Romans 8:1–17

God’s Spirit Makes Us His Children

¹So those who are believers in Christ Jesus can no longer be condemned. ²The standards of the Spirit, who gives life through Christ Jesus, have set you free from the standards of sin and death. ³It is impossible to do what God’s standards demand because of the weakness our human nature has. But God sent his Son to have a human nature as sinners have and to pay for sin. That way God condemned sin in our corrupt nature. ⁴Therefore, we, who do not live by our corrupt nature but by our spiritual nature, are able to meet God’s standards in Moses’ Teachings. 

⁵Those who live by the corrupt nature have the corrupt nature’s attitude. But those who live by the spiritual nature have the spiritual nature’s attitude. ⁶The corrupt nature’s attitude leads to death. But the spiritual nature’s attitude leads to life and peace. ⁷This is so because the corrupt nature has a hostile attitude toward God. It refuses to place itself under the authority of God’s standards because it can’t. ⁸Those who are under the control of the corrupt nature can’t please God. ⁹But if God’s Spirit lives in you, you are under the control of your spiritual nature, not your corrupt nature. 

Whoever doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ doesn’t belong to him. ¹⁰However, if Christ lives in you, your bodies are dead because of sin, but your spirits are alive because you have God’s approval. ¹¹Does the Spirit of the one who brought Jesus back to life live in you? Then the one who brought Christ back to life will also make your mortal bodies alive by his Spirit who lives in you. 

¹²So, brothers and sisters, we have no obligation to live the way our corrupt nature wants us to live. ¹³If you live by your corrupt nature, you are going to die. But if you use your spiritual nature to put to death the evil activities of the body, you will live. ¹⁴Certainly, all who are guided by God’s Spirit are God’s children. ¹⁵You haven’t received the spirit of slaves that leads you into fear again. Instead, you have received the spirit of God’s adopted children by which we call out, “Abba!^aFather!” ¹⁶The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. ¹⁷If we are his children, we are also God’s heirs. If we share in Christ’s suffering in order to share his glory, we are heirs together with him.