Author : Elmer Moore (deceased)
reprinted by permission from Truth Magazine.
In the previous article attention was called to the fact that some were said to have “no condemnation.” These are the ones who, through the Spirit, have life in Christ Jesus and who walk after the Spirit (verses 2 and 4).
Inasmuch as there are a number of contrasts in this chapter, it is in order for us to clearly understand the law of contrast. In a contrast opposites are being considered. I. B. Grubbs wrote:
In all cases a writer or speaker is liable to suffer injustice, if his statements are interpreted without reference to the contrast before his own mind. What an author would regard as the precise opposite of any important assertion of truth made by him is always, by way of negation, the exact measure of the length and breadth of the signification of that assertion (I. B. Grubbs, Biblical Hermeneutics. 6-7).
Effort will be made to try to understand the contrast before the mind of Paul as he wrote this eighth chapter of Romans. We will have occasion to use this as our investigation continues.
Two statements occur in verse three that need to be examined. First, consider the statement, “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh.” What was it that the law could not do? The law could not free man from the law of sin and death; the law that Paul identified as the “law of sin in my members” (Romans 7:23).
Why was the law unable to do this? Because it was “weak through the flesh” (verse 3).
How was the law weak through the flesh? I understand “flesh” to be used as a synecdoche; i.e., a part of man for the whole man. Hence, Paul is talking about the man under the law of Moses. The writer of the Hebrews letter declares, “For if that first covenant had been faultless, then would no place have been sought for a second. For finding fault with them, he saith…” (Hebrews 8:7-8). He declared finding fault with them. When man allowed lust to ensnare him and lead him to act, sin was produced (James 1:13-15). Paul had already pointed out that “By the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight…” (Romans 3:20). The law itself held man in captivity and offered no escape (Romans 7:23).
Second, “God, sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh.” The writer indicates that God could do and did that which the law could not do. The basic contrast is between the “law of the Spirit” and “the law.” The law of the Spirit freed man from the “captivity under the law of sin” (Romans 8:2; 7:23). The law of Moses could not do this (7:23). The law of the Spirit could free man because “God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh” (verse 3).
Commenting on this passage, R. L. Whiteside writes, “Sin is no more a part of your nature than dust in your eye is a part of your eye. Because of the desires, the appetites, and the passions of the flesh so often lead to sin, flesh is called sinful” (page 170). This I believe to be what the passage states. Sin is no part of man’s nature.
Jesus came in the flesh (1 John 4:3). “Since then the children are sharers in flesh and blood, he also himself in like manner partook of the same; that through death he might bring to naught him that had the power of death…” (Hebrews 2:14). Thus he came in the likeness of sinful flesh. The expression “and for sin” is describing His sacrificial death for sin. The only thing that one can prove about Jesus and sin is that: He was tempted to sin (Hebrews 2:17; 4:15-16); He did no sin (1 Peter 2:22); and He shed His blood that we might have forgiveness of sin (1 Peter 1:18-19). The statement “and for sin” is declaring that he became a sacrifice for sin (cf. Romans 3:24,25; 2 Corinthians 5:21).
What is the meaning of the statement “condemned sin in the flesh”? The term “flesh” is used as a synecdoche referring to mankind (Romans 3:20). W. E. Vine states, “By synecdoche, of the holy humanity of the Lord Jesus, in the totality of all that is essential to manhood, i.e., spirit, soul, and body, John 1:14; Timothy 3:16; I John 4:2; Hebrews 5:7” (447-448). R. L. Whiteside wrote, “He, therefore had in his nature all that the word ‘man’ implies” (Commentary on Romans. 169). He condemned sin by his sinless life.
Thus Paul declares that the “law of the Spirit,” the Gospel of Christ, could free men from the “law of sin and death,” thus doing that which the law of Moses could not do. Jesus came in the likeness of sinful flesh and died in order to free man from the rule of sin in his life.
