God’s Way of Salvation — The Spiritual Man

God’s Way of Salvation

Please read Romans 8:3: "For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do." This describes the true condition of those moral individuals who still live in the flesh. Perhaps they are sincerely committed to keeping the law, yet they are still of the flesh—weak and incapable of fully obeying the law. "Could not do" implies they may accomplish much, but still fall short. This is one type of person.

There is another type—those who completely disregard God’s law. They "set their minds on the flesh and are hostile to God; they do not submit to God’s law—indeed they cannot" (Romans 8:7). However, the command of the law is this: “The one who does these things will live by them,” but those who fail to do them will be condemned and perish. How much of the law must one obey? All of it. For "whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it" (James 2:10).

Therefore, "no human being will be justified in his sight by deeds prescribed by the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin" (Romans 3:20). The more one tries to obey the law, the more one realizes how full of sin they are, and how unable they are to keep God's commandments. Thus, the first part of Romans 8:3 reveals the sinful condition of all humanity.

All are sinners—therefore God intends to save us. His way of salvation is this: "By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh." His Son is without sin, and only He is able to save humanity. "In the likeness of sinful flesh" means that the Lord Jesus took on human form—He was born as a man and became united with humanity. The Son of God is the Word, and by becoming "in the likeness of sinful flesh," He "became flesh." Thus, this verse speaks of the incarnation of the Word. The key point here is that He is the Son of God—therefore, no matter what, He is without sin.

The verse does not say He "became sinful flesh," but "became in the likeness of sinful flesh." That is, though He took on flesh and bore the outward form of sinful humanity, He remained the sinless Son of God. Yet because He bore this likeness, He became most closely united with all sinful people who are of the flesh.

Why did the Word become flesh? "To be a sin offering." This refers to the work of the cross. God's Son became the sin offering. Those who are of the flesh break the law and cannot fulfill God’s righteousness, and therefore deserve condemnation and punishment for sin. The Lord Jesus came into the world, took on the likeness of sinful flesh, and became completely united with all who are of the flesh. So when He died on the cross, all who are of the flesh were punished for sin in Him.

Though He was without sin and did not deserve punishment, He bore the likeness of sinful flesh when He was punished. Thus, as the head of a new race, He bore the punishment of all sinners within Himself. This addresses the issue of punishment.

Now, what about the sinful flesh itself, which is full of sin? What is God’s way of dealing with that? "He condemned sin in the flesh." Jesus died for sin—God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us. When Jesus died, it was His flesh that died: "He was put to death in the flesh" (1 Peter 3:18). When His flesh died, the sin which His flesh bore was also nailed to the cross. This is the meaning of "He condemned sin in the flesh." To put it more plainly, it means He judged sin in the flesh. To condemn sin is to judge or punish it. The judgment and punishment of sin is death.

Thus, the meaning here is that He brought sin to death in the flesh. When the Lord Jesus died, He not only bore our punishment as a sin offering, but He also condemned sin itself—sin was judged and punished in His death. Therefore, all who are united with Christ’s death have had sin condemned in their own flesh as well, and sin can no longer dominate them.