The Christadelphian, February 1929, C. C. Walker

“Sin” 

F.G.C.—It so happens that we have written upon this subject in an article on “The Atonement,” the first portion of which appears in this issue. Rom. 8:3 is a difficult passage to understand, and the words “sin in the flesh” do not, in our judgment, constitute a “term” in the passage, either in the logical or grammatical sense. The main grammatical “terms” in the case—the subject and predicate—stripped of all adjuncts are these:—“God condemned.” Sin is the object of condemnation. Write it with a capital to harmonise with the figure of personification that runs through the whole of Paul’s argument here, and to harmonise also with the doctrine of Jesus Christ concerning the “casting out” “judgment” or condemnation of “the Prince of this World” which is Sin (John 12:31: 14:30: 16:11). This he enunciated when he was about to offer the sacrifice for sin of which Paul is speaking in Rom. 8. Persons are “condemned,” not abstractions. The words “in the flesh” are the extension of the predicate, the locus of the “casting out” “judgment” or “condemnation.” See Dr. Thomas’ excellent section in Elpis Israel (fourth edition, 1878), p. 85, on “The Prince of this World.”