail to see Jesus teachings were part of the Old Covenant as he introduced the New that would come in stages in the future.

The Former Age The Age to Come (by and through the Messiah)
PHYSICALLY BASED SPIRITUALLY BASED
KINGDOM KINGDOM

Eternally Increasing Kingdom (Isaiah 9)
(2nd) (ADD LATER then OVERLAP)
Head – First Adam Head -Second Adam
Fall Reconciliation
SinMissing the mark of faith and love—no punishment, just lost growth or peace. entered world World-sin paid for
God estab. a material God estab. a spiritual
Kingdom (see box now) Kingdom

Comparing Material and Spiritual Realities

Objectively Described Subjectively lived and understood
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob All Children By Faith
COI Children of God
Material ReligionA fulfilled system of temples, rituals, and laws—replaced by direct spiritual relationship. Spiritual Relationship
Law and the Prophets God writes upon the hearts and minds of Individual

1!
Jerusalem New Jerusalem
Old Earth and Heaven New Heaven and New Earth
Temple made w/hands Believers are the temple
Priesthood Lineage Believers are the priesthood

Contrast of Old and New Paradigms

Animal Sacrifices Believers are living sacrifices
Genealogy All peoples are welcome
Life Directed to Israel Life Lived by all
Destination for all – sheol Destination for all – Heavenly Realm
Paradise for Faithful New Jerusalem for faith-filled
Prison for faithless Outside New Jerusalem

The Advent of Christ

Birth of Christ (Which is the birth of Eternal Life for all who believe)

Transition of Ages

The beginning of the New Age started with an overlap of the former material age, marked for fulfillment by Him. The significance of this transition can be seen in John the Baptist's warning— "Who has warned you of the wrath to come."

The End of Material Religion

The beginning of the end of material religion is symbolized by the phrase, "The ax is laid at the root of the Tree but it was not yet." During this transformative period, Jesus came to "His own," and the apostles were called to the House of Israel to prepare for an impending change. The call was clear—repent before the end, as indicated in Matthew 24-25.

Apostolic Church

In this context of shifting ages, the Apostolic Church stands as a significant milestone bridging the former age and the age to come.

Return of Christ

“Judgement (condemnation) and salvation (reward) for Bride The complete wipe out of material religion had to occur Temple/People/Genealogy/Objective Religious Expressions All things shaken so the only thing that remains is unshakable The Kingdom of GodGod’s spiritual reign—fulfilled and present, not political or future. is within us writing on our hearts and minds The Kingdom is eternally increasing Isaiah 9:6 (hence need to share)

Continuation of Material Religion

Look at the history of every single attempt on earth! Every one of them!

Shake-ability of Men Crime and sin in God’s name Spiritual and ecclesiastical abuses Material focus Denominational divisions Catholicism Orthodoxy Reformation – thousands of divisions Restorationism – hundreds of divisions

WHAT HAVE BEEN THE RESULTS OF THIS APPROACH TO REINSTITUTE OBJECTIFIED BRICK AND MORTAR RELIGION and to IGNORE WHAT GOD HAS PLAINLY REVEALED IN SCRIPTURE – even out to the present day (in Jesus name) WARFARE, HATRED, DIVISION, BLOODSHED, and DEATHSeparation from God—now overcome. Physical death remains, but it no longer separates us from life with God. (Inquisitions, Reformation, Mormonism) Interfaith and even innerfaith hate Domination and Bondage Ecclesiastical Tyranny (when all believers ought to be free) Manipulation of lives Money grubbing

Where are we really, in the face of what God has done completely through the victory of His only begotten Son?

Today

God is all in all. He is called the Lord God Almighty. He sits on one throne in the Resurrected body of our Lord governing all things.

The world has been reconciled to Him. He is not angry. He is not condemning anyone. He FIXED the problem for us!

All are free to choose how to live – for themselves or for Him. We are all daily choosing to eat from the forbidden tree or not. He writes on the hearts and minds of those who are His. He is with those who are His; His love is unconditional.

Spirit and Written Word

The Spirit and its fruit is Primary and Preferential. His Written Word is Secondary and Deferential. Church Traditions

Spiritual Interpretations and Condemnation

are Tertiary and are at best Referential, And brick and mortar material religion with all of its demands is utterly inconsequential.

So, when we read the word now, principles come forth by the spirit and they way we test our interpretation of them is whether they result in the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. Do they bring us love, joy, peace, mercy, kindness and produce longsuffering. Or do they cause us to be judgmental, angry, unkind, merciless, impatient and the like. The Spirit is governing everything in this age of God’s Spiritual Kingdom and that is a very different image than what materially based religionists want us to live by.

