Posted on 11/16/2010 1:44:34 PM PST by pastorbillrandles
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.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:That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.(Romans 4:1-4)
Romans 8 is a continuation of the theme of Romans 5, the gospel of the assurance of salvation. There is therefore NOW no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Why not?
Because what Jesus did for us is greater than what Adam did for us. If Adam’s one act of disobedience plunged us into a reign of condemnation, Jesus’ one act of obedience can bring us into “the abundance of grace and the gift of Righteousness”.
“…But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.”(Romans 5:20-21)
Furthermore, there is no condemnation possible for us, because we have not merely been forgiven of past sins, we have been translated from being “In Adam” into being “In Christ”. We now have a whole new God-given status and identity.
And there is no condemnation for us because we are no longer under the law. it’s not that there is anything wrong with the law of God, there couldn’t be, it is Holy,Just and True. The problem is with us. “The Law was weak through the flesh”. The Law only had us to work with, it could show us truth, but not empower us to live it.
God has done what the Law could never do, and that is another one of the reasons why there is NOW no condemnation to we who are In Christ. God has sent His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh , and as an offering for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.
This passage reminds us that the basis for assurance is that is God’s salvation, His gospel, it involved the sending of God’s own Son into this world, He himself took the initiative. Jesus was sent to us in God’s name,in the Likeness of sinful flesh. What does this expression mean?
* It has to do with the Incarnation. In Jesus ,God became a flesh and blood man, “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us“.Over and Over again the scriptures testify that God was manifested in the flesh…God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself….Since the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same…”
* He made himself a sin offering, ”And for sin He condemned sin in the flesh”, ie “As an offering for sin…” The grounds for the gift of Righteousness, is the offering of Jesus Christ unto God as a sacrifice for our sins. Jesus did no sin, nor did He ever practice guile, He fully pleased God as a human being, his whole life. But at the prime of His life, he made his life an offering to God, he “was made sin” as 2 Cor 5 tells us.
“For He made Him who knew no sin, that we might be made the Righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Cor 5:21)
* “In the Likeness of sinful flesh” is typified in the serpent on the pole, of the book of Numbers. The people had grumbled and murmured against God and Moses, and deserved the judgment that they were receiving, plague in which serpents were giving them fatal snake bites.
But Moses and Aaron, after interceding for them, were instructed to make a bronze serpent” and elevate it upon a pole. Whoever looked away from their snake bite unto the pool was healed. The bronze snake was not a snake , it was “in the likeness “of a poisonous snake, representing the death and judgment upon the thing which had afflicted them.
In the same way, Jesus did not sin, ever. He never broke faith with God in any way, but he took our sins upon himself, and bore them to judgment and death. To see Him upon the cross is to be healed from our worst malady, it is to see the death of sin, the judgment upon judgment, the death of you and I, by way of substitution! Hallelujah!
* Furthermore, this expression that He came,“in the likeness of sinful flesh”,reminds us that though Jesus did not have a sinful nature, he did share with us in some of the physical consequences of sin. Jesus was subject to tiredness, discouragement, weakness,pain and sorrow, grief, and disappointment. In that way he became like us.
The book of Hebrews brings this out very powerfully in its discussion on the utter dependence upon God that Jesus lived in as a man;
Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;(Hebrews 5:7)
* Why did Jesus have to come “In the likeness of sinful flesh“? Because he had to become a man, under law, in order to save us who were under law. He entered into the arena where everything had gone wrong, that is in the human body and in human nature.
God, through Him “Condemned sin in the flesh”, in other words, the sins that you and I have done in our bodies, have been judged, and punished, in a human body, and upon a human life, that is , in Jesus of Nazareth. This took real human hands to nail to a real cross of wood, a true human head to crown with thorns, real human tongue to parch with true thirst.
We have a real Saviour, flesh and bone, who died for the sins we have done against God in our own bodies. They nailed Him to a cross which had splinters, and they embalmed the body of Jesus in a tomb, with a certain weight of spices.On the third day, (a real day on the calendar). He was crucified under the real reign of a real Governor, Pontius Pilate.
He rose from the dead and was seen and handled. When they ate with him, the apostles couldn’t see the fish and bread through his esophagus, because he isn’t see-through, He is physical. The apostles put real hands into real scars, and watched as he ascended to heaven.
Pastor R
If Jesus did not have a sinful nature, how is it that His sacrifice was any good (i.e. or held any weight)?
If Jesus was tempted in all things, just as we are tempted, then He had the capacity to sin. I think it is a misnomer to say He did not have a “sinful nature”... He did not sin, of course, but this was not because He could not sin.
I could be all wet here, and correct me if I am wrong, because I also understand that God cannot sin, because He is God, but to ascribe to Jesus a purely Divine nature runs the risk of making Him unaccessible to us in our understanding of Him as a mere man, and thereby remembering that we can identify with Him as He identifies with us in our sufferings and sinful tendencies.
Jesus did not have direct communication with the Father, I do not believe. I believe He, just as with us, had a communication with the Father the same way every other believer in a fallen world has communication with the Father... through faith, through trusting the Word, through believing His word is true and forever and eternal etc. But I don’t believe Jesus’ divine nature at any time during His earthly ministry superseded the level of faith we have ourselves every day on earth.
This rings true to me every time I remember Jesus’ cry on the Cross, Father Father, why has thou forsaken me?
* I do not say that Jesus was not truly tempted as a human being, because he was, and had to be, as the last Adam, he had to pass the test that the first one failed."In all points he was tempted just as we are, yet without sin" see Hebrews 2 and 4
* Jesus is unique, because He is truly God, yet He became man. I do not say that Jesus only had a Divine nature...In some mysterious way he is and was 100 percent God, and 100 percent man.
