Life in the Spirit

8 ¹So now people that are in Christ Jesus are not judged guilty. ²Why am I not judged guilty? Because in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit* that brings life made me free. It made me free from the law that brings sin and death.

³The law* was without power because the law was made weak by our sinful selves. But God did what the law could not do. God sent his own Son to earth with the same human life that other people use for sin. God sent his Son to be an offering to pay for sin. So God used a human life to condemn (destroy) sin.

⁴God did this so that we could be right like the law said we must be. Now we don't live following our sinful selves. We live following the Spirit. ⁵People that live following their sinful selves think only about things that their sinful selves want. But those people that live following the Spirit* are thinking about the things that the Spirit wants them to do.

⁶If a person's thinking is controlled by his sinful self, then there is spiritual death. But if a person's thinking is controlled by the Spirit, then there is life and peace. ⁷Why is this true? Because if a person's thinking is controlled by his sinful self, then that person is against God. That person refuses to obey God's law. And really that person is not able to obey God's law. ⁸Those people that are ruled by their sinful selves cannot please God.

⁹But you are not ruled by your sinful selves. You are ruled by the Spirit,* if that Spirit of God really lives in you. But if any person does not have the Spirit of Christ, then that person does not belong to Christ. ¹⁰Your body will always be dead because of sin. But if Christ is in you, then the Spirit gives you life, because Christ made you right with God.

¹¹God raised Jesus from death. And if God's Spirit is living in you, then he will also give life to your bodies that die. God is the One who raised Christ from death. And he will give life to your bodies through his Spirit that lives in you.

¹²So, my brothers [and sisters], we must not be ruled by our sinful selves. We must not live the way our sinful selves want. ¹³If you use your lives to do the wrong things your sinful selves want, then you will die spiritually. But if you use the Spirit's* help to stop doing the wrong things you do with your body, then you will have [true] life.

¹⁴The true children of God are those people that let God's Spirit lead them. ¹⁵The Spirit* that we received is not a spirit that makes us slaves again and causes us to fear. The Spirit that we have makes us God's chosen children. And with that Spirit we say, "[Abba],* Father." ¹⁶And the Spirit himself joins with our spirits to say we are God's children.

¹⁷If we are God's children, then we will get the blessings God has for his people. We will get these things from God. We will receive those blessings together with Christ. But we must suffer like Christ suffered. Then we will have glory like Christ has glory.

Spirit, Holy Spirit Also called the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, and the Comforter. Joined with God and Christ, He does God's work among people in the world. law God's law. It is represented in the law of Moses. Abba An Aramaic word. Jewish children called their fathers "[Abba]."