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:
For what.
Romans 3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
Romans 7:5-11 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death…
Acts 13:39 And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.
God.
Romans 8:32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
John 3:14-17 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: …
Galatians 4:4,5 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, …
in the.
Romans 9:3 For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:
Mark 15:27,28 And with him they crucify two thieves; the one on his right hand, and the other on his left…
John 9:24 Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the praise: we know that this man is a sinner.
for sin.
2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Galatians 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
condemned.
Romans 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
1 Peter 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
1 Peter 4:1,2 Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; …
in that it was weakened by the flesh,
The "flesh" refers to human nature in its fallen state, prone to sin and rebellion against God. The law was weakened because it relied on human ability to fulfill its demands, which was impossible due to the inherent sinfulness of humanity (Romans 7:18). The flesh's weakness made it impossible for the law to achieve righteousness.
God did by sending His own Son
God intervened where the law could not, by sending Jesus Christ, His own Son. This act of sending signifies divine initiative and grace. Jesus' coming was prophesied throughout the Old Testament, such as in Isaiah 9:6 and Micah 5:2, and fulfilled God's redemptive plan.
in the likeness of sinful man,
Jesus came in human form, fully identifying with humanity yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15). The phrase emphasizes His genuine humanity while maintaining His sinlessness. This likeness allowed Him to be the perfect representative and substitute for humanity.
as an offering for sin.
Jesus' death was a sacrificial offering, fulfilling the Old Testament sacrificial system (Leviticus 16:15-16) and the prophecy of the suffering servant (Isaiah 53:10). His sacrifice was once for all, providing atonement and reconciliation with God (Hebrews 10:10).
He thus condemned sin in the flesh,
Through His death and resurrection, Jesus condemned sin, breaking its power and dominion over humanity (1 Corinthians 15:56-57). This condemnation means that sin's penalty was paid, and its power was nullified for those who are in Christ. Jesus' victory over sin is a central theme in the New Testament, affirming His role as the Savior and Redeemer.
• The Mosaic law is holy and righteous, yet it cannot give life or produce righteousness in fallen people (Galatians 3:21-22; Hebrews 7:18-19).
• It serves as a mirror, exposing sin but offering no remedy (Romans 3:20; James 2:10).
• Therefore, something greater than the written code was required to rescue us.
• The problem is not with the law itself but with human nature corrupted by sin (Romans 7:18-23).
• Our fleshly impulses make perfect obedience impossible (Matthew 26:41; Galatians 5:19-21).
• So, while the law could diagnose the disease, our flesh prevented the cure from coming through law-keeping.
• What the law could not accomplish, God Himself accomplished. He entered history, sending “His own Son” (John 3:16; 1 John 4:9-10).
• “Likeness of sinful man” underscores the real humanity of Jesus—He shared our flesh yet remained sinless (John 1:14; Philippians 2:7-8; Hebrews 2:14-17).
• The incarnation brings God’s perfect obedience into the very arena where we failed.
• Jesus did more than model obedience; He became the sacrificial substitute, bearing the penalty our sins deserved (Isaiah 53:10; 2 Corinthians 5:21).
• His once-for-all sacrifice fulfills every Old Testament shadow (Hebrews 9:26-28; 1 John 2:2).
• Through His blood, righteousness is gifted, not earned (Romans 3:24-25).
• At the cross God passed sentence on sin itself, breaking its dominion over those who believe (Colossians 2:14-15; 1 Peter 2:24).
• Because sin has been judicially condemned, believers are free from condemnation (Romans 8:1) and empowered to walk in the Spirit (Romans 8:4).
• The victory occurred “in the flesh” of Christ, ensuring that the realm where sin reigned is now the realm where grace triumphs (Romans 6:6-7).
Romans 8:3 announces that the law could expose sin but could not save us because our flesh was too weak to keep it. God solved what we never could by sending His own Son, truly human yet sinless, to be the sacrificial offering for sin. In Jesus’ flesh sin was condemned once and for all, releasing believers from guilt and empowering a new life in the Spirit.
(3) How was I freed? Thus. Precisely on that very point where the law of Moses showed its impotence--viz., in the attempt to get rid of sin, which it failed to do because of the counteracting influence of the flesh--precisely on this very point God interposed by sending His Son in a body of flesh similar to that in which sin resides, and as an offering to expiate human sin, and so dethroned and got rid of sin in the flesh which He had assumed. The flesh, the scene of its former triumphs, became now the scene of its defeat and expulsion.What the law could not do.--Literally, the impossible thing of the Law--i.e., "that which was impossible to the Law." The construction is what is called a nominativus pendens. The phrase thus inserted at the beginning of the sentence characterises what follows. God did what the Law could not do--viz., condemned sin.
In that it was weak through the flesh.--There was one constant impediment in the way of the success of the Law, that it had to be carried out by human agents, beset by human frailty, a frailty naturally consequent upon that physical organisation with which man is endowed. Temptation and sin have their roots in the physical part of human nature, and they were too strong for the purely moral influence of the Law. The Law was limited in its operations by them, and failed to overcome them.
