Abstract

VENTER, Dirk J. The requirement of the law fulfilled in Romans 8:4. In Skriflig (Online) [online]. 2014, vol.48, n.1, pp.01-07. ISSN 2305-0853.

God effects the fulfilment of the requirement of the law through the agency (mission) of Christ. Those 'in him' are the point of reference in whose favour the law's requirement is fulfilled, with the effect that they are no longer obligated to Torah. Being 'in Christ' they, nonetheless, are also envisioned as living in a way that corresponds to what Torah would have required of them, had they still been subject to it, but they are now being governed and empowered by the Spirit. Consequently their lives give expression to the ultimate (singular) requirement and intention (δικαίωµα) of Torah. The fulfilment of the requirement of the law refers to the purpose of the law as a whole, and not only of the 'moral' aspect, often anachronistically separated from the 'cultic' aspect. Ultimately, God who originally gave Torah now effected the fulfilment of its intention - something that had been unrealised before the mission of Christ and the gift of the Spirit due to the incapability of the law.

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