Romans 8:4 - Printer Friendly

ESV: in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

NIV: in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

NASB: 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.

CSB: in order that the law’s requirement would be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

NLT: 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.

KJV: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

NKJV: that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Paul is continuing to explain how it can be that God will never condemn those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). In the previous verse, he showed that God acted to save us from the law of sin and death. We were stuck. We all sinned, and we were all condemned to die.

To change this, God sent His Son Jesus to earth as a man who had no sin Himself (Hebrews 4:15). He was sent for sin, to receive God's condemnation of death for sin once for all in His own sinless body (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Now Paul explains that this was necessary in order to fulfill the righteous requirements of the law. After all, the law of Moses was given by God. It is His law. He fulfilled the requirements of His law by paying out on His own Son the death we had earned with our sin so that justice was done. Sin was paid for.

This was not a universal action for all people as a group. This death for sin was personal. It was Jesus' death for our sin. The requirement of the law is fulfilled in us, individually. Our personal sin has been paid for by Jesus' personal death.

Now, Paul concludes, we are the people who no longer walk—or live—by the flesh. We are not self-propelled. Christians walk and live by the Spirit. This does not mean that Christians never sin in our flesh (1 John 1:9–10). It means that we don't live that way (1 John 3:4–6). All of the life in us comes from God by His Spirit. To the extent that we live at all, we live in the Spirit's power.

Romans 8:1–11 begins with an enormous declaration about the grace of God: There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. After describing how this is possible, thanks to the life and death of Jesus, Paul compares two kinds of life. One is life in the Holy Spirit, for those who are in Christ, the other is a life lived according to the flesh. Those in the flesh, meaning non-Christians, are hostile to God. Christians have the Spirit; those who do not are not Christians. Because the Spirit is in us, we will be resurrected from the dead as Jesus was.

Romans 8 begins and ends with declarations of the Christian's absolute security before God. There is no condemnation for those in Christ, and nothing will ever be able to separate us from His love. Having believed the gospel, we now live in the Spirit of God. That allows us to call God Abba Father. We suffer with Christ, and we suffer along with all creation while we wait for God to reveal us as His sons. With the help of the Spirit, we are confident that God is for us and loves us in Christ.

In Romans 7, Paul revealed his frustration of trying to do good only to be thwarted by his sin. He begins Romans 8, though, with the triumphant statement that there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. We live in the Spirit, and we relate to God as a child does to a father. The Spirit helps us in this season of suffering along with all of creation while we wait for our adoption to be complete with the redemption of our bodies. We are confident, though, that God is for us and nothing can separate us from His love.

The book of Romans is the New Testament's longest, most structured, and most detailed description of Christian theology. Paul lays out the core of the gospel message: salvation by grace alone through faith alone. His intent is to explain the good news of Jesus Christ in accurate and clear terms. As part of this effort, Paul addresses the conflicts between law and grace, between Jews and Gentiles, and between sin and righteousness. As is common in his writing, Paul closes out his letter with a series of practical applications.