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There is, then, now no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit;

for the law of the Spirit of the life in Christ Jesus did set me free from the law of the sin and of the death;

for what the law was not able to do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, His own Son having sent in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, did condemn the sin in the flesh,

that the righteousness of the law may be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

For those who are according to the flesh, the things of the flesh do mind; and those according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit;

for the mind of the flesh [is] death, and the mind of the Spirit -- life and peace;

because the mind of the flesh [is] enmity to God, for to the law of God it doth not subject itself,

for neither is it able; and those who are in the flesh are not able to please God.

And ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God doth dwell in you; and if any one hath not the Spirit of Christ -- this one is not His;

10 and if Christ [is] in you, the body, indeed, [is] dead because of sin, and the Spirit [is] life because of righteousness,

11 and if the Spirit of Him who did raise up Jesus out of the dead doth dwell in you, He who did raise up the Christ out of the dead shall quicken also your dying bodies, through His Spirit dwelling in you.

12 So, then, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh;

13 for if according to the flesh ye do live, ye are about to die; and if, by the Spirit, the deeds of the body ye put to death, ye shall live;

14 for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God;

15 for ye did not receive a spirit of bondage again for fear, but ye did receive a spirit of adoption in which we cry, `Abba -- Father.'

16 The Spirit himself doth testify with our spirit, that we are children of God;

17 and if children, also heirs, heirs, indeed, of God, and heirs together of Christ -- if, indeed, we suffer together, that we may also be glorified together.

18 For I reckon that the sufferings of the present time [are] not worthy [to be compared] with the glory about to be revealed in us;

19 for the earnest looking out of the creation doth expect the revelation of the sons of God;

20 for to vanity was the creation made subject -- not of its will, but because of Him who did subject [it] -- in hope,

21 that also the creation itself shall be set free from the servitude of the corruption to the liberty of the glory of the children of God;

22 for we have known that all the creation doth groan together, and doth travail in pain together till now.

23 And not only [so], but also we ourselves, having the first-fruit of the Spirit, we also ourselves in ourselves do groan, adoption expecting -- the redemption of our body;

24 for in hope we were saved, and hope beheld is not hope; for what any one doth behold, why also doth he hope for [it]?

25 and if what we do not behold we hope for, through continuance we expect [it].

26 And, in like manner also, the Spirit doth help our weaknesses; for, what we may pray for, as it behoveth [us], we have not known, but the Spirit himself doth make intercession for us with groanings unutterable,

27 and He who is searching the hearts hath known what [is] the mind of the Spirit, because according to God he doth intercede for saints.

28 And we have known that to those loving God all things do work together for good, to those who are called according to purpose;

29 because whom He did foreknow, He also did fore-appoint, conformed to the image of His Son, that he might be first-born among many brethren;

30 and whom He did fore-appoint, these also He did call; and whom He did call, these also He declared righteous; and whom He declared righteous, these also He did glorify.

31 What, then, shall we say unto these things? if God [is] for us, who [is] against us?

32 He who indeed His own Son did not spare, but for us all did deliver him up, how shall He not also with him the all things grant to us?

33 Who shall lay a charge against the choice ones of God? God [is] He that is declaring righteous,

34 who [is] he that is condemning? Christ [is] He that died, yea, rather also, was raised up; who is also on the right hand of God -- who also doth intercede for us.

35 Who shall separate us from the love of the Christ? tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

36 (according as it hath been written -- `For Thy sake we are put to death all the day long, we were reckoned as sheep of slaughter,')

37 but in all these we more than conquer, through him who loved us;

38 for I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor messengers, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,

39 nor things about to be, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, that [is] in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God’s Spirit Makes Us His Children

So those who are believers in Christ Jesus can no longer be condemned. The standards of the Spirit, who gives life through Christ Jesus, have set you free from the standards of sin and death. It is impossible to do what God’s standards demand because of the weakness our human nature has. But God sent his Son to have a human nature as sinners have and to pay for sin. That way God condemned sin in our corrupt nature. Therefore, we, who do not live by our corrupt nature but by our spiritual nature, are able to meet God’s standards in Moses’ Teachings.

