Romans 8:1

Romans 8:1 says, There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.  After lamenting the war between what he knew to do spiritually and what he was tempted to do through the flesh, the old human nature, Paul here states the reason to celebrate.  There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.  We do not lose our relationship with God when we tempted to walk after the flesh, but we are covered by the blood of Christ forever. Paul may have still had the temptation to follow his own will, but he knew that he should always follow the will of God.  It would indeed be much simpler if once we were saved, we lost all pull to sin, but as long as we have this old mortal body of flesh we will face temptation.  The more closely we walk with Christ in the spirit, the less power temptation will have over us.  We need to cling to the promise that through Christ we have no condemnation, and this should lead us to an ever-closer walk with Him.  Paul, one of the greatest Christians of all time recognized this war between the flesh and the spirit in his life, and we must also.  If we begin to think that as a follower of Christ we are immune to the temptation of sin, we are likely setting ourselves up for a fall.  Verse two adds, For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.  Paul states that the Spirit of life in Christ made him free from the law of sin and death.  The same is true for us.  Through Christ, we are made truly free to be in a right standing with God.  The law could not do this because it depended on our ability to live up to the very spirit of the law.  Faith in Christ though depends not on our ability, but on His. We are simply required to come to Him by faith and live by faith through Him.  We are made free from attempting to find redemption through the law, which we could never do.  Verse three continues, For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:  Paul here states again the good news, that God sent Christ into the world as a man Who lived without sin that He would therefore be able to redeem all of mankind.  Christ condemned sin in the flesh. We can only blame our sins on our own free will.  Verse four states, That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. This is a continuation of the statement in verse three, that through Christ sin was defeated.  Through Christ, the righteousness of the law was fulfilled, and we can now choose to walk after the flesh by choosing our will or after the Spirit by choosing God's will for us.  Verse five adds, For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.  We have the choice of being ruled by the things of the flesh, which lead to sin, or by the things of Christ, which lead to following the will of God.  Even as followers of Christ, it is a daily choice.  It should become easier to follow Christ the longer we serve Him, but it is still too easy to allow sin to creep in.