Sin in the Dock

The main point of Romans 8:3, of course, is that the Law was undermined and made ineffective because of flesh, "flesh" here being shorthand for the condition of men and women under the reign of Sin and Death that characterized the OC. Made ineffective by flesh, by Sin, the Law cannot give the life it promises. But God did what the Law could not do, and He does it through the condemnation of sin on the cross and the consequent gift of the Spirit.

In order to deal with flesh, and the reign of Sin, God sent His Son in the �likeness�Eof sinful flesh, so that the judgment against Sin could be carried out in the Son. The �likeness�Ehas occasioned some problems because it appears to qualify the real humanity of Jesus. But that�s not the point. �Likeness�Ecan mean �identity�E(Schreiner), so that the point is that Jesus participated fully in the cursed world of the OC, and that He came under the law. Perhaps too �likeness�Eis a way of reminding us that though Jesus came in sinful flesh, came with �dilapidated humanity�Eas one of my seminary professors put it, He was not a sinner. But it was necessary for Jesus to come in sinful flesh in order to accomplish what needed to be accomplished. Had the Son come in some other way, He could not be the one who received the condemnation for sin. He has to identify with us in our slavery to Sin and Death if the condemnation of Sin is going to be carried out in Him.

God �condemned sin in the flesh,�EPaul says, by condemning Jesus. God carried out the sentence against Sin and Death by making Jesus a sin offering that received the sentence of Sin and Death. This verse also connects back to the argument of ch 7. Throughout ch 7, Paul argues that the Law is good, and that the �I�Emight agree with the Law in the inner man. The force of the argument is to indict Sin as the culprit, as the one who keeps the �I�Efrom doing what he desires to do. The purpose of giving the law, in fact, is to show that Sin can even coopt something that is holy, righteous, and good. The history of Israel and the law is designed to show Sin to be utterly sinful. And this sets up for what Paul says in 8:3: Sin stands condemned because of what it did to the Law, through the law, by effecting death through what is good. Chapter 7, then, can be seen as part of Paul�s prosecutorial case against Sin; and in 8:3, Paul says that the Judge who does right has carried out a righteous sentence against Sin. Sin deserves to be condemned, and has now been exposed as utterly sinful and condemned.

posted by Peter J. Leithart on Monday, October 18, 2004 at 08:24 AM

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