Romans 8:3-4 -- "The Son and the Spirit"

[The index for the series is here.]

I am using the Pastor's titles for these posts. The appropriate links are:

• Audio file
• Note sheet

The text:

(NET) Romans 8:3 For God achieved what the law could not do because¹ it was weakened through the flesh. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the righteous requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Notes:

¹ tn Grk “in that.”

Sermon Notes:

Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the life-giving Spirit in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.

One of my favorite sayings is that God's Grace provided what His justice demanded:

• God did - what people are unable to do (v.3):
  
  • God sent His own son—to accomplish what the law could not do.
  • Christ fully embraced the human condition—but did not sin.
  • God sent His Son as a sin offering. (literally: “for sin”)
  
  
• Where is the “place” of sin being condemned? God performed an act of judicial condemnation on sin in (the flesh of) Christ on the cross.
• As our substitute, Christ “was made sin for us” and suffered the wrath of God’s judgment upon sin (in His body on the cross).
  

  Romans 3:25 God publicly displayed him at his death as the mercy seat accessible through faith. This was to demonstrate his righteousness, because God in his forbearance had passed over the sins previously committed.
  
  Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us (because it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”)
  

  God executed His judgment on sin in the death of His Son.
  
• God’s purpose of grace in condemning sin is stated in v.4:
  
  • How could God’s demands of righteousness be “fully met in us”?
    

    2 Corinthians 5:21 God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God.
    

    
    
  • There is “no condemnation” for believers (vs. 1) - because “in Christ” - their sin has been “condemned.”
    

    “Christ became what we are so we might become what Christ is.”
    

    
    
  • Though law did not have power to overcome sin, God’s purpose was always to have a people who would obey His will. Paul does not separate God’s “righteous requirements” from the lifestyle of the Christian.
  • Believers are not left to live the Christian life in their own strength. The Holy Spirit lives in us and enables us to live in ways we could never experience by ourselves.
  • God provides - in Christ - the full completion of the law’s demands and sends the Spirit into our lives to empower a new obedience to His will. Christians are now directed by the Spirit - and not by the flesh.
  
  

1 Peter 2:24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we may cease from sinning and live for righteousness. By his wounds you were healed.