Romans 8 questions

My answers are in red above.

 

The translators of NASB and NLT both agree that the "law" in Romans 8:3-4 refer to the Law of Moses.

NASB, ". . . 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, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. . . ."

NLT, ". . . The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit. . . ."

 

1) Is it your opinion that the word "law" refers to that given by God to Moses?

Paul consistently makes the distinction between ‘the spirit’ of the law and ‘the letter’ of the law. It should be apparent from the text which is meant:

29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God. Ro 2

6 But now we have been discharged from the law, having died to that wherein we were held; so that we serve in newness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter. Ro 7

3 being made manifest that ye are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in tables that are hearts of flesh. 2 Cor 3 [Romans 2:15]

6 who also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. 2 Cor 3


2) Verse 3 states that the flesh weakens the law, how to you see this in application?

Paul went to great lengths in the previous chapter to explain this. Romans 7


3) Verse 4 states that the law has a "righteous requirement" needing fulfilled.

‘Justifying works’

4) How do you see the life lived effecting the thoughts which in turn effect the purpose?

Too deep for this hillbilly.

 

Consider the prior verse:

2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death.

Which 'law' is in view in v 3?

 

Well, I actually asked the question rhetorically.

It should be clear to you from the text which it is.

 

Yes.
Please refer to Romans 7.

Also, what the NASB does isn't why I understand it that way, as I understand it just by reading the text...whether capitalized or not.
I personally do not use it, because I feel that it is inferior to the AV.

I don't see it saying that the flesh actually weakens the Law.
Perhaps I'm seeing it in the technical sense, but to me, the Law is just and holy ( Romans 7:12 ), and we cannot keep it.
Our flesh is weak towards it.

Here it is in the AV:

" 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:" ( Romans 8:3, AV )

It says that the Law was weak through the flesh...
The flesh cannot keep the Law, which agrees with Romans 8:7-8 in that those that are "in the flesh" cannot please God.


In application, the Law ( primarily what is contained in the Ten Commandments ) is the Law of Moses, and definitely what is contained here:

" Master, which [is] the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second [is] like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." ( Matthew 22:26-40 ).

The Law is, in the greater sense, all that is contained in the Law of Moses...
But it can be broken down to its essential components as described in the above.

It is the law of sin and of death, because it condemns the sinner in their condition ( spiritual death, dead in trespasses and sins, Ephesians 2:1, Ephesians 2:5 ), and no one but Christ Jesus was ever able to keep it to the letter.
It then functions as the "schoolmaster" to lead the sinner to Christ ( Galatians 3:24 )

Nothing brings life except Jesus and Him crucified in its place.
The law of the Spirit is by grace through faith in Christ's finished work on the cross for the believer.

He kept the Law, and we look to His work that was done in our place.

 

I use the AV, which says this:
" that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."

In my own words:

"So that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us, the believer.
The "us" who do not walk after ( follow after ) the flesh, but who follow after the Spirit."

The believer is led by the Spirit ( Romans 8:14 ), not by the flesh or by the old nature.
We no longer walk after the flesh, but the Spirit.

God's word also tells us that the flesh lusts after the Spirit and the Spirit after the flesh.
They are in conflict, so that we cannot do the things that we, in our new hearts, want to do for God.
Therefore, we are to walk in the Spirit, so that we do not fulfill the lusts of the flesh ( Galatians 5:13-18 ).

Those lusts are these ( Galatians 5:19-21 ).
The Spirit mortifies ( puts to death ) the deeds of the body ( Romans 8:10-13 ), so that we then begin to obey His commands ( "the requirement" ) more and more, and with confidence towards God.


Side note:
In the Greek, the word "δικαίωμα" is transliterated into the English as, " dikaiōma", which means, " just-effect" or "just-requirement".
Please see the Greek here for reference:
https://www.scripture4all.org/OnlineInterlinear/NTpdf/rom8.pdf

However, that is for another thread.

 

I don't see it carried out in that order.

I see that the life lived is a product of the Spirit within us, leading us into all truth, which affects our thoughts.
His word does the work, and our mind is transformed by it ( Romans 12:2 ).
In our thoughts, we then glorify the Lord for His gift of eternal life, and our purpose is to both thank Him for that gift, and to do the good works set before us ( Ephesians 2:10 ).

Those works are determined by God ( John 3:21, Philippians 2:13 ).

I see my own sins becoming less and less, evidencing the Spirit's work in me, and the privilege of walking in His Spirit is what overcomes the flesh.
I'm still a sinner in the flesh and still sin, but it is becoming easier to obey Him the more years that go by.

God the Father ( Acts of the Apostles 2:24, Acts of the Apostles 2:32, Romans 4:24, Romans 10:9, 1 Peter 1:21 ).

The Spirit gives life ( John 6:63 ).
Christ gives life ( John 17:2 ).
The Father and the Son both give life ( John 5:21 ).

Life to the soul is "regeneration" ( Titus 3:5-6 ).
The "water of life" is the word of God ( Ephesians 5:26 ).

That life is given by God...all of it.