Sending His Own Son
Notes
Transcript
Once again we are looking this morning at the 3rd and 4th verses of the eight chapter of Paul’s epistle to the Romans, where we read,
For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the righteous requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
And, I hope you remember, we discovered that the main line of thought could be easily confused on account of everything that is being said, so let’s remind ourselves that the main line goes something like ““For what the Law could not do, God did, so that the righteous requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us”, with everything else supporting and expanding this main line of reasoning.
And last time, as I trust you remember, we considered the first step in Paul’s main line of thought, asking just what it was that the Law, as strong and as powerful and as certain as it is, could not do. And I trust that you will recall, that we came to understand that the focus was not so much on condemning sin in our flesh, for the Law could do that, it does do that, and does so very well. Rather, what the Law could not do, was to produce a positive righteousness within us. And it could not do so, on account of the Law only being a witness to the righteousness of God. It knows the measure of holiness, it will affirm life where it finds complete righteousness; however, on account of our being sold into bondage under sin, on account of the one act of transgression by Adam, our federal head, “there resulted condemnation to all men”. Our only experience with the Law, the only experience possible to us in ourselves, is that so long as we are under its rule and authority, it of necessity condemns us. For the Law must work through our sinful flesh; the problem is not truly in the Law, but in us.
In the same way a steel shovel with a rotten handle which breaks is useless for its task, in that even though there is nothing wrong with the steel it depends upon the length of wood to provide the leverage necessary for it to do its work, the Law, though strong and sturdy and unyielding, is weak in that it requires us to accomplish its task.
And so, now that we have realized in detail both what the Law could not do, and also why the Law could not do it.
And so now today, we will begin looking at the next part of the apostle Paul’s great argument as to why we may know beyond doubt, that “therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
Let’s pray before we begin.
O Lord our God, how majestic is Your name in all the earth, You display Your splendor above the heavens. When we see Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and stars which You have established, what is man, that You remember him? Or the Son of Man, that You care for Him? Yet You have made Him a little lower than the angels, and You crown Him with glory and majesty! You make Him to rule of the the works of Your hands! You have put all things under His feet, all sheep and oxen, the animals of the field, the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea. O Lord God, may we bring glory and honor to Your blessed Son this day! Amen!
Now, let’s look in particular at Romans 8:3 for just a moment.
For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,
Now, if you compare this verse in Greek and English, you find that in we invariably supply the word “did”, to say “God did”, you see it there in italics. This was necessary to make it readable for us, and translators are right to do so. But, it was not there in the original. And then when you go down to the statement “He condemned sin in the flesh”, the word “He” is indicated by the person and mood of the verb “κατακρίνω”, and so it is again entirely right to include it here but again is not exactly in the original, but more so than in the case of the word “did”.
What I’m getting at, is in a grammatical sense, it would be right to translate this “For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. The sending of His own Son int he likeness of sinful flesh as an offering for sin is an aside, it is explaining how He did what He did, but the main point Paul is trying to make, is that “God condemned sin in the flesh”.
The point is, that God acted. The gospel is not a story of what man has done, or what man is even capable of doing, that’s why God provided the Law, to make it plain and clear for us that what man does, is to sin. The Law was given to us, “so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful” (7:13), “I would not have come to know sin except through the Law” (7:7). And yet, 1 Corinthians 15:56 reminds us “Now the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law;” “the Law came in so that the transgression would increase” in Romans 5:20. Our guilt and serfdom to sin is made clear by the the Law, and even worse the Law aggravates sin, Paul explaining in that last half of Romans 7 what he meant in Romans 7:5, where he wrote “For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.”
No, what we had was entirely unable to save us, for the Law only acted as “the power of sin”, so not only must we be removed from sin, but we must also be removed from the Law.
And so, God has acted, He Himself has provided salvation, and as we will see here in these statements, He had to be the one who acted, nothing and no one else could accomplish what He accomplished. Man simply could not make himself holy and acceptable to God, nor could he help in any way, nor can man keep ourselves there, in any way. Even when the holy, righteous, and good Law of God comes to a man or woman, they then, even more than before, understand that it only condemns them, it brings only death to all, for they are all remain under Adam. I press the point, for the Holy Spirit presses the point here, and we must be reminded frequently of this great fact!
