Romans 8:3-4 - Here’s a Big Ass Run-on for Ya (Conciliation Series, Part XLVI)
Part IV: God’s Conciliation, Confirmed
Now that we’ve firmly
established our current place in Christ now (Rom. 8:1,) let’s take a
look at the next two verses – one big ass run-on sentence. Here we see what God
did to Sin in Christ’s flesh (and thus your flesh,) as well as why.
For what was impossible to the law, in which it was infirm through the
flesh, did God, sending His own Son in the likeness of sin’s flesh and
concerning sin, He condemns sin in the flesh, that the just requirement of the
law may be fulfilled in us, who are not walking in accord with flesh, but in
accord with spirit.
Buckle up, body of Christ, because we’re going to be on these verses for a while!
In order to do this, we must first fully come to grips with the fact that the law could not save. It does not save. It’s not meant to save. Is it gratifying? Absolutely! Is it true? For sure. Is it beautiful? It’s the best prose ever penned. But is it salvific in nature?
Nnnnnnope!
The sooner we come to grips with this, the better. Paul clarifies that it is impossible for you to accomplish what Christ accomplished through the law. In fact, all the law did for you, you sinning miscreant, was cause your sinful actions to increase (Rom. 5:20!) How about that??
I won’t launch into another mini-education on the law (even though I have a big concept to explain to you all in a little bit,) but really, for this phrase, all we have to do is understand that God accomplished exactly what He wanted to do with the law. He showed us what sin was, He showed how acts of a corrupted flesh beget nothing, and He caused said corrupted flesh to act even worse in retrospect (clarified by the history of Israel throughout the Old Testament.) He did everything He needed to in order to pave the way for the great anti-type, Christ (Rom. 5:13-14.)
I clarify: anti-type, because Moses stands in contrast to Christ, and the law stands in contrast to Paul’s evangel – they are not parallel. They are distinctly separate, and should be treated as such. The law cannot save, nor can it give life (Gal. 3:21.) It can’t rescue you out of anything – no ‘law’ is capable of this, because it’s simply not the function of a ‘law’ to step down from enforcing a penalty. It is the One Who enforces the penalty Who is to be considered and dwelled on – not the law itself.
These are crucial, because of this little thing we all tend to do – it’s nothing big, nothing to get your britches in a bunch over, but – it’s die. We tend to die. It happens sometimes. For the last 6,000 years, all of us have had this great propensity to drop dead for various reasons. It’s a bummer! I know. I hate to have been the one to tell you. But it’s true. We are all dying.
Thus: what do we, as dying creatures, need, if not life??
Isn’t it so fun, considering life so simply? We need life, but the law doesn’t give life. It’s not useless to us, per se, but it’s completely ineffective in relation to the ‘living’ thing Christ is doing these days. The current topic of conciliation completely extricates law out of the discussion – it has no more place here, because it is impossible for the law to effect God’s bigger goal, through Christ.
What was that goal? Well, there are a ton of different facets to consider, but the one being contrasted here is God’s immediate accomplishment with Christ’s death, entombment, and resurrection. Unlike the law, which was infirm, or weak in the flesh, He was able to condemn Sin in the flesh.
You did read correctly that the law was infirm in the flesh. The prepositional phrase “in the flesh” is very important, here, because it shows that the clause ‘the law was infirm’ is not absolute truth, but relatively true in relation to the current state of humanity. The living law can’t firmly establish itself in a mortal, dying frame – it can only highlight the fact that the flesh is destined to return to the soil (Ecc. 12:7.) It rules out every lust of the flesh, and the flesh? Well, it can’t handle that. The burden of righteousness is simply too much to handle it. The law can’t grasp your heart, because it’s focused on the outward perspective – subject your actions first. As it is impossible to willfully subject someone without getting to the heart of the matter, the law is weak in an unrighteous man (all.)
The backdrop of law’s inability to save makes Christ’s accomplishment all the sweeter.
