For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
3. For what was impossible for the law, etc. Now follows the polishing or the adorning of his proof, that the Lord has by his gratuitous mercy justified us in Christ; the very thing which it was impossible for the law to do. But as this is a very remarkable sentence, let us examine every part of it.
This is the triumph after that melancholy conflict in the foregoing chapter: sin remaining, but blessed be God, not ruining. I do not say there is no accusation against us, but the indictment is quashed; not that nothing in us deserves condemnation, but that it shall not be our ruin. We are in Christ Jesus as in our city of refuge, and through His satisfaction to the law, God is well pleased with us.
AI summary
Commenting on Romans 8:1-9
For what the law could not do,.... This is not to be understood of "the law of the mind", in opposition to "the law of sin", which indeed is very feeble and impotent; man had a power originally of obeying the divine commands, but through sin he has lost his strength and power; and even a renewed mind cannot perform what it would, which is...