Peter Barnes | Romans 8:3-4
SERMON NOTES
GOD DOES WHAT WE CANNOT
(Romans 8:3-4)
– verse 1 is certainly to do with justification, but verse 4 describes the walk of the Christian i.e. it deals with sanctification
1. We are powerless in the flesh.
– 8:3; the law is weak because of us (see 3:20; 7:22-23)
– Other refuge have I none;
Hangs my helpless soul on Thee (Charles Wesley)
– Acts 13:38-39
2. Christ has condemned sin in the flesh.
– 8:3; not likeness of flesh (1 John 4:2) or in sinful flesh (Heb.7:26)
– Gal.2:21
3. Christians walk according to the Spirit.
– 8:4; Douglas Moo says this refers to Christ, not Christians, but not that Paul says ‘in us’, not ‘for us’
– all have the requirement of the law on our hearts (Rom.2:15), but Christians have the law within their hearts (Heb.8:10).
– 8:4 refers to the Christian’s ‘walk’
– no condemnation in 8:1 leading to the power of the Spirit in 8:4