COVENANTS AND THEIR RESPONSIBILITIES
73
Rom. 8:3.
`God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh'.
Phil. 2:7,8. `Was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man ...'.
Heb. 10:5-7. `When He cometh into the world, He saith, Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldst not, but a body
hast Thou prepared Me ...'.
The section of Romans which contains 8:3 commences with 5:12, and reveals the entry of death. Here it is
spoken of as exercising dominion, `Death reigned by one'. The dominion of sin and death is the theme of Romans
6:9-14. The law of sin and death is uppermost in Romans 7:21-25. Romans 8:2 introduces the other law which
indicates deliverance, `For the law of the spirit of LIFE in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and
death'. This was accomplished by Christ assuming our nature, the result being `that the righteous requirement of the
law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit'. The context speaks of life (6,10-13),
our deliverance from the bondage of corruption (15-23), a bondage which is ever related to `fear' (15).
The statement that Christ was made in the likeness of sinful flesh is here chiefly connected with the practical
out-working of truth, of triumph over death, of `life because of righteousness', of `life and peace' as a result of being
`spiritually minded'. The passage speaks moreover not only of being heirs of God by virtue of being sons of God,
but of being JOINT HEIRS WITH CHRIST by virtue of suffering together with Him (17,18). The goal is that Christ
should be `the firstborn among many brethren' (29). Here we read of having `the spirit of Christ'. In Philippians 2
we read of having `the mind of Christ', of working out our own salvation with fear and trembling, of being finally
fashioned like unto the body of His glory (3:21). We have also a close connection with Hebrews:
`Who, being in the FORM OF GOD' (Phil. 2:6).
`Who being the brightness of His glory, and the EXPRESS IMAGE of His Person (Heb. 1:3).
`... was made in the likeness of men' (Phil. 2:7).
`Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same' (Heb.
2:14).
`And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death' (Phil. 2:8).
`That through death He might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil' (Heb. 2:14).
`Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a (the) name which is above every name' (Phil. 2:9).
`Who for the joy set before Him endured the (a) cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the
throne of God' (Heb. 12:2).
`Being made so much better than the angels, as He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they' (Heb.
1:4).
`Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do
(work on account) of His good pleasure' (Phil. 2:12,13).
`Make you perfect in every good work, in order to do His will, doing in you that which is well pleasing in His sight'
(Heb. 13:21 not AV JP).
The third reference (Heb. 10:5-7) we have already had occasion to examine when dealing with the word
`sanctified'. There we read of the Lord laying aside His glory, the moment of His kenosis or self-emptying (Phil.
2:7); and just as He left the glory that was His before the world was, to enter by human birth that path of suffering,
we hear Him say:
`Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not, but a BODY HAST THOU PREPARED ME ... LO, I come ... to do Thy will, O
God' (Heb. 10:5-7).
We are allowed by wondrous grace to hear the words with which the Lord of life and glory voluntarily partook
of the same flesh and blood as the children of men, that in the body thus prepared for Him He might learn obedience
by the things He should suffer, and, being made perfect through suffering, lead many sons to glory.
Before we attempt to explain our verse, we must examine another item. The Lord submitted to death, not only
that Adam's sons might live again (1 Cor. 15:22), but that `He might render ineffective the one having the strength
of death, that is the Devil'. What is this strength of death? Here we are not viewing atonement, for Christ offered
Himself in all aspects of His sacrifice `unto God'. This is directed to the Devil. The Devil possessed this strength,