Monday: What the Law Could Not Do
However good, the “law” (the ceremonial law, the moral law, or even both) cannot do for us what we need the most, and that is to provide the means of salvation, a means of saving us from the condemnation and death that sin brings. For that, we need Jesus.
Read Romans 8:3-4. What did Christ do that the law, by its very nature, cannot do?
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God provided a remedy by “sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh,” and He “condemned sin in the flesh.” The incarnation of Christ was an important step in the plan of salvation. It is proper to exalt the Cross, but in the outworking of the plan of salvation, Christ’s life “in the likeness of sinful flesh” was extremely important, too.
As a result of what God has done in sending Christ, it is now possible for us to meet the righteous requirement of the law; that is, to do the right things that the law requires. “Under the law” (Rom. 6:14), this was impossible; “in Christ” it is now possible.
Yet, we must remember that doing what the law requires doesn’t mean keeping the law well enough to earn salvation. That’s not an option – never was. It means simply living the life that God enables us to live; it means a life of obedience, one in which we have “crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Gal. 5:24, NKJV), a life in which we reflect the character of Christ.
“Walk” in Romans 8:4 is an idiomatic expression signifying “to conduct oneself.” The word flesh here denotes the unregenerate person, whether before or after conviction. To walk after the flesh is to be controlled by selfish desires.
In contrast, to walk after the Spirit is to fulfill the righteous requirement of the law. Only through the help of the Holy Spirit can we meet this requirement. Only in Christ Jesus is there freedom to do what the law requires. Apart from Christ, there is no such freedom. The one who is enslaved to sin finds it impossible to do the good he or she chooses to do (see Rom. 7:15, Rom. 7:18).
| How well are you keeping the law? Putting aside any notions of earning salvation by the law, is your life one in which the “righteousness of the law” is fulfilled? If not, why not? What kind of lame excuses are you using to rationalize your behavior? |
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Crucially important in verse 3 according Paul was the impossibility of the Law to set us free because "it was powerless". "Powerless" in the sense that it could not provide remedy for sin because it was weakened by the flesh(the power in opposition to the spirit). "It was powerless" in that it is functioned to deal with sinfulness and the punishment for sin.What did set us free was "God’s sending His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh" (NIV) to be a sin offering. That is, "He condemned sin in sinful man".
The purpose of this act of God was that the righteous requirements of the Law can be fully met in us as well(v. 4). For in it the Law reveals, “the righteousness of God,” is the standard to be met.
Paul is saying is the only way believers can meet the requirements of the Law is to be " in Christ" by faith ." Therefore there is no condemnation" because our debt are paid for. and we are enabled by the Holy Spirit to produce the righteousness that God required. Now those who are in this relationship with Christ do not continue to live according to the sinful nature, but according to the Spirit(John 1:12).
Understandable Paul begins the chapter with this bold declaratory statement of the relational truth that Christ has set us free from condemnation and empowered us by the Spirit to walk in the newness of life.The power for the Christian walk is the Holy Spirit
We fullfill the Law by walking with Jesus. When we get apart from Him we break it. Jesus is the mean by which we relate to God! By ourselves, we cannot!
We must remain in constant prayer and a surrendering of the old man with his deeds,and allow Christ to transform us to walk in newness of life - that of Christ's.
My wife and I had an experience yesterday where we stopped to get some gas at a gas station. my wife went to pay while I waited for the gas pump to start pumping the gas. near a trash can and near by was a zippered bag on top of the trash can. The lady at the opposite side asked me if that bag was mine and I responded to her by saying, "no is it yours?" to that she just took it and said "Finders keepers." I said, "if it is not mine or yours, you should take it and turn it in." She said "I am not doing anything wrong," and took off with it. Then a lady came and asked for free gas from us to get to Hemet. I went in to the gas station and paid for $10.00 worth of gas for her to get to Hemet and gave her some literature about Salvation via Jesus. The LAW OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE IN JESUS is going to save my wife and I and hopefully it will save the lady going to Hemet. And my wife and I will just pray for the lady going to Hemet that she read and accept Jesus into her life and that somehow the lady that took of with tha zppered bag will not continue to take off with things that do not belong to her and lose out on eternal life too.
Hi Pete, the lady who took the bag was in fact stealing - she took something that did not belong to her, even though you had warned her. It seems she did not realise what she was doing and had no 'moral' sense about it. I believe your prayers for both ladies is the right one. This is a practical example how we should live under law with a moral sense with what Christ has done IN and FOR us.
Godbless today, Mrs A Stolz.
You are so right Mus. A Stolz. The Word of God in the Old Testament in Deutoronomy 22:1-3 delineates what people were to do when they found an item of value that was not theirs. They were to try to find the owner of that item and return it to them but and if the owner is not found, they were to keep the item until the owner came looking for it and then return it to the owner then. If the lady that needed gas to get to Hemet had not taken my time I would have tried to share with the lady that took off with the Zippered bag this very moral guidance in Deutoronomy. Without the Moral guidance that is in Deutoronomy, I suppose that it is very natural for the sinner and the sinful nature in us to rationalize and conclude that if an item of value is just lying around and there is no one to claim it, it just simply becomes the property of the one who happened to run into it.
There is a saying that says, "Hind sight is always 20/20," or "Hind sight is always better than foresight," There is also THE GOLDEN RULE that Jesus Himself expounded on. Next time something like that happens to me I will just simply tell that person about "The Golden Rule," and just let THE HOLY SPIRIT further impress that person about what he or she should do with an item of value they run into that is not theirs. In other words, what would he or she want someone else to do if that item had been theirs and some one else found it?
I look at it in the way of obeying God. How much do I love him and accept His gift to humankind. As Jesus said if you love me keep my commandment. If we focus on what God has done for me, we are drawn by his love and would want to obey Him with all our hearts. Through this we would want to keep His commandments.
We can not make it alone but with the help of the help of the creator we can really attain salvation.
Sin seems to be incepted in our very DNA ,the law cannot decode sin from our DNA but, the blood of Christ is a solvent and an antidote that everyone have access to .This access is ours if, we fully surrender our mind ,body and soul to him. If we humbly ask God for forgiveness for our sins walk in the newness of life by allowing and giving up the ‘’ Old man ‘’ to be buried .The Holy Spirit will guide us and keep us from falling while writing the laws on our hearts. As long as we remain obedient to God we are letting the ‘’old man’’ remain buried.
No appologies.
"'Under the law', this was impossible; 'In Christ', it is now possible."
This statement flies in the face of Old Testament evidence. They SUCCEEDED by accepting, and having faith in, the PROMISE of the Cross; we are enabled to succeed because of faith in the FACT of the Cross!