God’s Action in Messiah and Spirit
8 So, therefore, there is no condemnation for those in the Messiah, Jesus! 2 Why not? Because the law of the spirit of life in the Messiah, Jesus, released you from the law of sin and death.
3 For God has done what the law (being weak because of human flesh) was incapable of doing. God sent his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and as a sin-offering; and, right there in the flesh, he condemned sin. 4 This was in order that the right and proper verdict of the law could be fulfilled in us, as we live not according to the flesh but according to the spirit.
The Work of the Spirit
5 Look at it like this. People whose lives are determined by human flesh focus their minds on matters to do with the flesh, but people whose lives are determined by the spirit focus their minds on matters to do with the spirit. 6 Focus the mind on the flesh, and you’ll die; but focus it on the spirit, and you’ll have life, and peace. 7 The mind focused on the flesh, you see, is hostile to God. It doesn’t submit to God’s law; in fact, it can’t. 8 Those who are determined by the flesh can’t please God.
9 But you’re not people of flesh; you’re people of the spirit (if indeed God’s spirit lives within you; note that anyone who doesn’t have the spirit of the Messiah doesn’t belong to him). 10 But if the Messiah is in you, the body is indeed dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of covenant justice. 11 So, then, if the spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead lives within you, the one who raised the Messiah from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies, too, through his spirit who lives within you.
Children of God, Led by the Spirit
12 So then, my dear family, we are in debt – but not to human flesh, to live our life in that way. 13 If you live in accordance with the flesh, you will die; but if, by the spirit, you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
14 All who are led by the spirit of God, you see, are God’s children. 15 You didn’t receive a spirit of slavery, did you, to go back again into a state of fear? But you received the spirit of sonship, in whom we call out ‘Abba, father!’ 16 When that happens, it is the spirit itself giving supporting witness to what our own spirit is saying, that we are God’s children. 17 And if we’re children, we are also heirs: heirs of God, and fellow heirs with the Messiah, as long as we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
Creation Renewed and Patient Hope
18 This is how I work it out. The sufferings we go through in the present time are not worth putting in the scale alongside the glory that is going to be unveiled for us. 19 Yes: creation itself is on tiptoe with expectation, eagerly awaiting the moment when God’s children will be revealed. 20 Creation, you see, was subjected to pointless futility, not of its own volition, but because of the one who placed it in this subjection, in the hope 21 that creation itself would be freed from its slavery to decay, to enjoy the freedom that comes when God’s children are glorified.
22 Let me explain. We know that the entire creation is groaning together, and going through labour pains together, up until the present time. 23 Not only so: we too, we who have the first fruits of the spirit’s life within us, are groaning within ourselves, as we eagerly await our adoption, the redemption of our body. 24 We were saved, you see, in hope. But hope isn’t hope if you can see it! Who hopes for what they can see? 25 But if we hope for what we don’t see, we wait for it eagerly – but also patiently.
Prayer, Sonship and the Sovereignty of God
26 In the same way, too, the spirit comes alongside and helps us in our weakness. We don’t know what to pray for as we ought to; but that same spirit pleads on our behalf, with groanings too deep for words. 27 And the Searcher of Hearts knows what the spirit is thinking, because the spirit pleads for God’s people according to God’s will.
28 We know, in fact, that God works all things together for good to those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. 29 Those he foreknew, you see, he also marked out in advance to be shaped according to the model of the image of his son, so that he might be the firstborn of a large family. 30 And those he marked out in advance, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
Nothing Shall Separate Us from God’s Love
31 What then shall we say to all this?
If God is for us, who is against us?
32 God, after all, did not spare his own son; he gave him up for us all!
How then will he not, with him, freely give all things to us?
33 Who will bring a charge against God’s chosen ones?
It is God who declares them in the right.
34 Who is going to condemn?
It is the Messiah, Jesus, who has died, or rather has been raised;
who is at God’s right hand, and who also prays on our behalf!
35 Who shall separate us from the Messiah’s love?
Suffering, or hardship, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As the Bible says,
Because of you we are being killed all day long;
we are regarded as sheep destined for slaughter.
37 No: in all these things we are completely victorious through the one who loved us. 38 I am persuaded, you see, that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor the present, nor the future, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in King Jesus our Lord.
