Rom.8.1

With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ's being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud.

Rom.8.1

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,

Rom.8.1

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

Rom.8.1

So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.

Rom.8.2

A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death.

Rom.8.2

because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.

Rom.8.2

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

Rom.8.2

For the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you through Christ Jesus from the power of sin that leads to death.

Rom.8.3

God went for the jugular when he sent his own Son. He didn't deal with the problem as something remote and unimportant. In his Son, Jesus, he personally took on the human condition, entered the disordered mess of struggling humanity in order to set it right once and for all. The law code, weakened as it always was by fractured human nature, could never have done that. The law always ended up being used as a Band-Aid on sin instead of a deep healing of it.

Rom.8.3

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,

Rom.8.3

For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh,

Rom.8.3

The law of Moses could not save us, because of our sinful nature. But God put into effect a different plan to save us. He sent his own Son in a human body like ours, except that ours are sinful. God destroyed sin's control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins.

Rom.8.4

And now what the law code asked for but we couldn't deliver is accomplished as we, instead of redoubling our own efforts, simply embrace what the Spirit is doing in us.

Rom.8.4

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.

Rom.8.4

that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Rom.8.4

He did this so that the requirement of the law would be fully accomplished for us who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.

Rom.8.5

Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God's action in them find that God's Spirit is in them--living and breathing God!

Rom.8.5

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.

Rom.8.5

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, the things of the Spirit.

Rom.8.5

Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.

Rom.8.6

Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life.

Rom.8.6

The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;

Rom.8.6

For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Rom.8.6

If your sinful nature controls your mind, there is death. But if the Holy Spirit controls your mind, there is life and peace.

Rom.8.7

Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing.

Rom.8.7

the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so.

Rom.8.7

Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.

Rom.8.7

For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God's laws, and it never will.

Rom.8.8

And God isn't pleased at being ignored.

Rom.8.8

Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

Rom.8.8

So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Rom.8.8

That's why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.

Rom.8.9

But if God himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than of him. Anyone, of course, who has not welcomed this invisible but clearly present God, the Spirit of Christ, won't know what we're talking about.

Rom.8.9

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.

Rom.8.9

But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.

Rom.8.9

But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them are not Christians at all.)

Rom.8.10

But for you who welcome him, in whom he dwells--even though you still experience all the limitations of sin--you yourself experience life on God's terms.

Rom.8.10

But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.

Rom.8.10

And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

Rom.8.10

Since Christ lives within you, even though your body will die because of sin, your spirit is alive because you have been made right with God.

Rom.8.11

It stands to reason, doesn't it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he'll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ's!

Rom.8.11

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.

Rom.8.11

But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

Rom.8.11

The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as he raised Christ from the dead, he will give life to your mortal body by this same Spirit living within you.

Rom.8.12

So don't you see that we don't owe this old do-it--yourself life one red cent.

Rom.8.12

Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation--but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it.

Rom.8.12

Therefore, brethren, we are debtors--not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.

Rom.8.12

So, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation whatsoever to do what your sinful nature urges you to do.

Rom.8.13

There's nothing in it for us, nothing at all. The best thing to do is give it a decent burial and get on with your new life.

Rom.8.13

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,

Rom.8.13

For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Rom.8.13

For if you keep on following it, you will perish. But if through the power of the Holy Spirit you turn from it and its evil deeds, you will live.

Rom.8.14

God's Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go!

Rom.8.14

because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

Rom.8.14

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

Rom.8.14

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.

Rom.8.15

This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What's next, Papa?"

Rom.8.15

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."

Rom.8.15

For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father."

Rom.8.15

So you should not be like cowering, fearful slaves. You should behave instead like God's very own children, adopted into his family--calling him "Father, dear Father."

Rom.8.16

God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children.

Rom.8.16

The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.

Rom.8.16

The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

Rom.8.16

For his Holy Spirit speaks to us deep in our hearts and tells us that we are God's children.

Rom.8.17

And we know we are going to get what's coming to us--an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we're certainly going to go through the good times with him! [JC]

Rom.8.17

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.

Rom.8.17

and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

Rom.8.17

And since we are his children, we will share his treasures--for everything God gives to his Son, Christ, is ours, too. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.