Romans
8
- Therefore, there is now no condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus,
- because through Christ Jesus the law of
the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
- For what the law was powerless to do in
that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son
in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin
in sinful man,
- in order that the righteous requirements
of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful
nature but according to the Spirit.
- Those who live according to the sinful nature
have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance
with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.
- The mind of sinful man is death, but the
mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;
- the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does
not submit to God's law, nor can it do so.
- Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot
please God.
- You, however, are controlled not by the
sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if
anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.
- But if Christ is in you, your body is dead
because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.
- And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus
from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also
give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.
- Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation--but
it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it.
- For if you live according to the sinful
nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of
the body, you will live,
- because those who are led by the Spirit
of God are sons of God.
- For you did not receive a spirit that makes
you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by
him we cry, "Abba, Father."
- The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit
that we are God's children.
- Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs
of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order
that we may also share in his glory.
- I consider that our present sufferings are
not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
- The creation waits in eager expectation
for the sons of God to be revealed.
- For the creation was subjected to frustration,
not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope
- that the creation itself will be liberated
from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children
of God.
- We know that the whole creation has been
groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
- Not only so, but we ourselves, who have
the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption
as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
- For in this hope we were saved. But hope
that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has
?
- But if we hope for what we do not yet have,
we wait for it patiently.
- In the same way, the Spirit helps us in
our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself
intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.
- And he who searches our hearts knows the
mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance
with God's will.
- And we know that in all things God works
for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his
purpose.
- For those God foreknew he also predestined
to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn
among many brothers.
- And those he predestined, he also called;
those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
- What, then, shall we say in response to
this? If God is for us, who can be against us ?
- He who did not spare his own Son, but gave
him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us
all things ?
- Who will bring any charge against those
whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.
- Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who
died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand of God
and is also interceding for us.
- Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger
or sword ?
- As it is written: "For your sake we
face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."
- No, in all these things we are more than
conquerors through him who loved us.
- For I am convinced that neither death nor
life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any
powers,
- neither height nor depth, nor anything else
in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is
in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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