Those who live by the corrupt nature have the corrupt nature’s attitude. But those who live by the spiritual nature have the spiritual nature’s attitude. The corrupt nature’s attitude leads to death. But the spiritual nature’s attitude leads to life and peace. This is so because the corrupt nature has a hostile attitude toward God. It refuses to place itself under the authority of God’s standards because it can’t. Those who are under the control of the corrupt nature can’t please God. But if God’s Spirit lives in you, you are under the control of your spiritual nature, not your corrupt nature.

Whoever doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ doesn’t belong to him. 10 However, if Christ lives in you, your bodies are dead because of sin, but your spirits are alive because you have God’s approval. 11 Does the Spirit of the one who brought Jesus back to life live in you? Then the one who brought Christ back to life will also make your mortal bodies alive by his Spirit who lives in you.

12 So, brothers and sisters, we have no obligation to live the way our corrupt nature wants us to live. 13 If you live by your corrupt nature, you are going to die. But if you use your spiritual nature to put to death the evil activities of the body, you will live. 14 Certainly, all who are guided by God’s Spirit are God’s children. 15 You haven’t received the spirit of slaves that leads you into fear again. Instead, you have received the spirit of God’s adopted children by which we call out, “Abba! [a] Father!” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 If we are his children, we are also God’s heirs. If we share in Christ’s suffering in order to share his glory, we are heirs together with him.

God’s Spirit Helps Us

18 I consider our present sufferings insignificant compared to the glory that will soon be revealed to us. 19 All creation is eagerly waiting for God to reveal who his children are. 20 Creation was subjected to frustration but not by its own choice. The one who subjected it to frustration did so in the hope 21 that it would also be set free from slavery to decay in order to share the glorious freedom that the children of God will have. 22 We know that all creation has been groaning with the pains of childbirth up to the present time.

23 However, not only creation groans. We, who have the Spirit as the first of God’s gifts, also groan inwardly. We groan as we eagerly wait for our adoption, the freeing of our bodies ⌞from sin⌟. 24 We were saved with this hope in mind. If we hope for something we already see, it’s not really hope. Who hopes for what can be seen? 25 But if we hope for what we don’t see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.

26 At the same time the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, because we don’t know how to pray for what we need. But the Spirit intercedes along with our groans that cannot be expressed in words. 27 The one who searches our hearts knows what the Spirit has in mind. The Spirit intercedes for God’s people the way God wants him to.

Nothing Can Separate Us from God’s Love

28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God—those whom he has called according to his plan. 29 This is true because he already knew his people and had already appointed them to have the same form as the image of his Son. Therefore, his Son is the firstborn among many children. 30 He also called those whom he had already appointed. He approved of those whom he had called, and he gave glory to those whom he had approved of.

31 What can we say about all of this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 God didn’t spare his own Son but handed him over ⌞to death⌟ for all of us. So he will also give us everything along with him. 33 Who will accuse those whom God has chosen? God has approved of them. 34 Who will condemn them? Christ has died, and more importantly, he was brought back to life. Christ is in the honored position—the one next to God the Father on the heavenly throne. Christ also intercedes for us. 35 What will separate us from the love Christ has for us? Can trouble, distress, persecution, hunger, nakedness, danger, or violent death separate us from his love? 36 As Scripture says:

“We are being killed all day long because of you.
We are thought of as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 The one who loves us gives us an overwhelming victory in all these difficulties. 38 I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love which Christ Jesus our Lord shows us.[b] We can’t be separated by death or life, by angels or rulers, by anything in the present or anything in the future, by forces 39 or powers in the world above or in the world below, or by anything else in creation.

Footnotes

  1. 8:15 Abba is Aramaic for “father.”
  2. 8:38 The last part of verse 39 (in Greek) has been moved to verse 38 to express the complex Greek sentence structure more clearly in English.