Friday, December 23, 2016

Romans 8:3



Romans 8:3
"“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,

What the Law Could Not Do

1. Law was a tutor. Wikipedia states: “A tutor is an instructor who gives private lessons.” Galatians 3:24: “Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.”
2. Law was a shadow. Colossians 2:17: “things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.” In New Living Translation word's, “For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality.” Hebrews 10:4 says, “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” The Old Testament law was like writing a check or using a credit card to pay for our sin. The payment would be made later. The check or credit card is a promise to pay later.
3. The law was weak. Romans 7:18 and following explains that the law does not change anything. Flesh still dominates when we try to live by the law. Hebrews 7:18 says the Old Testament commandments were weak and useless.

Jesus was the plan from long ago. Isaiah 53:5-8
Jesus became a man to pay our debt of sin for us, condemning sin in the flesh.
Hebrews 2:14-17

The law was never meant to bring righteousness. It was meant as a tutor to bring us to Christ. (Galatians 3:4) It never would work, as we see how the law tripped up Adam and Eve. It trips each of us because we are not made to keep rules directly.

The law shows us our need. Many reject Christianity because of the many rules they don't want to keep. Yet, because of this very problem, Jesus came. We are not to keep rules but live for Jesus. And living for Jesus will cause us to keep the rules by loving others and God!

People can't love, (with God's kind of love), without the new birth. It is the new birth and Christ in us that empowers us to love. Love supersedes the law because if we love we will obey the law. Love expresses itself in obedience. And it this obedience that the law is seeking for. Jesus takes our eyes off the problem and onto something else. We then become Christ centered rather than self-centered. We need to die to ourselves and live for Christ. Live as Christ centered, not as self-centered.

Romans 7 discusses the inability to live by keeping the rules. Paul mentioned himself a number of times in Romans 7. The end of the chapter states we are free from living under the curse of the law and we can now live in the law of the Spirit of Christ.

What was the law trying to do? It was trying to atone for the sin of the people. The sacrifices were only a type of what Christ was going to do.

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