GRACE UNVEILED: “From Condemnation to Fulfillment” #31
Jim Hammond
Jim Hammond
Recap
Pastor Jim taught the 31st message in his series on Romans: “Unveiling Grace.” The Bible is clear, under the New Covenant, there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Yet many believers are walking around under the weight of condemnation. Pastor Jim explains these believers are trying to absolve themselves of their sins through their own self-effort, which is another way of saying “through their flesh.” What they’re trying to do is live under Old Covenant laws. There’s a word for Christians like that—miserable!
Dive Deeper
In the last session, we left off at Romans 8:3. But to get to where we’re going, we have to go back to the first two verses of this chapter for a review.
Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”
As a reminder, the second half of this verse (“who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit”) is not supposed to be there. The translators, for whatever reason, added that phrase which completely changes the meaning of the verse. Verse one should simply be, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.”
If you recall, Romans chapter 7 is about Christians operating under the wrong covenant, the Old Covenant. Chapter 7 is all about miserable Christians. How do you become a miserable Christian? By operating under the wrong covenant. Bible scholars refer to Romans 7 as “Law School.”
Then right after chapter 7, chapter 8 starts out as “There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus.” But then the translators wrongly added the phrase “who walked not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
Let’s look at Romans 8:2: “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” This verse starts with the word “for.” The word “for” can be translated as “because.” So this verse should read, “Because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” You can be walking in the law of the spirit of life and be touching things in dealing with the law of the sin and death.
Let’s look at Romans 8:3: “For 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.” Again, let’s switch out the word “for” with “because.” “Because 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.”
So let’s read those verses together: “Because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. Because 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.” (vv. 2,3)
You have to interpret verse 3 coming out of Romans 1 and 2.
Verse 1, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.”
Verse 2, “Because the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus makes you free from the law of sin, and death.”
Verse 3, “Because 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.”
These verses talk about the law of Moses, the law. What could the law of Moses not do?
It could not condemn sin.
It could not stop the flow of sin.
It could not deprive sin of its power.
The Old Testament law can only condemn you. Hebrews calls the Old Covenant a “ministry of condemnation.”
Jesus died on the cross for us and rose again. In the New Covenant, there is no condemnation. But the law could only condemn you.
Condemnation is a good barometer to tell you which covenant you are operating under. How much do you feel condemned? How much do you think God is condemning you? Based on that scripture alone, He is not condemning you.
Let’s look at Romans 8:3: “For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of His sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh.”
In the Greek, the phrase “For what the law of Moses could not do” means “the impossibility of the Law.” It’s saying it’s an impossible thing for the Old Covenant to condemn sin… destroy sin… overcome sin.
The law could not give power to the Christian. The law simply demanded strict obedience. Moses blew it that one time and as a result, he couldn’t enter into the Promised Land.
Pastor Jim said, “The law gave man no power, no help, no strength to be obedient to all the injunctions, commands, and demands of the law. Am I ripping on the law? No! I’m not. The Bible says it’s perfect. It’s a good thing if you understand what the law was about.”
Romans 8:3, “For what the law could not do and that it was weak through the flesh.” Look at that phrase “and that it was weak through the flesh.” “The flesh.” The only power a person had in order to keep the law of Moses was their own willpower. That’s what the word “flesh” means.
When you see the word “flesh,” it doesn’t mean some sexual sin. It means self-effort. Your own motivation, and your own education, and your own personal talents are referring to the “flesh.”
When our focus is on fulfilling the law, excluding the cross and resurrection, the law is very clear. It will cause you to sin more! The law is supposed to drive you to Christ. The law exposes sin and drives you to Jesus Christ.
The law of sin and death. It not only covers sin, it covers death. What falls under the category of death? Any type of death, like sickness, oppression, depression.
Healing is found in this phrase: “…if the law of the spirit of life in Jesus Christ makes you free from the law of sin…” … skin cancer makes you free from the law of sin, breast cancer makes you free from the law of sin, oppression and depression makes you free from the law of sin…
Let’s look at Romans 8:3 in the Amplified: “For God has done what the Law could not do, [its power] being weakened by the flesh [the entire nature of man without the Holy Spirit]. Sending His own Son in the guise of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, [God] condemned sin in the flesh [subdued, overcame, deprived it of its power over all who accept that sacrifice]…”
Consider this phrase: “Sending His own Son in the guise of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin.” Jesus was an offering for our sin. That’s the whole point… He had to be an offering, a sacrifice.
Consider this phrase: “God condemned sin in the flesh.” What does “condemned” mean? It tells you in the bracketed wording: [subdued, overcame, deprived it of its power over all who accept that sacrifice]
Now I want you to look at the middle of the verse after the second bracket: “Sending His own Son in the guise of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, [God] condemned sin in the flesh [subdued, overcame, deprived it of its power…”
Compare that to the King James version: “God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:” The Son came in the “likeness” of sinful flesh. He was a likeness of flesh of sin. This is referring to His absolute humanity, condemning sin in the flesh.
That “Jesus condemns sin in the flesh” means He faced all the power of sin and death, all the power of Satan. Everything that we have to face every day, He faced it. He never failed. Not one time. And He did it as a person, as a human being. And just like we do, He also had the help of the Holy Spirit.
Read About It
Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
Romans 8:3, “For God has done what the Law could not do, [its power] being weakened by the flesh [the entire nature of man without the Holy Spirit]. Sending His own Son in the guise of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, [God] condemned sin in the flesh [subdued, overcame, deprived it of its power over all who accept that sacrifice]…”
Discussion Questions
In Romans 8:1, the translators added the phrase “who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Why do you suppose they added that phrase.
How does adding that phrase change the message of that verse?
What was the purpose of the Old Covenant law?