First, God sends His Son in the likeness of Sin’s flesh. God never says anything along the lines of, “I send humanity to the earth.” This is important because it highlights that Christ has a prior existence before His descent to the earth. When one is sent in the Greek Scriptures, it is from one location to another (Matt. 2:8, Mark 5:12, Luke 7:6, and John 1:33, to name a few examples – of which there are many, many more. Simply conduct a word study on ‘send’ on the blue letter bible website.) God sends His Son from His throneroom to His footstool (Is. 66:1.) Christ is the only other Man presented on the stage to severely affect Sin’s runtime (Rom. 5:12-19, 1 Cor. 4:9, 15:47.) It is in Sin’s den that He battles her, and emerges victorious, alive and well.
This verse is also yet another in our study of Romans that highlights the fallacy of the Trinity. God does not say “I sent Myself as My Son,” or “I am My Son,” at any point in the Scriptures. He says “I sent My own Son.” These two have a close personal relationship (John 8:55.) This closeness is now yours, through Christ. You are as valuable to Him as His own Son, of which there is no higher glory.
Christ was sent in the likeness of sin’s flesh. This highlights that God was not merely “enacting” and “lifting” curses for kicks and giggles; this may show His authority and power, but it does not show His love (a key and critical component of the story.) Here we see that God does not merely hate man and take joy in inflicting penalties. We see His compassion, showing us that He experiences a superabounding hurt and pain that we are feeling, in being separated from us. By sending His Son – the One with Whom He has the most intimate relationship in the universe – to deal with Sin in the likeness of this corrupted flesh, God shows us that He has reached down to the core of the issue. He’s going past the outward appearance, striking at the source of the corruption – being death.
In other words, by claiming a righteous man, Sin oversteps her boundaries. Overplays her hand, if you will. She went just a tad too far, didn’t she? It’s the best trap ever laid out by anyone. Ever. Assuredly, no man could tell that Christ was anything other than man. They knew something was off (Matt. 8:27,) but very, very few knew of His prior glory (John 1:1, Unv. 19:13, Phil. 2:5-8.) By claiming a righteous man, Christ is brought back from the dead just a few days later – and, for the last 2,000 years, His body, holy and flawless, has been brought with Him, effectively reversing Sin’s reign.
Let me clarify on “His prior glory.” If you’re familiar with others in the body of Christ, then you will recall that in 2023, there came to be a great rift between those that understand that Christ is truly the Image of the invisible God, from the very beginning of the story (Col. 1:15-17, John 1:1, Heb. 1:2,) and those that believe He is only a man. This – this moment, right here, in Romans 8:3-4, is, by my rough estimation, where these folk are at in their understanding of the conciliation of God. It is at this point that their understanding falters, and it blinds them to the full extent of the rest of this chapter. These teachers, while sound on subjects such as the salvation of all and justification by faith, are swerving as to the truth on other topics, and do not recognize the fullness of the One they are glorying.
I’m telling you all of this, because I’m about to show you a plethora of verses that show us that Christ was not merely “born of Miriam” and “was called out later,” like some corruptible man. He was God’s Son – then sent in the likeness of sin’s flesh. He was originally in the form of God (Phil. 2:5-6.) To deal with sin in flesh, He emptied Himself of all else. All that was left was His spirit – the spirit of Christ. He arrived on the earth in flesh.
No, He did not “become flesh,” because that’s an oversimplification made by your favorite church pastor. He arrived in the likeness of our corruptible flesh. In all senses, He looked like us, spoke like us, walked like us, stubbed His toe like us, slept like us, laughed like us, and cried like us. His body, unlike ours, was adapted to Him (Heb. 10:5.) As soon as He arrived on earth, Sin’s loss became apparent. The phrase “likeness of sin’s flesh” is exact in its meaning, and does not take on any other meaning. If it were only “sent in sin’s flesh,” then God makes the grave error of telling us that Christ also sinned in His flesh. Not a single verse even implies that this is true. If it were, then Christ would be in the same situation as us – stuck in a mortal body, requiring rescue. He would become an inefficient, and weak Savior.
