“For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” Romans 8:3-4
We’re told in verses 3–4 what God has done. Simply put, the reason there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ is because God has done something. He got involved in our messy situation. He mercifully and compassionately entered into our problem.
God Steps Into Our Mess
A few years ago, when I lived in Raleigh, Alli and I witnessed a man on a bike try to cross a highway—and he was drilled by a car going probably 55mph. There were three different reactions. One group of people stopped and jumped out to help him. A group of teenagers in the car beside us busted out laughing. And the car that hit the man? Took off.
That image sticks with me. When you think about how God responds to us in our mess, which reaction more closely fits how you view Him? Did He flee the scene? Is He laughing at our misery from a distance? Or did He come down to help?
Paul’s point in Romans 8 is that we must first acknowledge this: God has entered into our problem with us. And what makes it even more amazing is that He did it even after we had turned away from Him and acted like we could figure it out on our own.
Jesus Took the Blow
Our main problem is that we don’t follow God’s plan for how life works. It’s offensive to Him, and it hurts the people around us. And no matter how many chances we’d be given, we would never obey God’s law. We are guilty.
But God had a plan. Verse 3 says, “By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh…” That’s good news. Jesus became like us so that He might be condemned in our place. There’s no condemnation for those in Christ because Christ was condemned for His people.
So to call back that image of the man on the bike—Jesus saw that we had drifted out into oncoming traffic. He knew that in our foolishness we were about to be crushed by the just condemnation of God. And out of compassion and love, Jesus took the blow for us. He was smashed by the condemnation that was headed straight for us.
In the next article we will see what the condemnation of Christ in our place means for our daily lives.
