There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 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: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Romans 8:1-4
When General Grant accepted the surrender of General Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia on April 9, 1865, the Civil War officially came to an end. Among the terms Grant offered was a promise of parole for Lee and other Confederate officers, protecting them from prosecution for their part in the war. President Lincoln approved those terms, but his assassination the following week changed the situation. Eager for revenge, a federal judge issued indictments against Lee and others on June 9, 1865. Concerned that the agreement might no longer be honored, Lee wrote to Grant asking whether the terms he had accepted were still in effect. Grant immediately traveled to Washington and met with President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. He insisted that the agreement he had negotiated must be honored, and at his urging the judge withdrew the charges.
What protected Lee was not his innocence, for he had indeed fought against the Union. Instead, it was the agreement he had made with Grant and the intercession of Grant on his behalf. The freedom from condemnation that we enjoy as children of God does not come from our innocence, but from the sacrifice Jesus made on our behalf. Even now, He serves as our Advocate before the Father. “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1).
