Romans 8

₁If you belong to Christ Jesus, you won't be punished. ₂The Holy Spirit will give you life that comes from Christ Jesus and will set you free from sin and death. ₃The 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. ₄He did this, so that we would do what the Law commands by obeying the Spirit instead of our own desires.

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

₉You 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. ₁₀But Christ lives in you. So you are alive because God has accepted you, even though your bodies must die because of your sins. ₁₁Yet God raised Jesus to life! God's Spirit now lives in you, and he will raise you to life by his Spirit.

₁₂My dear friends, we must not live to satisfy our desires. ₁₃If you do, you will die. But you will live, if by the help of God's Spirit you say “No” to your desires. ₁₄Only those people who are led by God's Spirit are his children. ₁₅God's Spirit doesn't make us slaves who are afraid of him. Instead, we become his children and call him our Father. ₁₆God's Spirit makes us sure that we are his children. ₁₇His Spirit lets us know that together with Christ we will be given what God has promised. We will also share in the glory of Christ, because we have suffered with him.

₁₈I am sure that what we are suffering now cannot compare with the glory that will be shown to us. ₁₉In fact, all creation is eagerly waiting for God to show who his children are. ₂₀Meanwhile, creation is confused, but not because it wants to be confused. God made it this way in the hope ₂₁that creation would be set free from decay and would share in the glorious freedom of his children. ₂₂We know that all creation is still groaning and is in pain, like a woman about to give birth.

₂₃The Spirit makes us sure about what we will be in the future. But now we groan silently, while we wait for God to show that we are his children. This means that our bodies will also be set free. ₂₄And this hope is what saves us. But if we already have what we hope for, there is no need to keep on hoping. ₂₅However, we hope for something we have not yet seen, and we patiently wait for it.

₂₆In certain ways we are weak, but the Spirit is here to help us. For example, when we don't know what to pray for, the Spirit prays for us in ways that cannot be put into words. ₂₇All our thoughts are known to God. He can understand what is in the mind of the Spirit, as the Spirit prays for God's people. ₂₈We know that God is always at work for the good of everyone who loves him. They are the ones God has chosen for his purpose, ₂₉and he has always known who his chosen ones would be. He had decided to let them become like his own Son, so that his Son would be the first of many children. ₃₀God then accepted the people he had already decided to choose, and he has shared his glory with them.

₃₁What can we say about all this? If God is on our side, can anyone be against us? ₃₂God did not keep back his own Son, but he gave him for us. If God did this, won't he freely give us everything else? ₃₃If God says his chosen ones are acceptable to him, can anyone bring charges against them? ₃₄Or can anyone condemn them? No indeed! Christ died and was raised to life, and now he is at God's right side, speaking to him for us. ₃₅Can anything separate us from the love of Christ? Can trouble, suffering, and hard times, or hunger and nakedness, or danger and death? ₃₆It is exactly as the Scriptures say,