Romans 8
8
Life in the Spirit
1So now anyone who is in Christ Jesus is not judged guilty. 2That is because in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit that brings life made you#8:2 you Some Greek copies have “me.” Also in the next sentence. free. It made you free from the law that brings sin and death. 3The law was without power because it was made weak by our sinful selves. But God did what the law could not do: He sent his own Son to earth with the same human life that everyone else uses for sin. God sent him to be an offering to pay for sin. So God used a human life to destroy sin. 4He did this so that we could be right just as the law said we must be. Now we don’t live following our sinful selves. We live following the Spirit.
5People who live following their sinful selves think only about what they want. But those who live following the Spirit are thinking about what the Spirit wants them to do. 6If your thinking is controlled by your sinful self, there is spiritual death. But if your thinking is controlled by the Spirit, there is life and peace. 7Why is this true? Because anyone whose thinking is controlled by their sinful self is against God. They refuse to obey God’s law. And really they are not able to obey it. 8Those who are ruled by their sinful selves cannot please God.
9But you are not ruled by your sinful selves. You are ruled by the Spirit, if that Spirit of God really lives in you. But whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Christ. 10Your body will always be dead because of sin. But if Christ is in you, then the Spirit gives you life, because Christ made you right with God. 11God raised Jesus from death. And if God’s Spirit lives in you, he will also give life to your bodies that die. Yes, God is the one who raised Christ from death, and he will raise you to life through his Spirit living in you.
12So, my brothers and sisters, we must not be ruled by our sinful selves. We must not live the way our sinful selves want. 13If you use your lives to do what your sinful selves want, you will die spiritually. But if you use the Spirit’s help to stop doing the wrong things you do with your body, you will have true life.
14The true children of God are those who let God’s Spirit lead them. 15The Spirit that we received is not a spirit that makes us slaves again and causes us to fear. The Spirit that we have makes us God’s chosen children. And with that Spirit we cry out, “Abba,#8:15 Abba An Aramaic word that was used by Jewish children as a name for their fathers. Father.” 16And the Spirit himself speaks to our spirits and makes us sure that we are God’s children. 17If we are God’s children, we will get the blessings God has for his people. He will give us all that he has given Christ. But we must suffer like Christ suffered. Then we will be able to share his glory.
We Will Have Glory in the Future
18We have sufferings now, but these are nothing compared to the great glory that will be given to us. 19Everything that God made is waiting with excitement for the time when he will show the world who his children are. The whole world wants very much for that to happen. 20Everything God made was allowed to become like something that cannot fulfill its purpose. That was not its choice, but God made it happen with this hope in view: 21That the creation would be made free from ruin—that everything God made would have the same freedom and glory that belong to God’s children.
22We know that everything God made has been waiting until now in pain like a woman ready to give birth to a child. 23Not only the world, but we also have been waiting with pain inside us. We have the Spirit as the first part of God’s promise. So we are waiting for God to finish making us his own children. I mean we are waiting for our bodies to be made free. 24We were saved to have this hope. If we can see what we are waiting for, that is not really hope. People don’t hope for something they already have. 25But we are hoping for something we don’t have yet, and we are waiting for it patiently.
26Also, the Spirit helps us. We are very weak, but the Spirit helps us with our weakness. We don’t know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit himself speaks to God for us. He begs God for us, speaking to him with feelings too deep for words. 27God already knows our deepest thoughts. And he understands what the Spirit is saying, because the Spirit speaks for his people in the way that agrees with what God wants.
28We know that in everything God works for the good of those who love him. These are the people God chose, because that was his plan. 29God knew them before he made the world. And he decided that they would be like his Son. Then Jesus would be the firstborn of many brothers and sisters. 30God planned for them to be like his Son. He chose them and made them right with him. And after he made them right, he gave them his glory.
God’s Love in Christ Jesus
31So what should we say about this? If God is for us, no one can stand against us. And God is with us. 32He even let his own Son suffer for us. God gave his Son for all of us. So now with Jesus, God will surely give us all things. 33Who can accuse the people God has chosen? No one! God is the one who makes them right. 34Who can say that God’s people are guilty? No one! Christ Jesus died for us, but that is not all. He was also raised from death. And now he is at God’s right side, speaking to him for us. 35Can anything separate us from Christ’s love? Can trouble or problems or persecution separate us from his love? If we have no food or clothes or face danger or even death, will that separate us from his love? 36As the Scriptures say,
“For you we are in danger of death all the time.
People think we are worth no more than sheep to be killed.” Psalm 44:22
37But in all these troubles we have complete victory through God, who has shown his love for us. 38-39Yes, I am sure that nothing can separate us from God’s love—not death, life, angels, or ruling spirits. I am sure that nothing now, nothing in the future, no powers, nothing above us or nothing below us—nothing in the whole created world—will ever be able to separate us from the love God has shown us in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
Romans 8
8
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.#8:1 NU omits “who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit” 2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death. 3For what the law couldn’t do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 5For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace; 7because the mind of the flesh is hostile towards God, for it is not subject to God’s law, neither indeed can it be. 8Those who are in the flesh can’t please God.
9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if it is so that the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if any man doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his. 10If Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11But if the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. 13For if you live after the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are children of God. 15For you didn’t receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba!#8:15 Abba is an Aramaic word for “Father” or “Daddy”, which can be used affectionately and respectfully in prayer to our Father in heaven. Father!”
16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God; 17and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him.
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed towards us. 19For the creation waits with eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of decay into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. 22For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now. 23Not only so, but ourselves also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for adoption, the redemption of our body. 24For we were saved in hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for that which he sees? 25But if we hope for that which we don’t see, we wait for it with patience.
26 In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weaknesses, for we don’t know how to pray as we ought. But the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which can’t be uttered. 27He who searches the hearts knows what is on the Spirit’s mind, because he makes intercession for the saints according to God.
28 We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn amongst many brothers.#8:29 The word for “brothers” here and where context allows may also be correctly translated “brothers and sisters” or “siblings.” 30Whom he predestined, those he also called. Whom he called, those he also justified. Whom he justified, those he also glorified.
31 What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who didn’t spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how would he not also with him freely give us all things? 33Who could bring a charge against God’s chosen ones? It is God who justifies. 34Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, yes rather, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Could oppression, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36Even as it is written,
“For your sake we are killed all day long.
We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”#Psalms 44:22
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from God’s love which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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