No condemnation in Christ Jesus: God sent his Son as an offering for sin, so that the law's requirement is fulfilled in us (Romans 8:1–4)

Says "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (8:1, BSB). κατάκριμα (katakrima, "condemnation") is the word of 5:16, 18 (lex.G2631). The team text ends 8:1 at Ἰησοῦ with SBLGNT, WH, Treg, and NA28; RP2018 and the TR add μὴ κατὰ σάρκα περιπατοῦσιν ἀλλὰ κατὰ πνεῦμα (mē kata sarka peripatousin alla kata pneuma, "who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit"), the wording of 8:4b (var.Rom.8.1.me-kata-sarka).

Uncertain What νόμος (nomos, "law") means in "the law of the Spirit of life" and "the law of sin and death" (8:2, BSB). This commentary leans to a ruling power or principle, as with "another law" in 7:23 (note.language.Rom.7.14-Rom.7.25.sarkinos-nomos): the Spirit's power that gives life frees from sin's power that brings death. The alternative takes both as the Mosaic law, used by the Spirit in the one case and by sin in the other (7:10–13; compare "the law of faith," 3:27) (lex.G3551; lex.G1659).

Says "For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man, as an offering for sin. He thus condemned sin in the flesh" (8:3, BSB), κατέκρινε (katekrine, "condemned"; lex.G2632). ἐν ὁμοιώματι σαρκὸς ἁμαρτίας (en homoiōmati sarkos hamartias, "in the likeness of sinful flesh") gives the manner of the sending (lex.G3667; lex.G4561; lex.G266).

Uncertain περὶ ἁμαρτίας (peri hamartias, 8:3): "as an offering for sin" or, more generally, "concerning sin." This commentary leans to the sin-offering sense (so BSB): the Septuagint uses the phrase for the sin offering (Lev 5:6–7; compare Isa 53:10), and Heb 10:6, 8 uses it of the offerings. The alternative reads it as "to deal with sin," the general purpose of the sending, since the phrase often has that plain sense (compare περὶ ἁμαρτιῶν, 1 Pet 3:18). The evidence is set out in the Greek note, which takes the same lean (note.language.Rom.8.1-Rom.8.4.peri-hamartias-dikaioma). On the atonement in 3:25, see note.exegetical.Rom.3.25.hilasterion-propitiation.

Uncertain How "the righteous standard of the law might be fulfilled in us" (8:4, BSB): by Christ's righteousness counted to believers, by the obedience the Spirit produces in them, or both. This commentary leans to both, with the ground in God's act in Christ: the verb is passive, πληρωθῇ ἐν ἡμῖν (plērōthē en hēmin, "might be fulfilled in us"), not "by us," and follows directly on what God did in 8:3. The Greek evidence, including the singular δικαίωμα, is in note.language.Rom.8.1-Rom.8.4.peri-hamartias-dikaioma (compare note.language.Rom.5.15-Rom.5.19.dikaioma-kathistemi; lex.G1345). The qualifier "who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit" (8:4, BSB) then ties the fulfillment to the Spirit's life in them. The alternatives take one side only: counted righteousness alone (the passive, 5:18–19), or Spirit-enabled obedience alone (the walk clause; 13:8–10).

Implies On any reading of 8:4, justification remains by faith apart from works of the law (3:28; 4:5): the walk in the Spirit is not the ground of acceptance (note.exegetical.Rom.3.27-Rom.3.31.boasting-excluded; note.exegetical.Rom.4.3-Rom.4.8.crediting-righteousness).