No, what even the holy Law of God could not do, God did. We will understand this yet more when we get to the last verses of Romans 8:30, “and those whom He predestined, He also called; and those whom He called, He also justified; and those whom He justified, He also glorified.” God did it all, we did not.
And so now, let us turn to consider how it is that God acted, not what – for what He did was to condemn sin in the flesh. But this next phrase, “sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin”, tells us how God did what He did.
For there are many people today who seem to be in a bit of a fog as to who this Jesus of Nazareth we so strongly believe in is, seeming to have very wrong views of what He was about, what He was doing. Many seem to seek something of a “middle road”, to say “He was a good man, he said a great many things, He wanted us to treat each other with love and respect”, and more or less leave it at that. He was the “good man” they read about in the “good book”.
There are those who are taken with the notion that Jesus was simply a man, a man who was able to overcome His sinful nature and live a perfect life, and so at the cross or at some other point in His life, the spirit of Christ came and entered into Him, and He then became the Christ.
And there are others, who are so taken with the idea that Christ had to be perfect and holy through-and-through, they go into heresy on the other side of things so as to think that His human mother Mary was likewise perfect, the Roman Catholic heresy of “immaculate conception”, not speaking of Jesus, but of His mother.
And what Paul is doing here, is so finely woven together, that in his explaining why “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the Law of sin and of death”, that he at the same time refutes all of these heresies and makes the matter of Jesus’ nature clear for us.
Indeed, we find that this is always the apostle Paul’s manner, in every situation, in every trial, in every admonition, in every encouragement, it always comes back to the Lord Jesus Christ!
The first thing we must realize, is that God did what He did, first by “sending His own Son”. It is these four simple words that refute so many wrong ideas. Christ was sent into the world. He was not created in the world, He didn’t start in this world the way you and I do, no! And He was aware of this! Do we not read Him saying in John 8:58, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” The Jews He was speaking to knew what He meant by this, that was why “they picked up stones to throw at Him” and for His part, He “hid Himself” from them! We read later in His high priestly prayer in John 17:5, He prays “Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.”
He knew that glory from before the foundation of the world, He was there, He was aware and had carried that awareness into the world with Him when He came.
And yet, although there are others referred to as “sons of God”, as we who are in Christ Jesus are called down in verse 14, or the angels in Job 1, or the people of Israel before pharaoh in Exodus 4. But these are not “His own Son”. We read of Him in John 1:14, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” This phrase used by Paul, “His own Son”, distinguishes Him from any other who might carry such a title, for this one, unlike any other, was not created by the Father, but this term suggests that He was generated out of the Father, indeed His own language which we have already read shows clearly that they had a father and son relationship, they were a part of each other, inseparable though unique, co-equal in power, co-eternal in being, co-identical in nature, co-equal in divine perfection.
This doesn’t describe us! This doesn’t describe man! Even we who are in Christ Jesus, are sons by adoption, there was a time when we were not sons of God, and that has left a mark upon us, we were re-created as a new creature in Christ Jesus within the bounds of time.
Not so, with God’s own Son! He was “the only begotten from the Father”, as John 1:14 declared. In combatting the Arian heresy in this matter, the early church condemned the idea put forward by Arius that Christ had a similar nature to the Father, but rather that He had the same nature as the Father, declaring in the creeds which resulted from the First Councils of Nicaea (325) and Constantinople (381) that Jesus was “very God of very God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father”. He had the same substance, the same nature, but was “begotten” by the Father, not made or created.
And so when we read here in Romans 8:3, “sending His own Son”, he’s reminding us that Jesus did not become the Son, but rather the eternal Son of God became flesh! He became a man! He dwelt among us!
God, in sending His own Son, declared His personal involvement and stake in our redemption! This is no “take it or leave it” sort of thing, for God has sent His own Son, there was no other being like Him, for He was the only begotten of the Father. And, He was sent for a reason, a purpose, to condemn sin in the flesh. Or, as 1 John 3:8 puts it, “The Son of God was manifested for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.”
But then, we get to this peculiar phrase regarding just how God sent His own Son: “in the likeness of sinful flesh”.
