Romans 8:1-11

Living by the Power of God’s Spirit

If you belong to Christ Jesus, you won’t be punished. ² The Holy Spirit will give you life that comes from Christ Jesus and will set you free from sin and death. ³ The Law of Moses cannot do this, because our selfish desires make the Law weak. But God set you free when he sent his own Son to be like us sinners and to be a sacrifice for our sin. God used Christ’s body to condemn sin. ⁴ He did this, so that we would do what the Law commands by obeying the Spirit instead of our own desires.

⁵ People who are ruled by their desires think only of themselves. Everyone who is ruled by the Holy Spirit thinks about spiritual things. ⁶ If our minds are ruled by our desires, we will die. But if our minds are ruled by the Spirit, we will have life and peace. ⁷ Our desires fight against God, because they do not and cannot obey God’s laws. ⁸ If we follow our desires, we cannot please God.

⁹ You are no longer ruled by your desires, but by God’s Spirit, who lives in you. People who don’t have the Spirit of Christ in them don’t belong to him. ¹⁰ But Christ lives in you. So you are alive because God has accepted you, even though your bodies must die because of your sins. ¹¹ Yet God raised Jesus to life! God’s Spirit now lives in you, and he will raise you to life by his Spirit.

Contemporary English Version (CEV) - for other versions see BibleGateway.com