Romans 8.1 and Condemnation

WELCOME PRAYER SONG SILENCE

ROMANS 8.1 Part II Two Age Board Description June 13th 2021

We left off at verse 1 which is a beautiful continuation of chapter 7’s personal message from Paul. At verse 1 he says,

Therefore, there is now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.

And we talked about that direct message without any qualifiers or disqualifiers. We pointed out that there are two segments Paul attaches to believers not being under any condemnation. Remember?

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are . . .

in Christ Jesus, and then the second that Paul adds is

who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Now, what I am about to teach is admittedly dicey relative to most of the Christian community. It’s part B of this verse but I would be remiss if I passed over this passage about condemnation without mentioning it.

Remember, two judgements faced “that world or that age” when Paul was writing. The first was the judgement of physical destruction of the former age of material religion which was carried out by the Romans when Jerusalem and her inhabitants were wiped out. John the Baptist came and said that “the axe was laid at the root of the tree” and that that tree was going to be cast into the fire. That was the physical judgement that was going to fall upon Israel. And who would be destroyed? Whomever did not receive and believe that Jesus was the Messiah sent to save them.

The second condemnation everyone faced at that time is called the Great White Throne judgement. This judgment would occur when that age ended and would be signaled hell opening up and giving up her dead and then dead, small and great would go before the throne of God and if their names were not found in the Book they would be cast into the lake of Fire. Revelation points out that once this occurred, we would enter into a new age or a new economy, one where everything about the Kingdom is spiritually based – and there would never be an end to it.

So, when Paul says at verse 1

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

We have to talk about condemnation today, from God, in the lives of those who are His human creations. The word “condemnation” is taken from the Greek is KATAKRINO – which is a compound word made up of Kata and Krino.

Interpretations of Krino and Katakrino

Let’s first take the word “krino.” It means to “try someone as in a court of law, to decree, determine, esteem, judge, call into question or sentence.” Whenever we read the word Judge in the New Testament that is the word used – Krino. That in and of itself is a powerful word. But by adding kata, which means down to it as a prefix, we get the combined meaning of katakrino as “down-Judged.” Meaning an “adverse adjudication,” a down sentence or verdict, “a condemnation.”

Now, most people believe that down-judgments or condemnations from God upon us have been happening since Jesus ascended on out to this very moment and that God is and will forever more sending condemned people to hell – fiery, eternal and endless. Listen, this was certainly the case for all souls since the fall all the way out to Paul’s and even beyond.

So, when Paul wrote this to the church at Rome what he said was absolutely true BECAUSE there was awaiting the two coming down-judgements as had been promised in scripture – the material down-judgement on Jerusalem and the Great White Throne down-judgement on the souls of all who died without Christ afterward. Unique to my understanding of scripture (and others) is that I

Fulfillment of Scripture

Maintain that all the passages in scripture have been fulfilled and the age to come, which has been described in places by Jeremiah, Isaiah, the writer of Hebrews, and John the Revelator (in Revelation 21-22) and therefore the world’s inhabitants are no longer facing a wrathful condemnation to come, nor is the Great White Throne judgment going to happen in the future. From what I can see, the finished victorious work of Christ bathed the heavens and earth in Him and His power in that day and all things in heaven and earth were placed under His feet but His Father.

There are ten thousand ways to Sunday that the model I am about to share with you answers some chronological issues with what Christians have maintained, but they require more than just easy answers. For instance, I am doing a funeral for a man who was not religious but sought God and died tragically at his own hand.

Biblical Views on Death and Afterlife

The standard response Christians would have to give his grieving mother is he is in hell. Some might say that right before he took his own life he asked Jesus into his heart thereby escaping hell altogether. But the one that doesn’t make any sense relative to scripture is what Christians say about Christians who die today. Do you know what they say? They say absent from the body, present with the Lord. They say people go straight to the loving arms of God. That’s all great stuff . . . but it’s not biblical. Not biblically chronological.

The Great White Throne Judgment

What the Bible describes is going to God in heaven after the Great White Throne Judgment, not before. Before the Great White Throne judgment, people die and go to either hell or paradise and wait to be judged at the Great White Throne. Then the heavenly destinations are meted out for everyone. I mean, it makes no sense for people to die in 522AD, go to heaven and live with God, only to be taken before him in the future and judged as to whether he belongs in heaven or not. So, relative to this passage, we have to ask ourselves, is God still DOWN JUDGING the world? And instead of simple fix-it answers, we are going to use the whiteboard and present ourselves with another heuristic.

