This Week's Sermon
Audio from this Week's Bible Study
Paul’s Epistle to the Romans
January 9, 2022
Opening Prayer
Eternal Father,
you have given us your only-begotten Son
to take our nature upon him,
and revealed him to us
at his baptism in the River Jordan,
grant that we, who have been born again of water and the Holy Spirit,
and made your children by adoption and grace,
may daily be renewed by your Holy Spirit,
through Jesus Christ, our Saviour,
who is alive with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.[1]
Prolegomena
Two opposite “dangers” in studying.
- Miss the forest for the trees.
- Miss the trees for the forest.
Something I Missed by Looking Too Closely
Romans 8 moves from “no condemnation” to “no separation.”
Romans 8:1-4
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in
Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of
life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and
death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened
by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the
flesh, 4 in order that the righteous
requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to
the flesh but according to the Spirit.
A Literary Hinge
Takes themes from previous parts of the letter – Law (23x in
ch 7 and 4x in 8:1-4), Sin (15x in 7 and 4x in 8:1-4),
Lays them next to new themes – Spirit (2x in 8:1-4 and 13x
in 8:5-17), Flesh (3x in 3:1-4 and 9x in 8:5-13)
Paul is moving us into a new section of the letter.
v.3
The English translation reverses the order of the original. I
think, while this makes for good English, it also changes the emphasis of the
sentence.
For the powerlessness of the law, in that it was weakened
by the flesh, God, sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh ….
Romans 8:3 speaks of the Law’s as powerless (adunaton).
Romans 1:16 – I am not ashamed of the Gospel for it is the
power (dunamis) of God for salvation.
The power that transforms sinners is the Gospel. The Law is
ineffective for this work.
- Life vs. Death
- Galatians 3:19-22 – Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. 20 Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.21 Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. 22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
What the Law is active in three ways:
1. It provokes and increases sin. (7:23, 5:20; 7:5, 7-8, 17-18, 20)
2. It takes a sinner captive to death. (7:10-11, 13, 3:19-20)
3. It reveals the knowledge and truth of God’s will. (2:20, 7:15, 22)
Nevertheless, it cannot enable anyone to fulfill its demands.
Jesus came in the likeness of sinful flesh
- Hebrews 4:14-16 – Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
- John 1:14
This does not mean that Jesus was sinful.
- Docetism believed that this means that Jesus is only like a human, not fully human
- The opposite error would be to ignore this “likeness” and assert that this means that Jesus’ flesh in the incarnation was sinful.
- “Paul is walking a fine line here. On the one hand, he wants to insist that Christ fully entered into the human condition, became “in-fleshed” (in-car-nis), and, as such, exposed himself to the power of sin (cf. 6:8-10). On the other hand, he must avoid suggesting that Christ so participated in this realm that he became imprisoned “in the flesh” … and became, thus, so subject to sin that he could be personally guilty of it.” – Moo
- 2 Corinthians 5:21
… in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin … (ESV)
- This idea of “for sin” is a Hebraism – a Hebrew phrase expressed in Greek.
- It means “as a sin offering.”
- God, after sending his own Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin and as a sin offering condemned sin in the flesh, …
- This is also the idea in Galatians 4:4-5 – Jesus is born under the Law to redeem those who are under the Law.
- Jesus is, as John the Baptist said, “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” – John 1:29
Therefore, there is now no condemnation to those who are in
Christ Jesus … but here God condemns sin in the flesh.
- In whose flesh?
- “The scandal of particularity is that salvation for all was accomplished by God in only one particular way and is available to all only through this particular One: the one-time even of the conviction of the only sinless person “in the flesh” actually condemned and executed sin itself! – Middeldorf, Concordia Commentary on Romans
v.4
… in order that the righteous requirement of the law
might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but
according to the Spirit.
This verse completes the move into the next section with “in
order that…”
God’s purpose was to save us from our flesh by condemning
sin in Jesus’ flesh so that the Law might be fulfilled … not according to our
flesh, but according to the Spirit.
- This “according to the Spirit” means that, for us, this is by faith.
- NB – “in us” – Paul has moved back to the plural.
- NB – “in us” not “by us.”- Jesus fulfills the Law.
- “For although the law could not accomplish its purpose on account of the weakness of those to whom it was given (for they had a mortal and passible nature), the only begotten Word of God broke the power of sin by taking on human flesh and fulfilled all righteousness.” – Theodoret of Cyrus
We are defined here as “the ones who are not walking
according to the flesh, but according with the Spirit.”
- To walk is poetic language for “to live.” (Dire Straits – “Walk of Life”)
- This means we live differently.
- But there are no imperative verbs here!
- These are descriptive and defining – not commanding.
- The Ten Words aka Ten Commandments
- This is what it looks like where the “flesh” is no longer what controls us even as we continue to live in it.
Paul does not separate the fulfillment of the Law from the
Christian lifestyle.
[1]
A reworking of a collect by Thomas Cramner by Rev. Bosco Peters, an Anglican
priest from New Zealand - https://liturgy.co.nz/reflections/baptism-of-the-lord
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