For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, having sent his own Son, in likeness of flesh of sin, and for sin, has condemned sin in the flesh,
The law could not deal with the human problem. This verse says why, and it says what God did instead: He sent His own Son. Why did the law fail? What does "likeness of sinful flesh" guard? And what does it mean that God condemned sin instead of forgiving it?
The failure lay in the material the law had to work on, not in the law itself.
The law was not at fault. It failed through the weakness of the flesh. You cannot make anything perfect out of bad materials. A man may be a very skilful workman, but set him to work on bad materials and all his skill is useless. Carving wood, he may show the finest taste and craft, and produce something all must admire. Try the same on clay, or on rotten wood, and it would crumble to pieces under his hand. All his skill would go for nothing. So the law, attempting to work on the flesh, only crumbles it to pieces.
The verse says "likeness" of sinful flesh, not the thing itself.
It could not have been in the reality of sinful flesh. In that case He could not have been a sacrifice for sin at all. If there had been an atom of the reality of sinful flesh, if there had been a single taint, it would have destroyed the sin offering. The "grain offering" represents the life of Christ. The "sin" (and "trespass") offering brings before us His death. Of both offerings we are told the same thing: "it is most holy." The Lord Jesus looked like any other man, and that is why it says "in the likeness."
An Old Testament picture follows the same pattern.
Moses made the bronze serpent in the likeness of the fiery serpents that were the source of the trouble. In the same way, God sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, so that sin in the flesh might be condemned in His sacrifice for sin. Sin lived in our flesh, dominating and corrupting our old life.
The two small words "for sin" carry a technical meaning drawn from the offerings.
This aspect of the death of Jesus is so closely tied to the sin of man that in the original language the word for "sin" and "sin offering" is the same.
God treats sins and sin in two different ways.
Remember also that sin in the flesh is condemned and not forgiven. In human justice, forgiveness may take the form of cancelling a sentence. Even then the law still condemns the lawless and criminal instincts the crime came from. Divine justice works the same way. Human justice, where it is good and right, is only a faint reflection of God's. The sacrifice of Christ does provide the basis on which God can forgive the believer's offences and still be righteous. It just as clearly shows God's hatred and condemnation of the corrupt nature those offences sprang from.
The verb is stronger than it first sounds.
God condemned — or, you might say, executed — sin in the flesh for us by the death of Christ. He did not die only for my sins (though that is true), but for my sin.
Sins and the sinful nature are two different problems. The cross dealt with both.
God has already condemned sin in the flesh at Christ's cross — not merely sins, but sin. So He is not only satisfied (as older writers used to put it) but glorified in it. So on neither count can condemnation fall. God forgives the believer's sins because Christ bore them on the tree. He has also condemned the sin in the nature there, to His own glory. The believer stands clear on both counts.
God's judgment on the flesh is meant to become ours.
God tested man again and again through Old Testament history. Then men — religious, cultured and political — crucified the Lord Jesus, God's well beloved Son. There God condemned sinful flesh once and for all. God would teach us to bring our view of the flesh into line with His. He would have us agree with Him, passing the same sentence of condemnation on it.
- Weak — the law had no fault, but no power either. It worked on material that crumbled under it.
- Sent — God did what the law could not do. He sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, never in its reality: one taint would have ruined the offering.
- Sacrifice — in the original language the word for "sin" and for "sin offering" is one and the same; His death is bound up with man's sin.
- Condemned — God forgives sins, but He does not pardon sin in the flesh. He executes it. The cross shows His hatred of the nature the sins came from.
- Clear — Christ bore the sins and God condemned the sin, so no condemnation can reach the believer. Our part is to pass the same sentence on the flesh that God has.
in order that the righteous requirement of the law should be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to flesh but according to Spirit.
Romans 8:4 gives the purpose of what God did in sending His own Son to deal with sin in the flesh. But if the believer is not under law, why does the law's demand appear here, and how is it met?
Many read the verse as if the Spirit helped a believer keep the law and so be justified. One writer rules that out.
God worked in Christ so that the requirement of the law — its righteous claim — might be fulfilled in us ... This, I gladly grant, applies not to justification, as so many teachers wrongly teach. It is the practical consequence of justification, or rather of the infinite work of the Saviour, in those who receive Him.
So why does the law's claim appear at all, for people set free from law? One writer traces the answer back to Romans 7.
The connection shows that this is worked out in the delivered soul — in those who have passed through the experience of Romans 7. ... But if we have been delivered from the law, and from efforts to fulfil it, why are we told that the righteous requirement of the law is still fulfilled in us? ... We can gather the reason from the previous chapter. There the standard before the soul was obedience to the law. The apostle points out that "the good," which could never be attained while under law, is now reached in a new and better way. What the law required, but never obtained, is now produced in those who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
One writer shows the difference with a school bell that rings twice in one day.
They hate the sound of that bell at that hour, and obey its command with great reluctance and only because they must. The law of the school is fulfilled by them, not because they love it, but from fear of the consequences of disobedience.
The same bell rings again at dinner time.
It is now as pleasant to them as before it was hateful ... they drop whatever they are doing and rush to the dining room. The command of the dinner bell is fulfilled IN them, for there is that in them that gives an instant response to it.
The verse describes how a believer walks, and it names two possible sources of that walk.
He is not taking up the old nature here, but the walk. Note that there are two principles of walk — after the flesh, and after the Spirit. Flesh is not changed; if it were, why warn us not to walk after it? The flesh is the same as ever, but the believer now has power over it. He does not walk after it, although it is there. The flesh is in him, but he is not in the flesh. There is no excuse for a Christian walking in flesh, because the Spirit of Christ is in him.
One writer adds a sober admission.
This verse states normal Christianity. We must also admit that none of us, not even the most spiritual, walk fully according to the Spirit. So none of us fully meet what the law righteously demands.
The law never supplies the power for such a walk.
Too many believers live under law in practice, working to correct and improve the flesh — the case described in the second half of Romans 7. There is no power in that. ... Christ is the only power of holiness, not the law — Christ in grace and truth, Christ dead and risen. That power works through the Holy Spirit in us, and the heart answers in love to God and man.
The believer who is free from law does not end up below its demands, but above them.
Find us a Christian who recognises how God has condemned sin in the flesh at the cross, and who therefore disowns the flesh and does not walk by it. Find us one who also rejoices in the new life in Christ Jesus, and in the Spirit of that new life who is its power and energy. We will at once show you a Christian who is fulfilling what He had so righteously required of men. Indeed we will show you one who goes beyond those requirements. He is learning to walk as Christ walked, and that is a far higher standard than the law of Moses.
- Cause. The verse opens with "in order that" — it is the goal of what God did in sending His Son, not a condition we meet to be accepted.
- Gift. The demand is fulfilled in us, not by us. New life and the Spirit answer God's will the way hungry boys answer a dinner bell.
- Power. Working to improve the flesh gives no power. Christ, dead and risen, is the only strength for holiness, and He works by the Spirit.
- Walk. Two principles are open to a believer: flesh and Spirit. The flesh remains, but it no longer has to rule — and no one walks wholly by the Spirit.
- Result. What the law asked for and never got is now produced. And more: the standard is now Christ Himself, not Moses.