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The law of sin and death.
b
8:3.
what the law
The law ... weak through the
could not do
flesh, God sending His Son in
the likeness of sinful flesh.
A
8:3.
condemnation
In the flesh.
B
b
8:4. what has been
The righteousness of the law
done
fulfilled in us.
a
8:4. the two walks
Who walk not after the flesh
but after the spirit.
Now
We are saved by hope (8:24), we are waiting for the adoption (8:23), we
groan within ourselves together with the whole creation (8:23), but we do not
have to await the day of glory to be sure that condemnation is for ever past.
'There is, therefore, now no condemnation'. Let us not miss this blessed
fact:
'But Now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested' (Rom.
3:21).
'Being Now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath' (Rom.
5:9).
'By Whom we have Now received the atonement (reconciliation)' (Rom.
5:11).
'But Now being made free from sin ... ye have your fruit unto holiness'
(Rom. 6:22).
'The life which I Now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son
of God' (Gal. 2:20).
We are acquitted now, we are free from condemnation now. Without the
assurance of a present position of acceptance before God, sanctification,
growth in grace, service, and walk would be impossible. We should still be
'in the flesh', and so unable to please God. The passage in Romans 6:22
quoted above gives us the true sequence:
(1)
Now made free from sin.
(2)
Become servants to God.
(3)
Fruit unto holiness.
(4)
The end, everlasting life.
The words, 'In Christ Jesus', belong not only to the statement of verse
1; they are equally necessary when revealing the power that accomplishes this
deliverance, as revealed in verse 2: 'For the law of the spirit of life in
Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death' (Rom. 8:2).
What is this 'law of the spirit of life'? Many understand it as referring to
the sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit on the believer.