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
Paul explains what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: God sent His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to condemn sin in the flesh. The problem wasn’t the law itself but humanity’s weakness—flesh unable to fulfill its demands. Christ’s incarnation represents divine solidarity with humanity, yet without sin, to bear sin and remove its power. “Condemned sin in the flesh” signifies Jesus’ atoning death defeating sin’s power and its legal hold. The argument is that Christ fulfills the righteous requirement of the law on our behalf, removing the barrier that prevented righteousness from being accessible to sinful humanity. This is the hinge between the old covenant’s impossibility and the new covenant’s possibility through Christ.
This verse anchors the atonement and justification: Jesus fulfills the law’s requirements and bears sin’s penalty, thereby removing the barrier to righteous living. It also clarifies the mechanism of grace: God acts decisively in Christ to condemn sin in the flesh, enabling believers to walk by the Spirit and fulfill the righteous standard not by the letter alone but by transformed hearts.
How to live this out:
- Rest in Christ’s completed work; don’t obsess over legal compliance as a path to righteousness.
- Seek daily renewal by the Spirit to live out the law’s intention: love God and neighbor.
- When tempted to rely on personal merit, recall that Christ has done what you could not.
Cross-References: Romans 3:21-26; Romans 5:6-11; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 2:21; Hebrews 2:14-17