This is one more edited and reposted piece from an old series of posts examining the purpose statement that scripture gives us regarding the death of Christ.
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. (Romans 8:3-4 ESV)
The purpose statement in this text is found in verse four: “… 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 is another purpose statement that refers to the law. We’ve already seen that Christ’s death removes the curse of the law. We all stand condemned because of our disobedience to God’s law, but Christ’s death removes this condemnation from those who are united to him. And this purpose statement from Romans 8 goes one step further. Yes, dying as a human being (in the flesh) Christ paid the penalty for sin (condemned sin), but his death also made it possible for those who belong to him to do what the law commands.
Verse 3 says that that law was “weakened by the flesh.” Sinful corruption (the flesh) causes us all to be disobedient to the law, and this universal human disobedience turns God’s good law into a source of condemnation rather than blessing. God’s solution is to send his Son to die, removing condemnation for those who believe, and, in this way, giving the Spirit access to them. Based on the finished work of Christ, the Spirit works within each believer, enabling them to obey the law. Through Christ’s death God gives us power us to keep his commandments.
Another of the purposes of Christ’s death is that those who belong to him would fulfill the requirements of the law through the work of the Spirit.
Thursday, March 21, 2013 at 6:08PM 