In the likeness of sinful flesh--i.e., in the flesh, but not in sinful flesh. With a human body which was so far like the physical organisation of the rest of mankind, but yet which was not in Him, as in other men, the seat of sin; at once like and unlike.
And for sin.--This is the phrase which is used constantly in the LXX. ("more than fifty times in the Book of Leviticus alone"--Vaughan) for the "sin-offering." The essence of the original sin-offering was that it was accepted by an act of grace on the part of God, instead of the personal punishment of the offender. The exact nature of this "instead" appears to be left an open question in Scripture, and its further definition--if it is to be defined--belongs to the sphere of dogmatics rather than of exegesis. It must only be remembered that St. Paul uses, in regard to the sacrifice of Christ, similar language to that which is used in the Old Testament of this particular class of sacrifice, the sin-offering.
Condemned sin.--The meaning of this expression is brought out by the context. It is that which the Law was hindered from doing by the hold which sin had upon the flesh. That hold is made to cease through the participation of the believer in the death of Christ. Sin is, as it were, brought into court, and the cause given against it. It loses all its rights and claims over its victim. It is dispossessed as one who is dispossessed of a property.
In the flesh.--In that same sphere, the flesh, in which sin had hitherto had the mastery, it now stood condemned and worsted; it was unable to exercise its old sway any longer.
Verse 3. - For what the Law could not do (this is certainly what is meant by τὸ ἀδύνατον τοῦ νόμου), in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in likeness of flesh of sin, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. The Law could not deliver from the domination of sin; it was weak for such a purpose (cf. Hebrews 7:18, 19) but this not through any defect in itself but as having to work through our sinful flesh which refused obedience. And it was not the office of law to regenerate; it could only command and threaten. Hence the deliverance came, and could only come, from God himself (and this in accordance with the grand idea of the whole Epistle, expressed by the phrase, "the righteousness of God"); and so he sent his own Son (i.e. his Son essentially - in a sense in which none of us can be called sons, himself Divine. The whole drift of the passage, as well as ἑαυτοῦ, requires this conception); and he sent him into the very sphere of things that required redemption, that by actual participation in it he might personally redeem it; for he sent him in likeness of our "flesh of sin." It is not said in flesh of sin; for that might imply sin in Christ's individual humanity: but, on the other hand, "in likeness" (ἐν ὁμοιώματι) does not imply docetism, as though Christ's humanity were not real; for stress is evidently laid on the fact that it was in our actual human flesh that he "condemned" sin. The phrase appears to mean the same as what is expressed in Hebrews 2:17 and Hebrews 4:15: Ὤφειλε κατὰ πάντα τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς ὁμοιωθῆναι, and Πεπειραμένον κατὰ πὰντα κααθ ὁμοιότητα χαρὶς ἁμαρτίας. The addition of περὶ ἀμαρτίας "adds to the how the wherefore" (Meyer). Both this and the preceding expression are most naturally and intelligibly connected with τέμψας; not, as some say, with κατέκρινε. Περὶ comes suitably after the former verb, as denoting the occasion and purpose of the sending (cf. προσένεγκε περὶ τοῦ καθαρισμοῦ, Luke 5:14). In Hebrews 10:8 (quoting from Psalm 40:7 in the LXX.) we find θυσίαν καὶ προσφορὰν καὶ ὁλοκαυτώματα καὶ περὶ ἁμαρτίας, where the expression signifies offerings for sin; and in Hebrews 10:18 we have προσφορὰ περὶ ἁμαρτίας. The correspondence of phrase here suggests decidedly the idea of the purpose of atonement being intended to be expressed by it, though it does not follow that περὶ ἁμαρτίας is used here substantively as it seems to be in Hebrews 10:8. But in what sense are we to understand condemned (κατέκρινε) sin? We observe first that the verb appears to be suggested by κατάκριμα in ver. 1, the connection being that formerly sin condemned us, but now sin itself has been condemned; that is (as Meyer expresses it), deposed from its rule in the flesh - "jure sue dejectum" (Calvin). (Perhaps similarly, John 16:11, ὁ ἄρχων τοῦ κόσμου τούτου κέκριται.) One view of the force of κατέκρινε (found in Origen, and taken by Erasmus and others), that it denotes the punishment of sin endured by Christ vicariously on the cross, is not only not obvious, but inconsistent also with τὸ ἀδύνετον τοῦ νόμου preceding; for what the Law could not do, was not to punish sin, but to deliver from it. Nor is there, further, anything in the language used to confine the condemnation of sin, in whatever sense intended, to the atonement made for it on the cross itself. It was in the whole mission of the Saviour (expressed by πέμψας) that sin was "condemned;" and the idea may include his triumph over it in his human life no less than the penalty paid for it on the cross in behalf of man. "In the flesh" (connected with condemned, not with sin) does not mean Christ's own flesh, but human nature generally. He represented man, having become for our sake the Soul of man; and we share his triumph over sin, made in our very human flesh, when we are baptized into his death, and become thereupon partakers of his resurrection. This idea, ever present to St. Paul's mind, is expressed in the next verse, where our own appropriation of the condemnation of sin in Christ is declared.