Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Romans 8:3

"For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:" — Romans 8:3 (ASV)

But how was this freedom gained (v.3)? The opening statement about the powerlessness of the law because of the weakness of the sinful nature to which its commands are addressed is an obvious reminder of the major thrust of ch. 7. The law makes demands and condemns when those demands are not met, but it cannot overcome sin. This inability of the law required the personal action of God in Christ. He sent “his own Son.” This mission could not be entrusted to anyone else or anyone less than his Son. While the preexistence of the Son is not formally taught here, it is implied (cf. Jn 3:17; 7:33; 17:18; 20:21). When vv.2–3 are taken together, they bear a close resemblance to Gal 4:4–6, where Father, Son, and Spirit are pictured as involved in the mission of Christ.

The Son was sent “in the likeness of sinful man” (“man” is literally “flesh”; GK 4922). Observe with what care Paul states the incarnation. He does not say “in sinful flesh,” lest the Son’s sinlessness be compromised, nor “in the likeness of flesh,” which would convey a docetic idea and thereby deny the reality of the humanity of our Lord. Paul’s terminology here fully agrees with Php 2:7: “being made in human likeness.” What about the work of Christ? The purpose of his coming was “to be a sin offering” (lit., “for sin”). Christ’s mission was to deal effectively with sin, making possible among his people the type of life presented in the following verse. Included in that mission was the expiation of sin, which he accomplished through his sacrifice on the cross (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:21).

“So he condemned sin in sinful man” (“sinful man” is literally “flesh”). It is possible that “in the flesh” is intended to be correlated with “through the flesh” at the beginning of the verse, in which case the NIV translation is justified. However, since “flesh” can be used of Christ apart from any sinful connotation (e.g., “physical body” in Col 1:22), it is also possible to refer the phrase to our Savior rather than to sinful humanity; in that case, Paul is saying that God condemned sin in the same sort of (human) nature that, in everyone else, is dominated by sin. This brings the teaching in line with 6:5–11.

The purpose of the incarnation, so far as the believer’s life is concerned, is stated in v.4 in such a way as to indicate that the apostle has not allowed the agonizing struggle of ch. 7 to fade from view. There the law was pictured as faultless in itself, but agonizingly elusive for those who try to keep it in their own strength. The self-satisfied will minimize the law’s demands by magnifying their own achievement, whereas the conscientious will end up in despair. In God’s plan, however, the law must be honored not simply in lip service or in desire but in reality. Its righteous requirements must be fully met. This can be done only by living according to the divine aid of the Spirit rather than according to the sinful human nature (cf. “Spirit of life” in v.2).

One should observe the balance in this passage between the divine and human elements in the Christian life. Paul recognizes that believers are not robots, but persons accountable for their redeemed lives. At the same time Paul pictures the requirement of the law as fulfilled (passive) in believers, not by them, as though to remind them that the redeemed do not possess spiritual power that they can control and utilize on their own. Rather, the Spirit is always channeling that power and never releases it to those in whom he lives for them to use independently of him. The power to keep the law resides in the Spirit.

It would be a mistake, however, to ground the Christian “walk” solely on the enabling ministry of the Spirit. The close connection with v.3 demands that we include the saving work of Christ (cf. 6:4, where Paul has observed that identification with the Savior in his death and resurrection has this very objective, that “we too may live [lit., walk; GK 4344] a new life”).