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THIS E-BOOK HAS BEEN COMPILED BY
THE BIBLE TRUTH FORUM
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NO CONDEMNATION IN CHRIST JESUS
By Octavius Winslow, 1862
PREFACE

It would have been no difficult task to have expanded the following pages\u2014
the substance of which was originally delivered by the author in the course of
his stated ministrations, and in his usual extemporaneous mode of address\u2014
much beyond their present limit. His dread, however, of inflicting upon the
public a volume, overgrown and unreadable\u2014precious and alluring as was its
theme\u2014constrained him greatly to curtail his work; thus, he fears, exposing
himself to the charge of having swept lightly and rapidly over subjects the
greatness and importance of which demanded profounder thought, and more
elaborate discussion. The portion of Holy Writ he has undertaken\u2014it may be
deemed somewhat too presumptuously\u2014to expound, must be regarded as a
mine of sacred wealth, as inexhaustible in its resources, as those resources are
indescribable in their beauty, and in their excellence and worth, priceless.

It would, perhaps, be impossible to select from the Bible a single chapter in
which were crowded so much sublime, evangelical, and sanctifying truth as
this eighth of Romans. It is not only all gospel, but it may be said to contain
the whole gospel. In this brief but luminous space is embraced an epitome of
all the privileges and duties, trials and consolations, discouragements and
hopes of the Christian. Commencing with his elevated position ofNo

Condemnation from God, it conducts him along a path where flowers bloom,
and honey drops, and fragrance breathes, and music floats, and light and
shade blend in beautiful and exquisite harmony to the radiant point ofno
separation from Christ. And amid the beauties and sweets, the melodies and
sunshine of this glorious landscape of truth, thus spread out in all its

panoramic extent and magnificence before his eye, the believer in Jesus is
invited to roam, to revel, and delight himself.
May the Holy and Eternal Spirit impart to the reader, and, through his
prayers, increasingly to the writer, the personal possession and heart-
sanctifying experience of the Divine treasures of this precious portion of God's
Word. And, if this simple and imperfect outline may but supply a faint and
glimmering light, guiding the reader to a more prayerful and thorough
exploration of this mine of the "deep things of God," thus leading to the
discovery of new and yet richer veins, the Author will not regret that the oil
which fed the lamp has been drawn from his own exhausting, yet holy and
delightful studies.

And now to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as unto the Triune Jehovah, be
all honor and praise forever. Amen.
Leamington, April, 1862.
CHAPTER 1.
No Condemnation.
"There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Romans 8:1.

In these words the inspired Apostle supplies us with the key to the great and
precious truths embodied in the chapter, upon the unfolding of which, as
guided by the Holy Spirit, we propose to enter. They contain the leading
proposition, which, thus distinctly enunciated, he proceeds with his usual
vigor of mind, perspicuity of reasoning, and gentleness of spirit, clothing his
thoughts with the most eloquent diction, to confirm and illustrate. He had
been descanting, with much feeling and power, upon the painful and ceaseless
conflict waging between the antagonist principles of the regenerate heart,
illustrating it, as is evident from his use of the first person, by a reference to
his own personal experience as a Christian. The question, mooted by some,
whether Paul delineated a state preceding, or subsequent to, conversion, ought
not, we think, to allow a moment's doubt. Since, from the fourteenth verse to
the close of the chapter, he unfolds the operation of a law which only finds
scope for its exercise in the soul of the renewed man, and with whose hidden
and mysterious workings, the experience of the saints has in all ages

coincided. But if this argument still leaves the mind perplexed, the opening of
the present chapter would appear sufficiently conclusive to set the question at
rest. Having portrayed with a master pen\u2014himself sitting for the picture\u2014the
spiritual struggles of the children of God, he then proceeds, in the passage
under consideration, to apply the divine consolation and support appropriate
to a condition so distressing and humiliating. Lifting them from the region of
conflict and cloud, he places them upon an elevation towering above the gloom
and strife of the battle-field, around whose serene, sunlight summit gathered
the first dawning of eternal glory.

"There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus."
The transition from the desponding tone of the seventh chapter, to the
triumphant language of the eighth, may appear somewhat startling and
abrupt; yet it is perfectly easy, logical, and natural. The verse before us is an
inference fairly deducible from the whole of the preceding discussion; and is,
in fact, the grand conclusion toward which the Apostle had throughout the
argument been aiming to arrive. Clear is it, then, as the sun, that if to the
saints of God belong the conflict of sin and death, over whose thraldom they
mourn; to them also equally belongs the deliverance from the curse and the
condemnation, in whose victory they rejoice. Let us now address ourselves to
the exposition of this sublime and solemn theme, in humble reliance upon the
Divine teaching of the Spirit, pledged and vouchsafed to guide us into all
truth.

'Condemnation' is a word of tremendous import; and it is well fairly to look at
its meaning, that we may the better understand the wondrous grace that has
delivered us from its power. Echoing through the gloomy halls of a human
court, it falls with a fearful knell upon the ear of the criminal, and thrills with
sympathy and horror the bosom of each spectator of the scene. But in the
court of Divine Justice it is uttered with a meaning and solemnity infinitely
significant and impressive. To that court every individual is cited. Before that
bar each one must be arraigned. "Conceived in sin, and shaped in iniquity,"
man enters the world under arrest\u2014an indicted criminal, a rebel manacled,
and doomed to die. Born under the tremendous sentence originally denounced
against sin: "In the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die;" or, "You
shall die the death," he enters life under a present condemnation, the prelude
of a future condemnation. From it he can discover no avenue of escape. He lies
down, and he rises up\u2014he repairs to the mart of business, and to the haunt of
pleasure, a guilty, sentenced, and condemned man. "Cursed is every one that
continues not in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do

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