Verse of the Day 5-16-22

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Romans 8:1-4

Paul has moved from the gloomy picture of his view of life before Christ to his joyous picture of the Christian life. The believer is not condemned, which is a way of expressing justification: God no longer maintains the charge of disobedience for those in Christ. There are two reasons for this: the law has been dissolved and God did what the law could not do. The reason there is no condemnation for believers is that the law, which enslaved people under the control of sin, has been dissolved. The law as a promise of life, on the other hand, has been put into effect through Christ Jesus and the Spirit, and so all the blessings that the law promised belong to people in Christ.

The law was powerless on its own to bring about what it had promised, which was life for those who keep it. The law was weakened by the flesh-the flesh Paul describes as not just weak but rebellious. The promise, however, has come into effect because of God’s action in Jesus, who was in every way like the rest of humanity, except without sin. He was a sin offering, the type of of sacrifice offered on-among other times-the Day of Atonement, which Paul has already referred to in his description of the cross. This sacrifice is how God brought the death sentence on the flesh, the old way of life.

As a result of God’s action described in verse 3, we have fulfilled the requirement of the law. Though we have not obeyed the terms in a literal sense, it is like we are sitting in on an elementary music exam in which a virtuoso professional takes our place and plays an impossibly difficult piece as evidence of our competence. The law is not fulfilled by Christian but in us and by Christ.

Today’s Bible Readings:

1 Samuel 18:5-19:24, John 8:31-59, Psalm 112:1-10 and Proverbs 15:12-14