*I pointed out in the article itself, the point that you make, that Jesus had to communicate with God in the same fashion as we do, (I quoted Hebrews 5:7) All I am saying is that Jesus, in his human capacity, didn't inherit the sinful nature that Adam passed onto we ,His seed. This is the reason for the virgin birth. Jesus did not have the corruption of personality, the pre-disposition towards sin that we have all recieved from birth, by virtue of being children of Adam.He truly could have sinned, and was truly tempted, but he never sinned at all! He was "in the likeness of sinful flesh". Hope this helps.
If Jesus did not have a sinful nature, His sacrifice would be worthless.
It’s like cheating.
Jesus sweated blood in the Garden, etc.
I disagree that He did not inherit the sinful nature of fallen man through Adam. I think Jesus did inherit our same sinful nature.
But please correct me if I am wrong.
If Jesus had a sinful nature he would not have been able to die for our sins, he wouyld have had to die for his own. Having said that, Jesus really was tempted and could have sinned, (as Adam did, when he had no sin nature) but he didn’t sin. Jesus did not come through Adam, he was born of the virgin. Jesus’ sacrafice is not worthless(Perish the very thought!).
That is a good point. If he is 100% man...then he must have a sin nature otherwise he is not like us. And if G-d is a man and G-d cant sin, then Jesus did not have free will. It would be impossible for the "man" Jesus to sin being at the same time 100% god. Again he would not be like us. These are serious problems. And obviously since he is the only god-man hybrid to ever exist, again he is not like us. That is cheating. If I had 100% G-d nature dwelling in me, I wouldnt sin either. He was not "sent in the likeness of sinful flesh" because G-d could never be the likeness of sinful flesh.
Isaiah 7: The seventh chapter in the Book of Isaiah begins by describing the military crisis that was confronting King Ahaz of the Kingdom of Judah. Around the year 732 B.C.E., the House of David was facing imminent destruction at the hands of two warring kingdoms: the Northern Kingdom of Israel, led by King Peqah, and the Kingdom of Syria (Aram), led by King Retsin. These two armies had besieged Jerusalem. Isaiah records that the House of David and King Ahaz were gripped with fear. G-d sent the prophet Isaiah to reassure King Ahaz that divine protection was at hand – G-d would protect him and his kingdom and that their deliverance was assured, and these two hostile armies would fail in their attempt to subjugate Jerusalem.
It is clear from the narrative in this chapter, that Isaiah’s declaration (Is 7:14-16) was a prophecy about the unsuccessful siege of Jerusalem by the two armies from the north. The verses Isaiah 7:15-16 state that, by the time this child (whose imminent birth was foretold in Isaiah 7:14) reaches the age of maturity (“… he knows to reject bad and choose good …”), the kings of the two enemy nations will be gone, in fact, they will be killed. Two Biblical passages, 2 Kings 15:29-30 and 2 Kings 16:9, confirm that this prophecy was contemporaneously fulfilled when these two kings were assassinated. With an understanding of the context of Isaiah 7:14 alone, it is evident that the name of the child in Isaiah 7:14, Immanu'el, is a sign which points to the divine protection that King Ahaz and his people would enjoy from their otherwise certain demise at the hands of these two enemies. Clearly, Isaiah 7:14 is a near-term prophecy that is part of an historic narrative, and which was fulfilled in the immediate time frame, not some seven-and-a-half centuries in the future.
However, some of the little heresies I've seen in Christian circles revolve around this point. Basically Jesus was God and therefore, that's why He didn't sin.
I don't believe that is God's truth. Jesus OVERCAME the world. Jesus OVERCAME sin. Jesus sweated BLOOD IN THE GARDEN as He resisted cowardice, fear, and the fear of death. It was a passion. Jesus was at once God and at once Man.
I just wanted some clarity on the truth of who He was. If we think, in any little recess of our minds, that He was a little more “divine” than we are when He walked on earth, then, we are sunk. He knows EXACTLY what our struggles are with sin, with the flesh, and with the Devil. Praise God.
Just wanted more clarity from you, because this is an issue that is not discussed enough. Thank you and Bless you Sir.
P.S. you know the teaching on “He became sin for us”? I don’t know where that is in the Bible but I believe this to be true. He became sin for us.
P.S. you know the teaching on “He became sin for us”? I don’t know where that is in the Bible but I believe this to be true. He became sin for us.
SonT thanks, I realise that and I had hoped that what I shared with you thus far would answer you. Once again,
*Jesus is God
* Jesus came as a human, and has a Human nature
* Jesus was truly tempted and could have sinned but didn’t
* Jesus over came by trusting God just as we have to(I quoted Hebrews 5:7)
* I have never stated that Jesus overcame because He was God
Our only difference is that I think you are being inaccurate in insisting that Jesus inheritted a “Sin nature” from Adam, that is Heretical and I can tell you don’t mean that-Let me know f this helps-
Good discussion, thank you again.
Then, if I may, why is Jesus called the Second Adam?
I am not asking out of unbelief, but rather so I know the truth!
Good question and I can tell you aren’t asking in unbelief SonT- the reason Jesus is called the last Adam is because as Adam was the start of the human race, and it was his sin that plunged the race into ruin, so Jesus is the head of the new creation and his obedience to God has justified us. Check out Paul’s comparison of Jesus and Adam in both ! Corinthians 15 and Romans 5-
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