Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

(vi) ²² At that time Avimelekh and Pikhol the commander of his army spoke to Avraham. They said, “God is with you in everything you do. ²³ Therefore, swear to me here by God that you will never deal falsely with me or with my son or grandson; but according to the kindness with which I have treated you, you will treat me and the land in which you have lived as a foreigner. ²⁴ Avraham said, “I swear it.”

²⁵ Now Avraham had complained to Avimelekh about a well which Avimelekh’s servants had seized. ²⁶ Avimelekh answered, “I don’t know who has done this. You didn’t tell me, and I heard about it only today.” ²⁷ Avraham took sheep and cattle and gave them to Avimelekh, and the two of them made a covenant. ²⁸ Avraham put seven female lambs from the flock by themselves. ²⁹ Avimelekh asked Avraham, “What is the meaning of these seven female lambs you have put by themselves?” ³⁰ He answered, “You are to accept these seven female lambs from me as witness that I dug this well.” ³¹ This is why that place was called Be’er-Sheva [well of seven, well of an oath] — because they both swore an oath there. ³² When they made the covenant at Be’er-Sheva, Avimelekh departed with Pikhol the commander of his army and returned to the land of the P’lishtim. ³³ Avraham planted a tamarisk tree in Be’er-Sheva, and there he called on the name of Adonai, the everlasting God. ³⁴ Avraham lived for a long time as a foreigner in the land of the P’lishtim.

8 Therefore, there is no longer any condemnation awaiting those who are in union with the Messiah Yeshua. ² Why? Because the Torah of the Spirit, which produces this life in union with Messiah Yeshua, has set me free from the “Torah” of sin and death. ³ For what the Torah could not do by itself, because it lacked the power to make the old nature cooperate, God did by sending his own Son as a human being with a nature like our own sinful one [but without sin]. God did this in order to deal with sin, and in so doing he executed the punishment against sin in human nature, ⁴ so that the just requirement of the Torah might be fulfilled in us who do not run our lives according to what our old nature wants but according to what the Spirit wants. ⁵ For those who identify with their old nature set their minds on the things of the old nature, but those who identify with the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. ⁶ Having one’s mind controlled by the old nature is death, but having one’s mind controlled by the Spirit is life and shalom. ⁷ For the mind controlled by the old nature is hostile to God, because it does not submit itself to God’s Torah — indeed, it cannot. ⁸ Thus, those who identify with their old nature cannot please God.

⁹ But you, you do not identify with your old nature but with the Spirit — provided the Spirit of God is living inside you, for anyone who doesn’t have the Spirit of the Messiah doesn’t belong to him. ¹⁰ However, if the Messiah is in you, then, on the one hand, the body is dead because of sin; but, on the other hand, the Spirit is giving life because God considers you righteous. ¹¹ And if the Spirit of the One who raised Yeshua from the dead is living in you, then the One who raised the Messiah Yeshua from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit living in you.