“WHAT the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh” (Rom. 8:33For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: (Romans 8:3)). There we get a description of the seventh chapter. In the seventh chapter it was the attempt to get liberty through the law; but, “What the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh,” &c. Why is the law powerless? Is there any fault to be found with the law? No, the law is holy, just, and good. Why, then, could not the law do this? In what did the weakness of the law consist? In the flesh. Suppose you have a cabinetmaker, a man who is a perfect workman, and you give him a piece of wood, and you say―
“I want you to make a fine bookcase out of that piece of wood.”
He tries for some time, and then he says, “I cannot do it.”
Then you ask, “Why not? I thought you were a good cabinetmaker?”
He says, “So I am, but that wood is rotten, and every time I touch it, it crumbles into powder.”
That is what we have in the third verse. “What the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh.” As the cabinetmaker, so the law. But God has done what the law could not do, and so it goes on to say, “God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.” But it was only “in the likeness of sinful flesh” that He came; for in Him was no sin.
Now this brings us to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and as we touch on that I want just to refer to three verses that speak of Him. “Ye know that He was manifested to take away our sins; and in Him was no sin” (1 John 3:55And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. (1 John 3:5)). If He was manifested to take away our sins, it could not be that in Him was any sin. Had there been in Him, and with all reverence let us say it, one trace of sin, it would have incapacitated Him to take away our sins. He was manifested for that very purpose, to take our sins away, and “in Him was no sin.”
Then in 1 Peter 2:2222Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: (1 Peter 2:22), speaking of the same blessed Person, it says, “Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth,” and in the twenty-fourth verse, “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree.” “Who did no sin.” It was impossible that He could; but had there been on Him so much as a single sin of His own, He never could have borne our sins in His own body on the tree.
Three things are stated about Christ:—
1. “In Him was no sin.”
2. “He did no sin.”
3. “He knew no sin.”
And all that put together and added to it—not only that as man He had no sin, and not only that as man He did no sin, and not only that as man He knew no sin—but that He was God, and you get the infinite character of His atoning work.
Plenty of people rob themselves of their chances of salvation by making light of the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. God made Him who knew no sin—not only to be the bearer of our sins but—to be sin. He made Him sin for us. That is to say, that the Lord Jesus Christ when He was in the likeness of sinful flesh at the cross, not only bore the sins of believers, but took upon Him the judgment of sin itself—all that we had done and all that we were—the branch, the fruit, and the root of the tree. He was made sin, and He suffered as a sacrifice for sin, and that is why God can do what the law could not do. And what has God done? Condemned the sinner? No, but the sin. “God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh.” The condemnation of all that the sinner was, and of all that he had done, was effected in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the believer is free. But he is free in a double way; he is free before God, he is at liberty in His holy presence, but he is also free from himself and from the power of sin. A double freedom, a two-fold liberty! We are free before God and at perfect peace in the knowledge that no condemnation will ever come to us because Christ has borne the condemnation in all its depth and reality when He was made a sacrifice for sin. But we are also free from the law of sin and death in a practical way. We have been taken out of our old standing and brought into a new one, and we have a life of liberty and power, and the Holy Ghost dwells in us.
Then look at the fourth verse: “That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us.” Yes, but is it only that? Much more certainly but inasmuch as it was the law, which was the subject, and the seventh chapter had proved the inability of man to keep the law, here we are told that the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us “who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.” But undoubtedly more than that is fulfilled. The law says, “You are not to kill.” Of course a Christian does not wish to kill another, but he is told to lay down his life for the brethren, which was more than the law required. It is well to observe that the last clause of the first verse should not be there, it would be inconsistent with the teaching of the passage. The fact that there is no condemnation depends not upon my walk in any sense whatever. My walk should be consistent with this, but the fact that there is no condemnation depends upon my being in Christ Jesus. But not only am I in Christ Jesus, but I have a new life and I possess the Spirit, and hence the righteousness of the law should be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.
Now the fifth and sixth verses describe a thing that is easily understood. “For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.” The flesh has objects of its own and the Spirit has objects—different objects—and if I have the Spirit I have these new objects that the Spirit puts before me. The objects that the flesh puts before me are self and sin, the object that the Spirit puts before me is Christ Jesus. “To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” This verse does not tell me how to obtain life and peace. It is telling me what life and peace are in a practical sense. If I want to know how to obtain life, I go back to such a verse as “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.” Or if I want to know how peace is to be possessed, I go back to such a verse as “Being justified by faith, we have peace with God.” But if I want to go through this world with my heart filled with the sense of that peace, I must be led by the Spirit, I must be under the influence of the Spirit, I must allow the Spirit to occupy me with “the things of the Spirit.” That is the path of joy and happiness in this world, and that is the only path of joy and happiness for the Christian. A person may have life in his soul, but so long as he is halfhearted he is robbed of the joy and peace in a practical way which is his portion in Christ.