Penalty Paid in Full

Romans 8:3 says, "For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh." This statement may be the most accurate description of the doctrine of substitution in all of Scripture. It is the heart of the gospel. Jesus Christ paid the penalty in full for everyone who would trust Him alone for their salvation.

"For" (v. 3a) means "because," and introduces an explanation of verse 2. You have been set free from "the law of sin and death" and redeemed by "the law of the Spirit of life" because of what Jesus Christ did for you on the cross (v. 2). There is no imperfection in the law, yet it was incapable of saving you. It is "holy and just and good" (Rom. 7:12), yet its standards are impossible to live up to in your own power. Because of your sin, you fall short of the law's demands. Because of your sin, the law could only condemn you to an eternity apart from God. And so a substitution was necessary. Enter Jesus Christ, God's Son, our substitute.

"What the law could not do," that is, save us, "in that it was weak through the flesh" (v. 3a), refers to our depravity. Our sin rendered the law helpless to save. So God did it. "God… by sending His own Son” (v. 3b) took care of our need. Christ paid the penalty that was ours to pay; and He paid it in full! He died in our place. He was our substitute on the cross.

Note what it says here about the form in which Jesus appeared in the world: "In the likeness of sinful flesh" (v. 3c). It does not say simply "in the flesh," and especially not "in sinful flesh." Rather, He came "in the likeness of sinful flesh" (emphasis added). He came in a nature like that of our sinful flesh, yet one that was not itself sinful. In all ways like us, "tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin" (Heb. 4:15b, NASB). That is the key. That is why He could die in our place. That is what qualified Him to be our substitute.

And so Christ died in our place "on account of sin" (v. 3d). Christ died as a sacrifice for our sin. The law couldn't save us; the sacrifice of God's Son did. He was God's offering for our sin. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, God "made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." And so, "He condemned sin in the flesh" (v. 3e). Sin once condemned you. Now Christ your Savior condemns sin and delivers you from its power, as well as its penalty.

The thrust of this passage, and all of Romans 8, says that Christ did not suffer and die to save you, only to lose you again to damnation. His life was perfect; His sacrifice was perfect; and His saving grace is perfect. In Christ your salvation is secure. That is why Paul declared in 1 Corinthians 15:55-57, "'O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?' The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (NASB). Amen.