Romanos 8:4

‘That the ordinance (requirement) of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.'

And the consequence of what He has done is that the ordinance of the Law is fulfilled in us as is revealed by the fact that we walk after the Spirit (compare Gálatas 5:16; Gálatas 5:25). But how is the Law fulfilled in us?

1) It is fulfilled because Christ fulfilled it in full, and set His fulfilment of it to our account (Romanos 3:24 to Romanos 4:25).

2) It is being fulfilled because the Christian begins to fulfil the Law as he walks by the Spirit. It is thus being fulfilled in him.

3) It is ‘being fulfilled' because some outward power (the Spirit) is causing the law to be fulfilled in us. This is precisely what Isaiah indicated when he spoke of the righteousness of God, ‘My righteousness', which was to come to His people in ‘salvation' (e.g. Isaías 51:5 where it was to be on all people; Isaías 46:13; Isaías 56:1; etc).

1). is certainly true, and is the basis of everything else, but it cannot be seen as the full explanation as the fulfilment in this verse is connected with the ‘walk after the Spirit' which is very much a matter of practical righteousness (Gálatas 5:16 ff). The mood and tense would strongly support 3). with the idea being that God brings His righteousness to His people thus transforming their lives. The consequence of both 1). and 3). is then revealed in 2).

So as God acts upon us by His Spirit He communicates to us not only justifying righteousness (Romanos 3:24 to Romanos 4:25), but also sanctifying righteousness (Romanos 5:1 to Romanos 6:23), resulting in His Law being fulfilled. He comes with salvation and with righteous deliverance (see on Romanos 1:16). And the consequence is that we ‘walk after the Spirit'. This means that we look off to the Spirit continually for His guidance, especially through God's word and prayer, seeking for Him to be renewed in us constantly (‘be you being filled with the Spirit' - Efesios 5:18) and walking step by step with the Spirit day by day (‘if we live in the Spirit let us walk step by step by the Spirit' - Gálatas 5:25). This is the opposite of responding daily to the clamour of the flesh. As a consequence the ordinance of the Law will be fulfilled in us as we live out the Sermon on the Mount, which is Jesus Christ's commentary on the Law.

The ordinance (declaration, requirement) of the Law will thus be fulfilled in a number of ways. Firstly by Jesus Christ's full obedience to the Law being put to our account in His gift of righteousness (Romanos 3:23 to Romanos 4:25). In this way the Law is completely fulfilled. Secondly by God's righteousness being active within us by the Spirit, producing righteousness in our lives, enabling us to reject the flesh and fulfil the Law (Romanos 8:1). And thirdly in the outworking of our lives when we walk after the Spirit, with our lives submitting and responding to His direction step by step (Gálatas 5:25). The concluding ‘who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit' puts the emphasis on the latter. Thus we find that the Law does triumph in the end as the standard by which the Christian ‘walks after the Spirit', something which results from God's inworking (Filipenses 2:13; compare Santiago 1:25).