Paul also makes it clear that this is not merely in the “likeness of flesh,” but the likeness of sin’s flesh. Sin is as critical a word in the clause as any other. As we studied back in Romans 7, “flesh” is not inherently evil, so we must consider this noun with the understanding that we are referencing the flesh owned by Sin. Moreover, this noun is genitive, which displays a description of flesh.
Why does this matter? Because it highlights that, though Christ’s flesh resembled that of Sin’s flesh, it is a likeness. He was implanted into the lineage of Israel (Is. 11:1-2.) That is, He was brought in. His flesh resembled that of His kin, but it is purposefully distinguished here by God. And, moreover, this is provable by the events in which He unveiled the true nature of His flesh to those closest to Him (Matt. 17:1-2.) When Christ died, His flesh is proven to have been different, in that it knew no decay in entombment (Acts 2:30-31.) Christ partook of the flesh of man (Heb. 2:14,) but had no sin inherently dwelling in Him (2 Cor. 5:21.)
In sending His Son in this form, the trap God set takes full effect. A new humanity was just established on the earth, disguised in a mortal frame. God had used Christ to “sneak in” to enemy territory, in a relative sense. With this, the Creator of the universe irrevocably bound Himself to humanity, as His Son was dressed in man’s fabric. If Christ is now tied to humanity like this, and God and Christ are in such a deeply personal and close relationship (John 10:30, 14:5-10,) then God is now also bound to humanity – just as closely.
If anyone ever says, “Why should God save all of humanity?” This is the answer. This is the Lord that stops what He’s doing to find one lost sheep! And this One is about to let billions be claimed by Sin?? Nope. Uh uh. I don’t think so. To disregard even one person would be a severe injustice to Christ’s sacrifice, and Christ would feel that it is all for nothing. He must constitute all as just, because it’s the only direction the resurrection of such a righteous One bound to humanity can truly take.
When God takes away one thing, it is so that He may establish the second (Heb. 10:9, 1 Cor. 10:13.) He displaces the first man, so that the second Man is fully unveiled (1 Cor. 15:45-47.) By being established, now, it is very apparent that Christ is now Man. This adds yet another layer to the depth of His partaking in flesh and blood. Not only is He tightly imbibed with the rest of humanity as one with the Creator of all (Col. 1:15-17,) but He is now established as a Man, and this is His permanent figure, from now on.
When Christ ascended, He took His happy, divine ass up to the throne of God. Now, because He is now a Man, as opposed to the form of God, He has displayed that man is indeed able to be seated at the right of God – but it must be in Christ that this occurs. Hence, the process and study we are conducting now! Christ is said to be wreathed in glory and honor (John 17:1-5, Acts 7:55, Rom. 8:34.) Christ is also said to be the One through Whom God will be subjecting all (Phil. 2:9-11, 1 Cor. 15:24-28.)
This One, this One through Whom God is heading up all (Eph. 1:9-11) – this One is your brother.
Every blessing I just rattled off? Yeah, that’s yours too. Your spirit is now closely related to God. Your spirit is now closely imbibed with both God and His Christ. You have been justified – as Christ is just. You will be wreathed in glory and honor – as Christ is now (Eph. 2:5-6.) All is because of you (2 Cor. 4:15.) And yes, through Christ in you (and thus, now through you,) God will be subjecting all. Everything said about Christ and His blessing applies to you (Eph. 1:3.)
He has this kind of intimate connection with humanity, and has shared it with you.
In taking the form of a slave (that is, a Man, per Rom. 6:18 and 6:20,) Christ now enthroned humanity – the lowest will be graced with the highest. The two aspects of a living man that we’ve covered so far are the body and the spirit, making a living soul. The literal spirit of Christ, which is intimately related to God, has been connected with humanity. The literal body of Christ, which is intimately related to all of creation (all matter, on a universal scale – Col. 1:15-20,) has been transfigured into a likeness of sin’s flesh, joining Him with the old humanity. Thus living soul of Christ, which is intimately related to all living things, are now being reconciled, as we are some of the first creatures to receive the news that we are justified from Sin, freed from death’s grasp, and enthroned with Him.
- GerudoKing
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