Life in the Spirit

8 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.^{(A) 2} For the law of the Spirit^[a] of life in Christ Jesus has set you^[b] free from the law of sin and of death.^{(B) 3} For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and to deal with sin,^[c] he condemned sin in the flesh,^{(C) 4} so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.^{[d](D) 5} For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit^[e] set their minds on the things of the Spirit.^{[f](E) 6} To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit^[g] is life and peace.^{(F) 7} For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed, it cannot,^{(G) 8} and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

⁹ But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit,^[h] since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.^{(H) 10} But if Christ is in you, then the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit^[i] is life because of righteousness. ¹¹ If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus^[j] from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through^[k] his Spirit that dwells in you.^(I)

The Parable of Weeds among the Wheat

²⁴ He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field,^{(A) 25} but while everybody was asleep an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and then went away. ²⁶ So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. ²⁷ And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?’ ²⁸ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ ²⁹ But he replied, ‘No, for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. ³⁰ Let both of them grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’ ”^(B)

Jesus Explains the Parable of the Weeds

³⁶ Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” ³⁷ He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; ³⁸ the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one,^{(A) 39} and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.^{(B) 40} Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age.^{(C) 41} The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin^[a] and all evildoers,^{(D) 42} and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.^{(E) 43} Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears^[b] listen!^(F)