9But your sinful nature does not control you. The Holy Spirit controls you. The Spirit of God lives in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Christ.

10Christ lives in you. So your body is dead because of sin. But your spirit is alive because you have been made right with God. 11The Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you. So the God who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your bodies, which are going to die. He will do this by the power of his Spirit, who lives in you.

12Brothers and sisters, we have a duty. Our duty is not to live under the control of our sinful nature. 13If you live under the control of your sinful nature, you will die. But by the power of the Holy Spirit you can put to death the sins your body commits. Then you will live.

14Those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. 15You didn’t receive a spirit that makes you a slave to fear once again. Instead you received the Holy Spirit, who makes you God’s child. By the Spirit’s power we call God “Abba.” Abba means Father. 16The Spirit himself joins with our spirits. Together they give witness that we are God’s children.

17As his children, we will receive all that he has for us. We will share what Christ receives. But we must share in his sufferings if we want to share in his glory.

The Hope of Future Glory

18What we are suffering now is nothing compared with the glory that will be shown in us. 19Everything God created looks forward to the time when his children will appear in their full and final glory. 20The created world was bound to fail. But that was not the result of its own choice. It was planned that way by the One who made it. God planned 21to set the created world free. He didn’t want it to rot away completely. Instead, he wanted it to have the same glorious freedom that his children have.

22We know that all that God created has been groaning. It is in pain as if it were giving birth to a child. The created world continues to groan even now. 23And that’s not all. We have the Holy Spirit as the promise of future blessing. But we also groan inside ourselves as we look forward to the time when God will adopt us as full members of his family. Then he will give us everything he has for us. He will raise our bodies and give glory to them.

24That’s the hope we had when we were saved. But hope that can be seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? 25We hope for what we don’t have yet. So we are patient as we wait for it.