νόµου τῆς ἁμαρτίας καὶ τοῦ θανάτου. νόµου, ἐν ᾧ ἠσθένει διὰ τῆς σαρκός, ὁ Θεὸς τὸν ἑαυτοῦ υἱὸν πέµψας ἐν ' ὁμοιώματι σαρκὸς ἁμαρτίας καὶ περὶ ἁμαρτίας κατέκρινε τὴν
uniquely related to God (for this is im- plied both here and in ver. 32, as con- trasted with ver. 14), anew saving power entered the world. God sent His Son ἐν ὁμοιώματι σαρκὸς ἁμαρτίας. The connection implies that sending Him thus was in some way related to the end to be secured.: But what do the words mean? ὁμοίωμα occurs in Rom. i. 23, ν. 14, vi. 5, and also in Phil. 1. 7. This last passage, in which Christ is described as ἐν ὁμοιώματι ἀνθρώπων γενόμενος, is the one which is most akin to Rom. viii. 3, and most easily illustrates it. There must have been a reason why Paul wrote in Philippians ἐν ὁμοιώματι ἀνθ. γενό- µενος instead of ἄνθρωπος γενόμενος, and it may well have been the same reason which made him write here ἐν ὁμοιώματι σαρκὸς ἁμαρτίας instead of ἐν σαρκὶ ἁμαρτίας. He wishes to indicate not that Christ was not really man, or that His flesh was not really what in us is σάρξ ἁμαρτίας, but that what for ordin- ary men is their natural condition is for this Person only an assumed condition (Holtzmann, N.T. Theol., ii., 74). But the emphasis in ἁμοίωμα is on Christ’s likeness to us, not His unlikeness; “flesh of sin”’ is one idea to the Apostle, and what he means by it is that God sent _His Son in that nature which in us is identified with sin. This was the “form” (and “ form”? rather than “ like- ness” is what ὁμοίωμα signifies) in which Christ appeared among men. It does not prejudice Christ’s sinlessness, which . isa fixed point with the Apostle ab initio ; and if any one says that it involves a contradiction to maintain that Christ was sinless, and that He came in a nature which in us is identified with sin, it may be pointed out that this identifica- tion does not belong to the essence of our nature, but to its corruption, and that the uniform teaching of the N.T. is that Christ is one with us—short of sin. The likeness and the limitation of it (though the former is the point here urged) are equally essential in the Re- deemer. %But God sent His Son not only ἐν 6p. σ. a. but καὶ περὶ ἁμαρτίας, These words indicate the aim of the mission. Christ was sent in our nature “in connection with sin”. The R.V. genders “ας an offering for sin”. This is legitimate, for περὶ ἁμαρτίας is used