Who Is to Condemn?

With all our falls and failures in the Christian life, what hope do we have of escaping the sentence of condemnation that our sin deserves? Today, Sinclair Ferguson reminds us anew of our sweet security in our Lord Jesus Christ.

This week on Things Unseen, we’ve been thinking about one of the greatest passages in the New Testament: Romans 8:31–35. And we’ve been particularly thinking about the fact that the questions Paul asks all begin with the personal pronoun, who, when we might expect the impersonal pronoun, what. It’s not what can be against us, or what charge can be brought against God’s elect; it’s who. Who? And now there’s a third question, and once again it’s not what can condemn us; it’s who. Who can condemn us?

Now at first sight with this question, we might think that Paul is simply repeating himself. After all, there doesn’t seem to be much difference between an accusation of guilt and condemnation, does there? Many of us feel condemned the moment anyone accuses us. But there is a difference.

The accusation is that we are guilty of something. The condemnation is the result of being found guilty. It’s about the sentence that follows the verdict. It’s about the imprisonment that results from being found guilty. And this is intriguing, isn’t it, because if Paul has already said that no accusation against us can stick when God has justified us in Christ, why does he need to bother talking about condemnation?

Well, here’s the answer, I think: logically that may seem to be true, but spiritually it isn’t always like that, is it, precisely because our “adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). We saw yesterday that he fails to bring in a verdict of guilty in the court of heaven because God justifies us in Christ. We have complete righteousness in Christ. But the fact is that we still stumble and fall in our Christian lives. We may be justified before God, but we’re not fully sanctified. In fact, we’re still very conscious of our sin and guilt. And some of us, at least, are very easily drawn by the evil one to focus on that sin and guilt. He delights to stimulate us to feel that we are failures. And when that begins to happen, he comes now to accuse us, but not this time in heaven—this time here on earth, in our own consciences. And then what happens? Well, some of us become paralyzed and lose our joy, and we begin even to lose sight of the amazing love of our heavenly Father for us. So, it’s not just a matter of accusation; it’s a matter of feeling that we are undergoing a kind of prison sentence because of our sin.

I often think that’s exactly how Simon Peter must have felt when he ran weeping bitterly into the darkness of the Jerusalem night after he had denied the Lord Jesus. He had not just failed Him; he’d actually sworn that he didn’t know Him, and that he wasn’t one of His disciples. And yet Jesus had said that Simon Peter was clean, justified. But he must have felt as though the devil was shouting in his ear, “Condemned, condemned, condemned.” All the joy was gone, nothing but recriminations left, and Satan was telling him, “There’s no way back for you this time.” He was undergoing the sentence that followed the verdict for his sin.

Does Paul have an answer to this? Well he certainly does, and here it is. It was the answer Peter needed. That’s the answer we need. And in fact, it summarizes some great truths that Paul had already taught in Romans. What’s his answer to the question who is to condemn? It’s this. Remember this: “Christ has died for you so that there would be no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And,” he adds, “not only is this true, but listen, the Christ who died for your sins has been raised for your justification. And more than that, He is even now at the right hand of God, and He’s interceding for you. He will never let you go. You can never be condemned.”

I think that’s why so many of us love the resurrection of that old hymn with this verse:

When Satan tempts me to despair, And tells me of the guilt within, Upward I look, and see Him there Who made an end of all my sin.

Because the sinless Savior died, My guilty soul is counted free; And God the just is satisfied To look on Him and pardon me.

You see, we need not only the finished work of Christ for us on Calvary; we need the ongoing work of Christ interceding for us in heaven. And then we will know, as Simon Peter must surely have discovered that terrible night, that even although Satan has desired to have us to sift us like wheat, the Lord Jesus Christ is praying for us. Who, then, could ever condemn us?