Verse by Verse

Hello, I'm Jim Franks. And this is an episode of our podcast, verse by verse, which will explore the insights and lessons from the word of God.

Today's verse is only the tip of the iceberg of a much bigger topic, the law of God. The apostle Paul's writings are used to both denigrate and do away with God's law and to support obedience to the law of God. Many years ago I attended a seminar on the writings of the apostle Paul. This was sponsored by BARR, which stands for Biblical Archaeological Review. The presenter was a professor from Boston College.

He began by asking whether we believe the apostle Paul was confused when he came to the law, sometimes supporting it, sometimes rejecting it. He went on to say that some believe that Paul was simply schizophrenic, supporting the law in the book of Romans, but doing away with the law in the book of Galatians. Of course, we believe that Paul was consistent and that he referred to the law in Romans 7 as being holy, just and good. But now let's go to our scripture for today from the writings of the apostle Paul. We're going to go to Romans chapter 8 verse 4.

Now in this particular case we're breaking into a sentence, but we'll go back and pick up the rest, But let's read this particular verse, 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. Again, as I said, it is obvious that we are breaking into a sentence in verse 4. So we need to go back to verse 1 and read up to the thought that Paul is sharing in verse 4. Let's go back to verse 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.

The subject of this section is walking according to the spirit as opposed to the flesh. Well, what does that mean? Well let's read on, verse 2. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. Well now Paul refers to 2 different laws.

In this case, law is a general term that really identifies one's way of life. Do we live according to the law of sin and death? Do we ignore God's law? Well the wages of that life is indeed death as we read in Romans 623. But the opposite to this is the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus which makes us free from the death penalty.

If we live under the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, we walk in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. We obey the law, and with the sacrifice of Christ for our sins, we will receive the gift of eternal life. Now verse 3, for what the law could not do and that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin. He condemned sin in the flesh. And then we come back to our verse, Romans 8 verse 4.

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. Keeping the law can never compensate for sin. In other words, it isn't an obey now and cancel out your past. It doesn't work that way. It is the sacrifice of Christ that provides us with forgiveness for our sins and also provides us something the law could never do.

Without that sacrifice, no amount of law keeping will negate the penalty we come under when we break the law. So here we see the apostle Paul is really outlining Christianity. We accept the sacrifice of Christ for the forgiveness of our sins, and we live as Christ did, which means we will be following the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. It really isn't complicated. No, Paul was not a schizophrenic.

He knew what he believed and why he believed it. We need Christ and his sacrifice, and we need to live according to that law of the spirit and life. God's commandments provide a pathway for a Christian. We need to stay on that pathway. But to get on that pathway, we need the sacrifice of Christ.

Verse by verse is a companion podcast to the daily bible verse blog, which you can find on the Life, Hope and Truth Learning Center. Check out the show notes for more.