Romans 8:2-5 NASB
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, 4 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. 5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
What a surprise to find myself in my favorite chapter from the whole Bible for my Advent reading today. If you remove the “religiousity” factor of laws you have to admit we can’t live without them. We need laws to create order and some level of security in our society. I’ll bet I’m not the only one that’s broken some of them: ever rolled through a stop sign?
That’s an easier-to-swallow version of “weak as it was through the flesh” to own up to. Now that our minds are in the right place maybe we can face the issue of “sinful flesh”…and “in us.” That’s ugly, isn’t it? That Holy baby, Jesus…Immanuel…was born “in the likeness of” us???
This is how far God went “so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us.” He filled that cradle with His Promise…His Power to buy back that “likeness of sinful flesh” in us, and redeem the meaning of this season, for “the things of the Spirit.” That’s what Advent is all about..
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