The FIRST Unfortunate Model
Old (material) and New (spiritual) together

The SECOND Unfortunate Model (Gospels out of context)
Fail to see Jesus teachings were part of the Old Covenant

The Former Age
PHYSICALLY BASED KINGDOM
The Age to Come (by and through the Messiah)
SPIRITUALLY BASED KINGDOM

Eternally Increasing Kingdom (Isaiah 9)
(2nd)
Head – First Adam
Head – Second

Two Realms: Material and Spiritual Kingdoms

Adam's Fall brought sin into the world, marking the beginning of a material kingdom established by God. This kingdom was objectively described through figures like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and involved a material religion, a law governed by the prophets, a temple made with hands, and a dedicated priesthood lineage.

Transition from Material to Spiritual

In the spiritual realm, reconciliation is key as world-sin has been paid for. This kingdom is subjectively lived and understood, with all children being by faith and identified as Children of God. Here, God writes upon the hearts and minds of individuals.

1. A comparison between material and spiritual elements:
   • Jerusalem versus New Jerusalem
   • Old Earth and Heaven versus New Heaven and New Earth

Life's direction shifts from being for Israel alone to being lived by all. The physical temple becomes the believers themselves, who are also the priesthood and living sacrifices. Whereas genealogy once determined belonging, now all peoples are welcome. The destination transitions from sheol to a Heavenly Realm for all, with Paradise for the Faithful being the New JerusalemThe spiritual reality of God's fulfilled presence with humanity—replacing Sheol after 70 A.D. for the faith-filled. For the faithless, their place is outside the New Jerusalem.

Birth of Christ and the Birth of Eternal Life

Beginning of New Age began with an overlap of the former material age for fulfillment by Him. Beginning of the End of Former Age (John the Baptist – Who has warned you of the wrath to come). Beginning of the End of Material Religion (The ax is laid at the root of the Tree but it was not yet). Jesus came to “His own”.

Coming of Jesus and Repentance

Some will see me coming in the clouds. Apostles called to the House of Israel to prepare. Repent before the end (Matthew 24-25).

Apostolic Church

Former Age

Age to Come

Return of Christ

“Judgement (condemnation) and salvation (reward) for Bride The complete wipe out of material religion had to occur Temple/People/Genealogy/Objective Religious Expressions All things shaken so the only thing that remains is unshakable The Kingdom of God is within us writing on our hearts and minds The Kingdom is eternally increasing Isaiah 9:6 (hence need to share)

The Continuation of Material Religion

Look at the history of every single attempt on earth! Every one of them!

Shake-ability of Men Crime and sin in God’s name Spiritual and ecclesiastical abuses Material focus Denominational divisions Catholicism Orthodoxy Reformation – thousands of divisions Restorationism – hundreds of divisions WHAT HAVE BEEN THE RESULTS OF THIS APPROACH TO REINSTITUTE OBJECTIFIED BRICK AND MORTAR RELIGION and to IGNORE WHAT GOD HAS PLAINLY REVEALED IN SCRIPTURE – even out to the present day (in Jesus name) WARFARE, HATRED, DIVISION, BLOODSHED, and DEATH (Inquisitions, Reformation, Mormonism) Interfaith and even innerfaith hate Domination and Bondage Ecclesiastical Tyranny (when all believers ought to be free) Manipulation of lives Money grubbing

Where are we really, in the face of what God has done completely through the victory of His only begotten Son?

God is All in All

God is all in all. He is called the Lord God Almighty. He sits on one throne in the Resurrected body of our Lord governing all things.

The world has been reconciled to Him. He is not angry. He is not condemning anyone. He FIXED the problem for us!

All are free to choose how to live – for themselves or for Him. We are all daily choosing to eat from the forbidden tree or not. He writes on the hearts and minds of those who are His. He is with those who are His; His love is unconditional.

The Hierarchy of God's Will

The Spirit and its fruit is Primary and Preferential. His Written Word is Secondary and Deferential. Church Traditions are Tertiary and are at best Referential, And brick and mortar material religion with all of its demands is utterly inconsequential.

Spiritual Principles and Fruits of the Spirit

So, when we read the word now, principles come forth by the spirit and the way we test our interpretation of them is whether they result in the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. Do they bring us love, joy, peace, mercy, kindness, and produce longsuffering? Or do they cause us to be judgmental, angry, unkind, merciless, impatient and the like? The Spirit is governing everything in this age of God’s Spiritual Kingdom and that is a very different image than what materially based religionists want us to live by.