Daily Discipleship - Day 241: No Condemnation

May 3, 2026

Daily Discipleship • Day 241 • Sunday, December 27, 2026

No Condemnation

Romans 8:1-2

Pleasant Springs Church • ps-church.com

Scripture

Romans 8:1–2 (Greek NT) οὐδὲν ἄρα νῦν κατάκριμα τοῦς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦˇ ὀ γὰρ νόμος τοῦ πνεύματος τῆς ζωῆς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ ἠλευθέρωσεν σε ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου τῆς ἁμαρτίας καὶ τοῦ θανάτου. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

Author & Audience

Brennan Manning on the liberating verdict of 'no condemnation' — not as license for sin but as the ground of true freedom and honest self-knowledge for the believer.

Word Study

κατάκριμα

katakrima · Greek NT

“condemnation, judicial sentence against”

A legal term: the formal sentence pronounced by a judge that results in punishment. Paul's 'therefore' reaches back through all of Romans 1–7 — the long account of sin, law, and failure — and declares: for those in Christ, the verdict is reversed. The judge has spoken and the word is not guilty. Katakrima is used only three times in the NT, twice in Romans 5 and once here, forming a deliberate bracket.

Reflection

From the writers we read together

Brennan Manning

Author, The Ragamuffin Gospel

“Define yourself radically as one beloved of God. This is the true self. Every other identity is illusion.” — Brennan Manning, Abba's Child (1994)

Manning returned to Romans 8:1 again and again because he watched Christians live as though they were still under condemnation — performing for God's approval, unable to believe the verdict had truly changed. 'There is therefore now no condemnation' is not a hope or a goal; it is a present-tense declaration. The word 'now' (nyn) roots this freedom in the present moment, not in a future perfection.

The law of the Spirit of life frees us from the law of sin and death — not by lowering the standard but by providing a new power from within. Freedom from condemnation is not freedom to sin; it is freedom from the exhausting performance of self-justification. You do not have to earn what has already been given. What would it look like to live this week from the verdict 'no condemnation' rather than from fear of failure?

Continue your study: Discipleship School — Explore how life in the Spirit reshapes identity and practice in everyday discipleship.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, King of the Universe, Father, the verdict You have spoken over me in Christ is 'no condemnation.' I receive it today. Free me from self-condemnation that contradicts what You have declared. Let me live from this verdict, not toward it. Amen.

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