Charles Ellicott Commentary Romans 8

Therefore.—The Apostle had already, at the end of the last chapter, “touched the confines” of that state of deliverance and of liberty which he is now going on to describe. The opening of this chapter is, therefore, connected in form with the close of the last. The intervention of Christ puts an end to the struggle waged within the soul. There is therefore no condemnation, and so on.

Condemnation.—The condemnation which in the present and final judgment of God impends over the sinner, is removed by the intervention of Christ, and by the union of the believer with Him. By that union the power and empire of sin are thrown off and destroyed. (Compare to Romans 8:3.) There is a certain play on the word “condemn.” By “condemning” the law of sin, Christ removed “condemnation” from the sinner. He removed it objectively, or in the nature of things, and this removal is completed subjectively in the individual through that bond of mystical and moral attachment which makes what Christ has done his own act and deed.

To them which are in Christ Jesus.—Those who live and move and have their (spiritual) being in Christ. To have the Spirit of Christ is a converse expression for the same idea. In the one case the believer is regarded as reaching upwards, as it were, through faith, and so incorporating and uniting himself with the Spirit of Christ; in the other case, the Spirit of Christ reaches downwards and infuses itself into the believer. This is the peculiar mysticism of the Apostle.

Who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.—These words are lacking in the foremost representatives of every group of authorities (except, perhaps, those which belong to the region of Syria), and must certainly be omitted. They have been brought in here from Romans 8:4.

On verses 1-11:

A result is thus attained which the law of Moses could not accomplish, but which is accomplished in the gospel. The Christian is entirely freed from the law of sin and death, and from the condemnation that it entails. But he is so upon the condition that this freedom is for him a reality—that it really proceeds from the indwelling Spirit of Christ.

A statement of the great antithesis, of which the rest of the section is a development, between the law of the Spirit of life and the law of sin and of death.

The law of the Spirit of life.—A phrase defining more fully the mode in which the union with Christ becomes operative in the believer. It begins by imparting to him the Spirit of Christ; this Spirit creates within him a law; and the result of that law is life—that perfect spiritual vitality which includes within itself the pledge of immortality.

The Spirit.—That is, the Spirit of Christ, as in Romans 8:9, which is hardly yet conceived of as a distinct personality, but representing the continued action and influence which the ascended Saviour exercises upon the believer.

In Christ Jesus.—These words are best taken with “hath made” (or rather, made, when it was imparted to me) “me free.” The law of the Spirit of life, in Christ (that is, operating through my union with Christ), made me free from the law of sin and of death.

From the law of sin and death.—The direct contrast to the foregoing. Not here the law of Moses, but the power of sin, the corrupt element in our nature, acting upon the soul, and itself erecting a kind of law, saying, “Thou shalt,” where the law of God says “Thou shalt not;” and “Thou shalt not,” where the law of God says “Thou shalt.” The effect of this reign of sin is death—spiritual death—bearing in itself the pledge of eternal death.

How was I freed? It was in this way. Precisely at the very point where the law of Moses showed its powerlessness—namely, in its attempt to eliminate sin, an attempt that failed due to the counteracting influence of the flesh—precisely at this very point, God intervened. He did so by sending His Son in a body of flesh similar to the one in which sin resides and as an offering to expiate human sin.

Consequently, God dethroned and eliminated sin in the flesh His Son had assumed. The flesh, once the scene of sin's former triumphs, now became the scene of its defeat and expulsion.

What the law could not do.—Literally, the impossible thing of the Law—that is, “that which was impossible to the Law.” The construction is what is called a nominativus pendens. This phrase, inserted at the beginning of the sentence, characterizes what follows. God did what the Law could not do—namely, condemned sin.

In that it was weak through the flesh.—There was one constant obstacle to the success of the Law: it had to be carried out by human agents, afflicted by human frailty—a frailty naturally resulting from the physical constitution with which humanity is endowed. Temptation and sin have their roots in the physical part of human nature, and they were too strong for the purely moral influence of the Law. The Law was limited in its operations by them and failed to overcome them.

In the likeness of sinful flesh—that is, in the flesh, but not in sinful flesh. This means having a human body that was, to that extent, like the physical constitution of the rest of humankind, yet which was not in Him, as in other people, the seat of sin; at once like and unlike.

And for sin.—This is the phrase used constantly in the Septuagint (“more than fifty times in the Book of Leviticus alone”—Vaughan) for the “sin-offering.” The essence of the original sin-offering was that it was accepted by an act of God’s grace, instead of the personal punishment of the offender. The exact nature of this “instead” appears to be left an open question in Scripture, and its further definition—if it is to be defined—belongs to the sphere of dogmatics rather than exegesis. It must be remembered that St. Paul uses, regarding the sacrifice of Christ, language similar to that used in the Old Testament for this particular class of sacrifice, the sin-offering.

Condemned sin.—The meaning of this expression is brought out by the context. It refers to what the Law was hindered from doing because of the hold sin had on the flesh. That hold is broken through the believer’s participation in the death of Christ. Sin is, so to speak, brought into court, and judgment is rendered against it. It loses all its rights and claims over its victim. It is dispossessed like someone dispossessed of a property.

In the flesh.—In that same sphere—the flesh—where sin had until now held mastery, it now stood condemned and defeated; it could no longer exercise its old dominion.

The consequence of this was a great change. Until now, the Law could not be kept because of the antagonistic influence of the flesh; from now on, it may be kept for the reason that this influence has ceased and that its place is taken by the influence of the Spirit.

The righteousness.—The just requirement of the Law, its due and rightful claims.

Might be fulfilled in us.—That we might be examples of its fulfilment.

Who walk not after the flesh.—Who direct our conduct not as the flesh would guide us, but according to the dictates and guidance of the Spirit—i.e., the indwelling Spirit of Christ, as in Romans 8:2.

Those who are . . .—Those who not only walk (direct their conduct) according to the promptings of the flesh, but who are in themselves and in the whole bent of their dispositions the slaves of these promptings.

Do mind the things of the flesh.—Their whole mental and moral activity is set upon nothing else but the gratification of these cravings of sense. The phrase “who mind” is not confined to the exercise of the intellect, but includes the affections; in fact, it includes all those lesser motives, thoughts, and desires which are involved in carrying out any great principle of action—whether it be selfish and “carnal” or spiritual.

On verses 5-8:

Further description of the antithesis between flesh and spirit in regard to:

1. their object, Romans 8:5;
2. their nature, Romans 8:7–8;
3. their end, Romans 8:6.