For even in the verse we referenced from John 1 earlier, we read “the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us”. Paul himself reminding us of that early creed in 1 Timothy 3:16, “And by common confession, great is the mystery of godliness: He who was manifested in the flesh, Was vindicated in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Proclaimed among the nations, Believed on in the world, Taken up in glory.” Christ was manifested, in the flesh. We read in Hebrews 2:14, “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,” 5:7 of that book refers to Him “in the days of His flesh”, 1 Peter 4:1 proclaims that “…Christ has suffered in the flesh.”
And then, we read this in 1 John 4:1-3,
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.
This is why John had taken such pains to say in the first verse of that epistle (1 John 1:1), “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life.”
So it is clear, from beginning to end, that the Bible teaches us that Jesus Christ came “in the flesh”. This was a true incarnation, Jesus had a literal, human body. Not a phantom, not a spirit with a mere appearance of flesh, but He was a man, and referred to Himself often as “the Son of Man”, frequently throughout each of the Gospels.
But when we look at our verse before us, Paul has added something; under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, it is impossible for Paul to merely say that God sent His own Son “in the flesh”, for while that is true, it is not sufficiently complete, and may give someone the impression that the Son of God was in Adam, and was uniquely able to overcome that condition. Indeed, there have been those who have taught this very thing, that He “became sinful on our behalf”, being that Galatians 4:4 says “…when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law,” that this means that He was under the Law and likewise under sin.
So instead, Paul declares clearly that the Son of God was not under the reign and rule of Sin:
For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,
That although our Lord came in flesh as a man, having many of the humble frailties of a man, His character was not the character of you and I, His nature was not as ours.
What do I mean? In Luke 2:52, “.. Jesus was advancing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” He had to grow and to learn. In Hebrews 4:15, “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things like we are, yet without sin.” He was tempted; John 4:6 “and Jacob’s well was there. So Jesus, being wearied from His journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.” He grew tired and weary. In John 11:35, “Jesus wept” – He knew anguish and sorrow. He had emotions.
Hebrews 2:14 exults in this thing, saying “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,” because you and I are of flesh and blood, our Lord Jesus of necessity had to take on that same flesh and blood.
And yet, even though He was made for a little while lower than the angels (Heb 2:7), we read in Hebrews 4:15 “… we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things like we are, yet without sin.”
And yet, perhaps the greatest element of this all is to be found in Genesis 1:26,
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness, so that they will have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
“According to our likeness”; in the Hebrew, demûṯ, and in the Greek translation of Paul’s day, the Septuagint, we see ὁμοίωσιν, the same rootword Paul is using here in Romans 8:3 to say the Son was sent in the likeness of sinful flesh.
So it is with good reason that Paul declares in 1 Corinthians 15:47, “The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven”, and calls our Lord the last Adam just beforehand in verse 45, saying “…’The first man, Adam, became a living soul.’ The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.”
For Adam was created in the image and likeness of God, but the Son of God came in the likeness of sinful flesh.
It was necessary that Paul bring this out, for he had taken such great pains to point out previously in his argument, especially in that last half of chapter 5, that all in Adam were under condemnation and death, Romans 5:14 declaring “Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the trespass of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.”
But if Adam was the type of “Him who was to come”, then our Lord, who was “Him who was to come” could only in the manner of a type be similar to Adam, He had to be different and apart!
And to finalize this in our minds, look at the words of the angel to Mary at her bewilderment of his announcement to her that she would conceive in her womb and bear a son, while she yet remained a virgin having not yet known a man,
The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.
Mary, though sinful like us, was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, He overcame her fallen and sinful nature to conceive in her “the holy Child”. Even in her womb, He was entirely pure, entirely undefiled, He was entirely consecrated to God. He was entirely holy, born of flesh yet apart and separated from all eternity, to all eternity, from sin.
Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:47–48, “The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven. As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly.”
Our Lord had to come as a man, yes, but in order to be the second man, in order to accomplish the purpose He was sent for, He could not do so if He were already in the blemished condemnation of the first man, Adam. No, Hebrews 9:14 declares that He “…offered Himself without blemish to God”, the perfect sacrifice of propitiation, holy and acceptable to God His Father.
And so, as our time today closes, let us rejoice in this: that “what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh.” God did the acting. God took the initiative. God predestined and chose those who are to be in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world.
It was His plan from the beginning, there has never been in the past, nor will there ever be in the future, any other. He is both just, and the justifier of the one who has faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. “Thgerefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
Let us pray!
