Condemnation
At least seven different Greek words are translated “condemnation” in the New Testament. The following addresses all of them, since they all appear to describe those who are at war with God, spiritually dead, displeasing to God. The best passage with which to start is Romans 8:1 – 17.
- (1) “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” So, the question must be answered, “Who is in Christ Jesus?” From the remainder of the passage, clearly many people are not “in Christ.”
- (3 – 4) “He [Jesus] condemned sin in the flesh that the righteous requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” Therefore, there is no condemnation for those who walk according to the Spirit, which will be explained more fully in the next few verses. Those who do not “walk according to the Spirit” are condemned.
- (6 – 7) “To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.” So, the carnally minded are condemned and do not have the ability in themselves to break free from that. The cure is in the next few verses.
- (8 – 9) “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.” Paul is contrasting the fleshly minded with the spiritually minded. Those who are in Christ have been given the indwelling Spirit
- (13) “For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to deatht he deeds of the body, you will live.” Those without the indwelling Spirit are condemned. Those with the indwelling Spirit overcome themselves.
The following passages contrast the condemned versus the accepted:
- 1 Corinthians 11:32 “But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.”
- 2 Peter 2:6 – 7 “…and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly, and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked.”
- Mark 16:16 “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.”
- Romans 14:23 “But he who doubts is condemned if he eats because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin.”
- Matthew 12:37 “For by your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned.”
- John 3:17 – 19 “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”
- John 5:24 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believed in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but has passed from death to life.”
- John 5:28 – 29 “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth – those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.”
- Hebrews 10:26 – 27 “For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of condemnation, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.”
- 2 Peter 3:7 “But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of condemnation and destruction of ungodly men.”
About 50 more verses in the New Testament contain “condemn” in its several parts of speech.